Ajanta Cave 4 Image Inscription

Alternative title: Ajanta Cave IV Inscription.

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

Language: Sanskrit (san) [Southern Brāhmī (unspecified) (brāhmī_southern_unspecified)].

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00181.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00181.xml.

Version: 2026-09-16 10:40 (3083d2d), last modified 2026-09-16 09:24 (c200993).

Edition

⟨1⟩ (*) deya-dharmmo yaṁ vihāra-svāmino bhayanande(ḥ?) skandavasu-putrasya māth(u)rasya kārvvaṭiy(ā)-sagotrasya⟨.⟩ yad atra puṇyaṁ

⟨2⟩ tad bhavatu mātā-pitros tātāmbāyāś cāgrānva(vā)ya-su [*****] s sarvva-sa¿tv?ānāñ cā(nu)ttara-jñā¿ṇ?āvāptaye (ti)

Bibliography

First reported in IAR 1957-58, p. 56 (number 14). Edited in Sircar [1963] 1959–1960.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00181). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.

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<title>Ajanta Cave 4 Image Inscription</title>

<title type="alt">Ajanta Cave IV Inscription</title>

<forename>Dániel</forename>

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<funder>European Research Council (ERC), grant agreement no 809994</funder>

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<p><lb n="1"/><unclear><g ref="sym:unclassified" type="symbol">*</g></unclear> deya-dharmmo yaṁ vihāra-svāmino bhayanande<unclear cert="low">ḥ</unclear> skandavasu-putrasya māth<unclear>u</unclear>rasya kārvvaṭiy<unclear>ā</unclear>-sagotrasya<supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> yad atra puṇyaṁ

<lb n="2"/>tad bhavatu mātā-pitros tātāmbāyāś cāgrānva<unclear>vā</unclear>ya-su <gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="5" unit="character"/> s sarvva-sa<sic>tv</sic>ānāñ cā<unclear>nu</unclear>ttara-jñā<choice><sic>ṇ</sic><corr>n</corr></choice>āvāptaye <unclear>ti</unclear><!--

L1. Sircar says there is a damaged Siddham symbol at the beginning. It may be a dextrorse spiral, like a figure 6 rotated 90° clockwise, but it is very unclear in the rubbing.

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L1. Sircar reads bhayanandi-skandavasu-putrasya, understanding māthura as the name of the donor and saying he was the son of Abhayanandin and Skandavasu, the latter being his mother "although female names like Skandavasu are not often met with". He briefly considers but rejects the possibilities that the name is Abhayanandiskandavsu, or that it's Abhayanandin alias Skandavasu. He also cites an example where Nāgavasu is a female name. I find this very strange and think that even if Sircar's reading is correct, it should probably be emended. But Sircar's reading seems to be incorrect, the vowel of nd looks like e, not i. There may even be a visarga after the character, but I mark this up in my reading as very tentative since the surface is full of irregularities and there is a similar space with dots after skandavasu too. In any case, I'm quite certain the donor is Abhayanandin, son of Skandavasu, from Mathurā.

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L2. The second line begins with a slight indent under ya in l1.

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L2. Sircar speculates that tātāmbā may mean his father's mother, but one would expect a more standard term for that, so perhaps it means a stepmother or aunt (he actually says, one's father's stepmother or aunt). I wonder if, instead, we should emend (or even read) tātāmbayoś, taking it in conjunction with agrānvavāya: dedicating the merit to 1. my mother and father; 2. the continuing (agra) lineage of my father and mother. If we assume that the donor himself is a celibate monk, but has brothers or sisters who are not, then this seems logical, though I know of no parallel. Sircar takes agra with his supposed suhr̥dām (see next note), "the prominent friends of the family".

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L2. Sircar proposes to restore the lacuna as suhr̥dāṁś cātmanas. I believe the ś is an oversight (though it occurs twice, in the discussion and in a footnote ad loc) and he means suhr̥dāṁ. He observes that an anusvāra is visible where he wants to read dāṁ, and there is indeed a small circle visible here. The restoration is plausible but far from certain.

--><!--

L2. Sircar reads t(i) at the end, emending to iti. I don't really see anything recognisable here and think this may be just a punctuation mark / endmarker, or perhaps even a badly damaged stu (for which I have seen parallels in spite of the earlier bhavatu).

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<p>First reported in <bibl><ptr target="bib:IAR1957-1958"/><citedRange>56</citedRange></bibl> (number 14). Edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Sircar1959-1960_06"/></bibl>.</p>

<p>Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (<bibl rend="omitname"><ptr target="bib:Balogh2019_03"/><citedRange unit="item">IN00181</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

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