Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c14.s3: 5. Sārnāth Umbrella Shaft Inscription of the Time of Kaniṣka

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c14.s3

Language: English

5. Sārnāth Umbrella Shaft Inscription of the Time of Kaniṣka

c14.s3.1

c14.s3.2

Type and format Dedicatory inscription on a stone umbrella shaft, originally connected with a colossal Bodhisattva statue (the statue itself bears two shorter dedicatory inscriptions of similar

1. mahāra[*sic*]jasya k[ā]ṇiṣkasya saṃ 3 he 3 di 20-2
2. etāye pūrvaye bhikṣusya puṣyavuddhīsya saddhyevi-
3. hārisya bhikṣusya balasya tr[e]pi[ṭa]kasya
4. bodhisatvo chatrayaṣṭi ca pratiṣṭhāpit[o]
5. bārāṇasiye bhagavato ca[ṃ]k[r?]ame sahā māta-
6. pitihi sahā upaddhyāyāca[rye]hi saddhyevihāri-
7. hi aṃtevāsikehi ca sahā buddhamitraye trepiṭika-
8. ye sahā kṣatra[pe]na vanasparena kharapall[ā]-
9. nena ca sahā ca[tu]hi pariṣāhi sarvasatvanaṃ
10. hitā[*sic*]sukhārtthaṃ

c14.s3.5

Line 1: *k[ā]ṇiṣkasa*: Vogel and Sircar read *kaṇiṣkasya*. Here and in several other places the reading (especially of the vowel signs) is uncertain due to wear on the stone surface. Sircar’s readings are generally more accurate than Vogel’s.

c14.s3.6

Translation

c14.s3.7

1. In the year 3 of the Great King Kaniṣka, [month] 3 of winter, day 22:
2–3. on this aforementioned [date], [as the gift] of the Monk Bala, Tripiṭaka Master and companion of the Monk Puṣyavuddhi [= Puṣyavṛddhi or Puṣyabuddhi?],
4. this Bodhisattva and umbrella-and-staff was established
5. in Vārāṇasi, at the Lord’s promenade, together with [Bala’s] mother
6. and father, with his teachers and masters, his companions
7. and students, with the Tripiṭaka Master Buddhamitrā,
8. with the Kṣatrapa Vanaspara and Kharapallāna,
9. and with the four communities,
10. for the welfare and happiness of all beings.

c14.s3.8

Notes

c14.s3.9

Line 1: “winter”: *he* = *hemanta*; “day”: *di* = *divase* (cf. 5.4.2.2). Line 8: “and Kharapallāna”: In one of the accompanying inscriptions on the Bodhisattva statue Kharapallāna is entitled *mahākṣatrapa*; perhaps his title has been inadvertently omitted here.