Metadata

Support
Fragment of maṇḍapa pillar; h. 32 ×  w. 21 ×  d. 16 cm. The lower part of the pillar bears a frieze and a half lotus.
Text
Middle Indo-Aryan, Southern Brāhmī script. h. 35 ×  w. 21 cm .
Date
Undated. Attributable to the period 250-350 CE on palaeographic grounds.
Origin
Erected originally at findspot.
Provenance
Discovered at Nagarjunakonda, Site 12, in the field near the palace area, in the course of excavations started in October 1954. Field register no. 214. See remarks on EIAD 63, 64. ARIE is confusing about provenance; Raghunath's attribution of this pillar to Site-113 is an error. The site must be called Nagutaravihāra (occurrences of nāgutara/nakutara in EIAD 80, 92.2, 220 and unnumbered potsherd). Inscription noticed at Nagarjunakonda Museum (acc. no. 667) in February 2016.
Visual Documentation
Photo(s):
  • AL 2017
    • Photo(s) of estampage(s):
  • Sircar 1955 (IV)
  • Sircar 1961-62b (IV)
  • Raghunath
    • Editors
    Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums and Ingo Strauch.
    Publication history
    First edited by Sircar 1961-62b: 211-2 (IV) . Re-edited here from the available documentation and after autopsy of the stone.

    Edition

    (1) + + + /// ? + + [sa] /// + + + (2) + + (da) ///tasa saṁvachara[ṁ] /// + + + (3) gīmhapakhaṁ bitiyaṁ divasaṁ paḍhamaṁ 1 [s] (i)(4)ripavate vijayapuriya puvadisābhā(5)ge vihāre cu[la]dhaṁmagiriyaṁ °acaṁtarājā(6)cariyānaṁ sakasamayaparasamaya[su]-

    (1) + + + /// ? + + [sa] /// + + +
    (2) + + (da) ///tasa saṁvachara[ṁ] /// + + +
    (3) gīmhapakhaṁ bitiyaṁ divasaṁ paḍhamaṁ 1 [s] (i) -
    (4)ripavate vijayapuriya puvadisābhā-
    (5)ge vihāre cu[la]dhaṁmagiriyaṁ °acaṁtarājā-
    (6)cariyānaṁ sakasamayaparasamaya[su]- 
    <ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
					          <lb n="1"/>
					          <gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>
					          <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>
					          <gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
					          <gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok4061">
                  <unclear>sa</unclear>
               </w>
					          <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
               <gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>
					          <lb n="2"/>
					          <gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok4062">
                  <supplied reason="lost">da</supplied>
                  <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="left"/>tasa</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4063">saṁvachara<unclear>ṁ</unclear>
               </w>
					          <milestone unit="fragment" type="lost" subtype="right"/>
					          <gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/>
					          <lb n="3"/>
					          <w xml:id="tok4064">gīmhapakhaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4065">bitiyaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4066">divasaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4067">paḍhamaṁ</w>
					          <num xml:id="tok4068" value="1">1</num>
					          <w xml:id="tok4067bis">
                  <unclear>s</unclear><supplied reason="lost">i</supplied><lb n="4" break="no"/>ripavate</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4071">vijayapuriya</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4074">puvadisābhā<lb n="5" break="no"/>ge</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4074bis">vihāre</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4075">cu<unclear>la</unclear>dhaṁmagiriyaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4075bis">°acaṁtarājā<lb n="6" break="no"/>cariyānaṁ</w>
					          <w xml:id="tok4078">sakasamayaparasamaya<unclear>su</unclear>-</w>
				        </ab>

    Apparatus

    • (1) + + ? + + [sa] …. DCS .
    • (3) gīmhapakhaṁ gimhapakhaṁ DCS .
    • (3-4) [s] (i)ripavate [si]ripavate DCS .
    • (6) sakasamayaparasamaya[su]- sakasamayaparasamayasa DCS .

    Translation

    In year ? of ...data ..., in the second fortnight of summer, on the first — 1st — day. In Siripavvata (Śrīparvata), in the monastery on the Culadhamma hill in the eastern part of Vijayapurī, to the supreme teachers of kings, (who distinguish?) well (between?) their own standpoint (samaya) and the standpoint of others …

    Commentary

    The inscription abruptly ends at the end of l. 6 and the other two sides of the pillar (the fourth side is hollowed and stood against a wall) do not contain any inscribed text.

    • (5) °acaṁtarājā- See our note on this word under EIAD 20, l. 1.
    • (6) sakasamayaparasamaya- Sircar 1961-62b: 212 , who reads sakasamayaparasamayasa- suggests to reconstruct -samyakpāraga-, which is unlikely. He also did not identify literary parallels to this expression. Our understanding of this pair of notions is informed by the passage shared by Visuddhimagga 522 and Vibhaṅga-aṭṭakathā 130, and discussed in Cousins 2001: 170f . For a lenghtier discussion, see Tournier forthcoming: 59, n. 107 , who argues this series of titles point to Theriya-Vibhajjavādins monks.

    Secondary bibliography