- Support
- Fragmentary relief frieze; the fragment bearing the left portion of text has dimensions h. 32 × w. 102.5 × d. 23 cm; the fragment bearing the right portion of text has not been found back.
- Text
- Middle Indo-Aryan, Southern Brāhmī script. Engraved in what was probably a single line on the lower part of a sculptured panel; h. 2.5 × w. 34 cm . The elongation of the letters is comparatively reduced due to the narrowness of the inscribed surface.
- Origin
- Presumably installed originally at findspot.
- Provenance
- Apparently this inscription was discovered in the 1955-56 season at Nagarjunakonda, Site 23, which seems to be the same as site XI in IAR 1955-56: 24 , where a reading is cited that only partly agrees, but which nevertheless can only be identified with the present inscription. This hypothesis forces us to assume that the mention of an inscription, which can only be the present one, at IAR 1958-59: 6 , apparently in association with Site 9, is mistaken. Regarding the estampages for this inscription, ARIE 1959-60: B.94-95 speaks of Site 23 under B.94 but Site 38 under B.95. We follow the tacit assumption of Sircar 1963-64a that the connection with Site 38 is yet another error. Identified at Nagarjunakonda Museum, in the fortification enclosure, in February 2016.
- Visual Documentation
-
Photo(s):
- photos AL 2017
- photos JM 2017
Photo(s) of estampage(s):- Sircar = ARIE 1959-60: B.94 and B.95
- Raghunath (19)
- Editors
- Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums and Ingo Strauch.
- Publication history
- First edited by Sircar 1963-64a: 19 (7.B.II) . We re-edit the text here from the published estampages, and after autopsy of the remaining fragment of the stone.
(1)
…
///
saha
◊
vicayapure
◊
maharajavaḍhamane
◊
bha[ga]
///
(vato)
…
(pa)
///
[ti]ṭhavita
(1) … /// saha ◊ vicayapure ◊ maharajavaḍhamane ◊ bha[ga] /// (vato) … (pa) /// [ti]ṭhavita
<ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<lb n="1"/>
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown"/>
<milestone unit="fragment" n="left"/>
<w xml:id="tok2146">saha</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok2148">vicayapure</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok2150">maharajavaḍhamane</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok2152">bha<unclear>ga</unclear>
<milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
<supplied reason="lost">vato</supplied>
</w>
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown"/>
<w xml:id="tok2153">
<supplied reason="lost">pa</supplied>
<milestone unit="fragment" n="left"/>
<unclear>ti</unclear>ṭhavita</w>
</ab>- (1) maharajavaḍhamane maharajavaḍhamāne DCS .
- (1) bha[ga] (vato) … (pa) [ti]ṭhavita bha[ṭā]...........[ti]ṭhavita DCS . In his notes 6 and 7, Sircar 1963-64a suggests that the word intended before the lacuna may have been bhaṭāraka (Sanskrit bhaṭṭāraka), while the word after the lacuna was patiṭhavita. As for the lacuna, IAR 1955-56: 24 cites a reading (bha)gavato mulache(ti)ya(ye) patithapita. If we are right in assuming that this represents the present inscription, then it may be suggested that the currently missing right fragment, when first observed, bore more text on it than when the estampage ARIE 1959-60: B. 95 was made. And if this is true, then the lacuna may be tentatively filled in with the word mulace[ti]ya, if we interpret the use of parentheses in IAR 1955-56 correctly. Nevertheless, because readings cited in IAR are on the whole clearly provisional, and often unreliable, we do not dare to restore the complete lacuna on the sole evidence of this source.
(...), together with (...) established in Vijayapura, in the
Mahārāja’s estate (...) (of) the Bhagavant (...)
- bookmark ARIE 1959-60: nos. B.94-95
- bookmark Srinivasan & Sankaranarayanan 1979: no. 65
- bookmark Tsukamoto 1996: nos. Naga 60, 66
- bookmark Raghunath 2001: 123 (no. 19), 190 (no. 74.1)
Commentary