Metadata

Support
Fragment of a pillar; h. 115 ×  w. 35 ×  d. 21 cm.
Text
Middle Indo-Aryan, Southern Brāhmī script. h. 32 ×  w. 32 cm .
Date
Date unavailable. But comparison with the other inscriptions found at the same site (EIAD 21, 24, 25, 26 and 27) allows us to propose that this one too was engraved during Siri-Vīrapurisadatta’s reign, i.e., approximately between 225 and 275 CE.
Origin
Presumably erected originally at findspot.
Provenance
Discovered in the cold season of 1927-1928 by A.H. Longhurst at Nagarjunakonda, Site 1, in the monastic hall of Cāntisirī, close to the eastern side of the apsidal temple. Fragment identified at Nagarjunakonda Museum (acc. no. 636) in February 2016.
Visual Documentation
Photo(s):
  • photos AL 2017
  • photos JM 2017
    • Photo(s) of estampage(s):
  • Vogel
  • Raghunath
    • Editors
    Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums and Ingo Strauch.
    Publication history
    First described and edited by Vogel 1931-32: 65-6 (M1) . Re-edited here after autopsy of the stone.

    Edition

    (1) mahārājasa ◊ °asamedhayājisa (2) °anekahiraṁṇakoṭipadāyisa ◊ siricaṁtamulasa (3) sahodarā bhagini ◊ mahāsenāpatisa (4) mahātalavarasa ◊ vasiṭhīputasa ◊ pūk[ī]yānaṁ (5) kaṁdasirisa ◊ bhari[yā] mahātalavari cāṁtisiri (6) (°a)pano jāmātukasa ◊ raṁño ◊ māṭharipu⟨ta⟩sa °ikhā[ku] (naṁ) (7) (sir) [i]virapurisadatasa ◊ °āyuvadhanīke ◊ veja[y]i(ke) (8) + + + ca °ubhayalokahitasukhani[v] (āṇathanāya) (9) … .i …

    (1) mahārājasa ◊ °asamedhayājisa
    (2) °anekahiraṁṇakoṭipadāyisa ◊ siricaṁtamulasa
    (3) sahodarā bhagini ◊ mahāsenāpatisa
    (4) mahātalavarasa ◊ vasiṭhīputasa ◊ pūk[ī]yānaṁ
    (5) kaṁdasirisa ◊ bhari[yā] mahātalavari cāṁtisiri
    (6) (°a)pano jāmātukasa ◊ raṁño ◊ māṭharipu⟨ta⟩sa °ikhā[ku] (naṁ)
    (7) (sir) [i]virapurisadatasa ◊ °āyuvadhanīke ◊ veja[y]i(ke)
    (8) + + + ca °ubhayalokahitasukhani[v] (āṇathanāya)
    (9) … .i … 
    <ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
					          <lb n="1"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2226">mahārājasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2228">°asamedhayājisa</w>
					          <lb n="2"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2229">°anekahiraṁṇakoṭipadāyisa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2231">siricaṁtamulasa</w>
					          <lb n="3"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2232">sahodarā</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2232bis">bhagini</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2234">mahāsenāpatisa</w>
					          <lb n="4"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2235">mahātalavarasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2237">vasiṭhīputasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2239">pūk<unclear>ī</unclear>yānaṁ</w>
					          <lb n="5"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2240">kaṁdasirisa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2242">bhari<unclear>yā</unclear>
					          </w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2243">mahātalavari</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2244">cāṁtisiri</w>
					          <lb n="6"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2245">
						            <supplied reason="lost">°a</supplied>pano</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2246">jāmātukasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2248">raṁño</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2250">māṭharipu<supplied reason="omitted">ta</supplied>sa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2252">°ikhā<unclear>ku</unclear>
                  <supplied reason="lost">naṁ</supplied>
					          </w>
					          <lb n="7"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2253">
						            <supplied reason="lost">sir</supplied>
                  <unclear>i</unclear>virapurisadatasa</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2255">°āyuvadhanīke</w>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2257">veja<unclear>y</unclear>i<supplied reason="lost">ke</supplied>
					          </w>
					          <lb n="8"/>
					          <gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2262">ca</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok2263">°ubhayalokahitasukhani<unclear>v</unclear>
                  <supplied reason="lost">āṇathanāya</supplied>
					          </w>
					          <lb n="9"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok2266">
						            <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown"/>
						            <gap reason="lost" quantity="1" unit="aksarapart"/>i</w>
					          <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown"/>
				        </ab>

    Apparatus

    • (2) -mulasa -mūlasa JPhV .
    • (4) mahātalavarasa vasiṭhī- mahātalavaravasiṭhī- JPhV .
    • (4) pūk[ī]yānaṁ pūkiyānaṁ JPhV .
    • (5) -sirisa -sirīsa JPhV . The appearance of a long <ī> on the estampage used by Vogel was probably due to the crack in the stone.
    • (6) (°a)pano (°a)paṇo JPhV .
    • (7) (sir) [i]vira- (siri)vira- JPhV .
    • (7) -vadhanīke -vadhanike JPhV . Constraint of space above the <nī> may have caused the engraver to choose a peculiar moon-shape form for his <ī>. There is another case of such an ad hoc shape in <ni> in l. 8.
    • (8) + + + (°apaṇo) JPhV . There is no objective reason for favoring Vogel’s restitution of this particular form/spelling of the personal pronoun here, since other instances in the corpus could be invoked to support restoring °atano or °apano.
    • (9) .i This line is not recorded by Vogel 1931-32 . In the light of parallel passages for the formula -nivāṇathanāya °imaṁ selakhaṁbhaṁ patiṭhapitaṁ ti, we expect the isolated vowel <i> here to have been part of the word patiṭhapitaṁ.

    Translation

    Cāntisirī — uterine sister of Great King Siri-Cāntamūla, sacrificer of the Aśvamedha, giver of many times tens of millions of (pieces of) gold; wife of the Great Talavara Vāsiṭṭhīputta Kandasiri of the Pūkīyas, Great-Talavara-wife — in order to increase the lifespan and leading to victory after victory of her son-in-law, King Māṭharīputta Siri-Vīrapurisadatta of the Ikṣvākus ... and (for the sake of her own) well-being and happiness in both worlds and nirvāṇa ...

    Secondary bibliography