Metadata

Support
Fragment of what was apparently an octagonal pillar; h. 72 ×  w. 22 ×  d. unavailable cm.
Text
Middle Indo-Aryan, Southern Brāhmī script. Text written lengthwise, parallel to the boundaries between the facets of the stone; h. unavailable ×  w. 50 cm.
Date
Thirteenth regnal year of Siri-Cāntamūla, approximately between 200 and 250 CE.
Origin
Presumed to have been erected originally at or near findspot.
Provenance
Sankaranarayanan 1969-70 states that it was discovered before 1965 in a Buddhist stūpa at the village Kesanapalli. Identified at Amaravathi Museum and Interpretation Centre (acc. no. AM-42) in February 2016.
Visual Documentation
Photo(s):
  • photos JM 2017
    • Photo(s) of estampage(s):
  • Est. ASI: Subrahmanyam, Khan, pl. XXIII, Raghunath
  • Sankaranarayanan
    • Editors
    Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums and Ingo Strauch.
    Publication history
    Three editions of this inscription were published almost simultaneously by Khan 1969: 2 , Subrahmanyam 1969 , and Sankaranarayanan 1969-70 . The latter is the most reliable. Part of the text is currently hidden by cement, so besides autopsy and our own photos of the stone, we rely for this re-edition on published photographs.

    Edition

    (1) (vāsi) ///ṭhīputasa siricāṁtamūlasa saṁvacharaṁ 10 3 hemaṁtonaṁ 1 diva 1 mahāraṭhisa /// (2) /// gāme ◊ niḍiṁgale ◊ nigājasa ◊ bahusutīyānaṁ ◊ mūlavasiviharacetike ◊ gaṁ /// (3) /// budhisa putehi vānikinīya haṁgāya putehi ◊ v[ā]ṇijakehi ◊ mahācaṁdena ◊ cula /// (4) /// sasehi ca ◊ nīgasaṁbaṁdhīvagehi ◊ °ekat[o] h[o]tuṇa mahācetike budhinikhaṁbho pa(t)i/// (ṭhapito)

    (1) (vāsi) ///ṭhīputasa siricāṁtamūlasa saṁvacharaṁ 10 3 hemaṁtonaṁ 1 diva 1 mahāraṭhisa ///
    (2) /// gāme ◊ niḍiṁgale ◊ nigājasa ◊ bahusutīyānaṁ ◊ mūlavasiviharacetike ◊ gaṁ ///
    (3) /// budhisa putehi vānikinīya haṁgāya putehi ◊ v[ā]ṇijakehi ◊ mahācaṁdena ◊ cula ///
    (4) /// sasehi ca ◊ nīgasaṁbaṁdhīvagehi ◊ °ekat[o] h[o]tuṇa mahācetike budhinikhaṁbho pa(t)i/// (ṭhapito) 
    <ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
					          <lb n="1"/>
				        	  <w xml:id="tok72">
                  <supplied reason="lost">vāsi</supplied>
                  <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>ṭhīputasa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok73">siricāṁtamūlasa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok74">saṁvacharaṁ</w>
					          
					          <num xml:id="tok75" value="13">
						            <num value="10">10</num>
						            <num value="3">3</num>
					          </num>
					          <w xml:id="tok77">hemaṁtonaṁ</w>
					          <num xml:id="tok78" value="1">1</num>
					          <w xml:id="tok79">diva</w>
					          <num xml:id="tok80" value="1">1</num>
					          <w xml:id="tok81">mahāraṭhisa</w>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
					          <lb n="2"/>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok84">gāme</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok86">niḍiṁgale</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok88">nigājasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok90">bahusutīyānaṁ</w>
				        	  <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok92">mūlavasiviharacetike</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok94">gaṁ</w>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
					          <lb n="3"/>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok97">budhisa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok98">putehi</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok99">vānikinīya</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok100">haṁgāya</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok101">putehi</w>
				        	  <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok102">v<unclear>ā</unclear>ṇijakehi</w>
				        	  <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok104">mahācaṁdena</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok106">cula</w>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
					          <lb n="4"/>
               <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok109">sasehi</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok110">ca</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok112">nīgasaṁbaṁdhīvagehi</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok114">°ekat<unclear>o</unclear>
               </w>
					          <w xml:id="tok115">h<unclear>o</unclear>tuṇa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok116">mahācetike</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok5374">budhinikhaṁbho</w>
				        	  <w xml:id="tok118">pa<supplied reason="lost">t</supplied>i<milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
                  <supplied reason="lost">ṭhapito</supplied>
               </w>
				        </ab>

    Apparatus

    • (1) hemaṁtonaṁ hemaṁtānaṁ ⟨pakhaṁ⟩ SS . We suggest emending instead hemaṁtapakhaṁ, taking into consideration the likely miswriting of <naṁ> for <khaṁ>, and the omission of <pa>. Alternatively, the intended text might have been the abbreviated hemaṁta pa.
    • (2) niḍiṁgale niḍigale SS .
    • (2) -vihara- -vihāra- SS .
    • (2) gaṁ The akṣara <gaṁ>, still visible on the estampage, is now covered by concrete. It is possible to restore here gaṁ(dhakuḍi), cf. EIAD 97, l. 3. Sankaranarayanan 1969-70 (n. 10) proposes instead gaṁ(jikūṭavathavasa vaṇijakasa), after EIAD 2, ll. 4-5.
    • (3) v[ā]ṇijakehi vaṇijakehi SS .
    • (3) cula These two akṣaras, still visible on the estampage, are now covered by concrete.
    • (4) nīga- One may tentatively understand this word as deriving from nija(ka). Cf. EIAD 54, l. 1: svajanasaṁbandhivargena.
    • (4) °ekat[o] h[o]tuṇa ekatahetuno SS . Cf. EIAD 105, l. 9: °ekato hotūna.

    Translation

    (1)13th year of (King) Vāsiṭṭhīputta Siri-Cāntamūla 1st (fortnight) of winter, 1st day.
    (1-4) At the village of Niḍiṁgala ... of the governor, at the shrine of the Mūlavāsivihāra of the school of the Bahuśrutīyas, the merchants Mahācanda and Cūla ... — sons of Budhi, the ... and of the merchant-wife Haṅgā — having united with ... and the groups of their own relatives, established a pillar for Budhi at the Great Shrine.

    Commentary

    • (4) budhinikhaṁbho We follow here one of the suggestions offered by Sankaranarayanan 1969-70: 316 , namely to analyze this compound as budhi-nikhaṁbha and to interpret the first part as pointing to the donors’ father. The term nikhaṁbha (Skt. niṣkambha) may be taken as a variant of *vikhaṁbha (Skt. viṣkambha, cf. MW, s.v. niṣkambha), whose meaning we tentatively take here to be identical to the more common khaṁbha. The fact that the dedicatee’s name was attached to the pillar being established suggests it had a commemorative function.

    Secondary bibliography