Metadata

Support
Buddhapāda; h. 18 ×  w. 50 ×  d. 43 cm.
Text
Middle Indo-Aryan, Southern Brāhmī script. 3 lines. Inscribed area: h. 6 ×  w. 43 cm.
Date
Attributable to the 3rd century CE on paleographical grounds.
Origin
Probably installed originally at findspot.
Provenance
Found near the entrance of the Stūpa at Nagarjunakonda, Site 38 in the course of excavations of the Nagarjunakonda Excavation Project. Identified at Nagarjunakonda Museum (acc. no. 87) in February 2016.
Visual Documentation
Photo(s):
  • JM 2017
  • Sircar & Lahiri
  • IAR 1955-56: pl. XXXIX.C
    • Photo(s) of estampage(s):
  • Sircar & Lahiri
  • Raghunath
    • RTI: JM 2017
    Editors
    Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums and Ingo Strauch.
    Publication history
    First described and edited by Sircar & Lahiri 1959-60 . Re-edited here from available documentation and after autopsy of the stone.

    Edition

    sidhaṁ (1) ◊ °acariyana[ṁ] theriyanaṁ vibhajavādānaṁ kasmiraga[ṁ]dhārayavanavanavāsataṁbapaṁnidipapasādakanaṁ (2) mahāvīhāravāsinaṁ navaṁgaṁsathusasana°athavyaṁjanavinichayavisāradānaṁ °ariyavaṁsapavenidharanaṁ (3) vihāre bhagavato padasaṁghāḍāni patiṭhapita savasatānaṁ hitasukhathanāya ti
    sidhaṁ
    (1) ◊ °acariyana[ṁ] theriyanaṁ vibhajavādānaṁ kasmiraga[ṁ]dhārayavanavanavāsataṁbapaṁnidipapasādakanaṁ
    (2) mahāvīhāravāsinaṁ navaṁgaṁsathusasana°athavyaṁjanavinichayavisāradānaṁ °ariyavaṁsapavenidharanaṁ
    (3) vihāre bhagavato padasaṁghāḍāni patiṭhapita savasatānaṁ hitasukhathanāya ti 
    <ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
					          <w xml:id="tok3801">sidhaṁ</w> 
					          <lb n="1"/>
					          <space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok3802">°acariyana<unclear>ṁ</unclear>
					          </w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3803">theriyanaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3804">vibhajavādānaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3805">kasmiraga<unclear>ṁ</unclear>dhārayavanavanavāsataṁbapaṁnidipapasādakanaṁ</w>
					          <lb n="2"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok3806">mahāvīhāravāsinaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3807">navaṁgaṁsathusasana°athavyaṁjanavinichayavisāradānaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3808">°ariyavaṁsapavenidharanaṁ</w>
					          <lb n="3"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok3809">vihāre</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3810">bhagavato</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3811">padasaṁghāḍāni</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3812">patiṭhapita</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3813">savasatānaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3814">hitasukhathanāya</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok3815">ti</w>
				        </ab>

    Apparatus

    • (1) °acariyana[ṁ] theriyanaṁ °ācariyana[ṁ] theriyāna[ṁ] DCS & ANL .
    • (2) -vīhāra- -vihāra- DCS & ANL .
    • (2) -°athavyaṁjanavinichayavisāradānaṁ -°athavyajanavinichayavisaradanaṁ DCS & ANL .
    • (3) padasaṁghāḍāni patiṭhapita pādasa[ṁ]ghāḍā nipatiṭhapito DCS & ANL . The expected orthography is here pādasaṁghāḍāni, but note that in one of the inscribed buddhapādas from Phanigiri (EIAD 109), the orthography is also padasa[ṁ]ghaḍa (read by von Hinüber 2013b: 11, n. 16 as pādasaghāḍa). Note furthermore the syntactic agreement between the substantive, in nom. pl. nt. (in function of dual), and the past participle patiṭhapita, in an uninflected nom. sg.

    Translation

    Success! In the monastery of the Theriya teachers, proponents of analytical distinctions, who brought the faith to Kashmir, Gandhāra, the [country of the] Yavanas, Vanavāsa, and the island of Tambapaṇṇi, residents of the Great Monastery, who are experts at determining the meaning and letter of the ninefold division of scriptures, who hold the line of transmission of the lineage of the noble ones, this pair of footprints has been established, for the good and well-being of all beings.

    Commentary

    • (1) -pasādakanaṁ On similar uses of forms derived from pra-sad in the context of conversion of countries, see Skilling 1993: 168, n. 13 ; Cousins 2001: 141, n. 23 .
    • (2) -navaṁgaṁsathusasana On the ninefold division of scriptures, specific to Pāli textual transmission and that of several Mahāsāṅghika groups, see Tournier 2017: 45, n. 186 and the references quoted there.

    Secondary bibliography