- Support
- Fragment, probably of a pillar, in blue limestone; dimensions recorded in published sources 12'' and 6'' ( h. 30.48 × w. 15.24 cm).
- Text
- Sanskrit, Southern Brāhmī script. 9 lines. Inscribed area: h. 20 × w. 20 cm.
- Date
- Undated. According to Ramachandran, its palaeography is comparable to the Sanskrit inscriptions from Jaggayyapeta and Gummididurru. This might situate it in the 5th century, but the 4th does not seem excluded to us.
- Origin
- Presumably at Nagarjunakonda.
- Provenance
- Found before 1946, under unknown circumstances and at an unknown location in Nagarjunakonda. Not identified during fieldwork from February 2016 onward.
- Visual Documentation
-
Photo(s) of estampage(s):
- Est. ASI
- Ramachandran 1946-47; 1953, pl. XXXIV, 1
- Raghunath
- Editors
- Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier.
- Publication history
- First described and edited by Ramachandran 1946-47 , then re-edited by the same author in Ramachandran 1953: 28 ; our edition is based on the latter. Re-edited here from our photos of the ASI estampage.
(1)
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
[vama]
+ + + +
(2)
+ +
?
+
?
[ś]uddhācāravr̥ttasya
◊
°akkhaṇḍācchidr(āśaba)(3)lākalmāṣaśīlasya
hetvarthaśabdaśāstrakr̥tapa(ri)(4)śramasya
◊
°āgamavinayopadeśaprakaraṇācaryya[ma](5)tadharasya
◊
vr̥ttaśrutamativāg[v]aiśāradyaguṇopapaṁ(6)nasya
dharmmakathikapañca[ma]s(ya)
viniścaya(7)kathikaviśiṣṭasya
sa(ddharmmacakravibhū)ṣitaddhva(8)jasam[u]c(chra) [ya]
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
(1) + + + + + + + + + + + + [vama] + + + +
(2) + + ? + ? [ś]uddhācāravr̥ttasya ◊ °akkhaṇḍācchidr(āśaba) -
(3)lākalmāṣaśīlasya hetvarthaśabdaśāstrakr̥tapa(ri) -
(4)śramasya ◊ °āgamavinayopadeśaprakaraṇācaryya[ma] -
(5)tadharasya ◊ vr̥ttaśrutamativāg[v]aiśāradyaguṇopapaṁ-
(6)nasya dharmmakathikapañca[ma]s(ya) viniścaya-
(7)kathikaviśiṣṭasya sa(ddharmmacakravibhū)ṣitaddhva-
(8)jasam[u]c(chra) [ya] + + + + + + + + + + + +
<ab xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xml:space="preserve">
<lb n="1"/>
<gap reason="lost" quantity="12" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok4419"><unclear>vama</unclear></w>
<gap reason="lost" quantity="4" unit="character"/>
<lb n="2"/>
<gap reason="lost" quantity="2" unit="character"/>
<gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<gap reason="lost" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok4419bis"><unclear>ś</unclear>uddhācāravr̥ttasya</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok4421">°akkhaṇḍācchidr<supplied reason="lost">āśaba</supplied><lb n="3" break="no"/>lākalmāṣaśīlasya</w>
<w xml:id="tok4426">hetvarthaśabdaśāstrakr̥tapa<supplied reason="lost">ri</supplied><lb n="4" break="no"/>śramasya</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok4427">°āgamavinayopadeśaprakaraṇācaryya<unclear>ma</unclear><lb n="5" break="no"/>tadharasya</w>
<space type="horizontal" quantity="1" unit="character"/>
<w xml:id="tok4432">vr̥ttaśrutamativāg<unclear>v</unclear>aiśāradyaguṇopapaṁ<lb n="6" break="no"/>nasya</w>
<w xml:id="tok4434">dharmmakathikapañca<unclear>ma</unclear>s<supplied reason="lost">ya</supplied></w>
<w xml:id="tok4438">viniścaya<lb n="7" break="no"/>kathikaviśiṣṭasya</w>
<w xml:id="tok4440">sa<supplied reason="lost">ddharmmacakravibhū</supplied>ṣitaddhva<lb n="8" break="no"/>jasam<unclear>u</unclear>c<supplied reason="lost">chra</supplied><unclear>ya</unclear></w>
<gap reason="lost" quantity="12" unit="character"/>
</ab>- (1) [vama] .......la TNR . Or read [dha] (r) [ma] ?
- (2) ? + ? gasya TNR .
- (2–3) °akkhaṇḍācchidr(āśaba)lā- °akuṇṭhācchidrā[ma]lā- TNR . The spelling °akkhaṇḍa is also attested in Pali as a variant of °akhaṇḍa (cf. CPD, s.v.). Our reconstruction, including the word aśabala instead of amala, is supported by the frequent occurrence of this along with the three other adjectives to qualify śīla in Pali and Sanskrit texts. See, for instance, Dīgha-Nikāya III 227; Mahāvastu (ed. Senart 1882-97 ) I 337; Samādhirājasūtra (ed. Vaidya) 103-104.
- (4) -ācaryya[ma]ta- We expect -ācāryya- but the present reading may be interpreted as a Middle-Indicism; the compound ācariyamata/ācāryamata is attested in Buddhist sources in Pali/Sanskrit language.
- (5–6) -guṇopapaṁnasya Understand -guṇopapannasya. An akṣara seems to have been voluntarily removed at the beginning of line 6 before <na>.
- (6) -pañca[ma]s(ya) p(r)avī(ṇa)sya TNR .
- (7–8) sa(ddharmmacakravibhū)ṣitaddhvajasam[u]c(chra) [ya]- maṁ(tra).....pītaddhvajasamr̥ddha sa TNR . Our reconstruction of the last part of the compound is, for instance, supported by the fact that compounds in dhvaja + ud√śri are extremely common in Buddhist literature. The restoration (vibhū)ṣitadhvaja is supported by the fact that in the Gaṇḍavyūha a Buddha bears the name of Lakṣaṇavibhūṣitadhvajacandra. Cf. see BHSD, s.v. The idea of restoring saddharmmacakra- is informed by stanzas 1 and 2 of EIAD 104. At the end, one should probably restore -sam[u]c(chra) [ya] (sya) .
... of ... whose life is characterized by pure conduct; whose
morality is faultless, free from defects, stainless and
spotless; who has exerted himself in the sciences
of logic, polity, and grammar; who preserves the Āgamas, the
Vinaya, the Upadeśas, the Prakaraṇas and the opinions of
[past] teachers; who is endowed with the (four) virtues of
confidence in behavior, learning, thinking, and
speech; who is the fifth (?) Dharma expounder; the
distinguished expounder of exegesis; by whom (?) has been raised
(this) banner adorned with a wheel of the excellent Dharma ...
- bookmark ARIE 1945-46: no. B.159
- bookmark Tsukamoto 1996: no. Naga 70
- bookmark Raghunath 2001: 186-7 (no. 65)
Commentary