Chittagong Plate of Kāntideva EpiDoc Encoding Arlo Griffiths intellectual authorship of edition Arlo Griffiths DHARMA Génolhac and Lyon DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00007

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The seal is engraved in relief. The scribe does not distinguish b/v and we find v throughout. The scribe uses T and M but also n·. The regular form of ā-mātrā is used in ṇā. The scribe does not seem to be entirely consistent on distinguishing e/ai. An ornamental form of sti is used in svasti (line 1).

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 Updating toward the encoding template v03 changed encoding of correction to śrīmānakāntidevaḥ first revision based on comments from part:daba finished initial encoding of the file started initial encoding of the file
Seal śrī-kāntidevaḥ
Plate

svasti śrīmaj-jaya-skandhāvārāT varddhamāna-pura-vāsakāT

yo dharma-ratna-kiraṇair apavidhya sāndraṁ mohāndhakāra-paṭalaṁ sakalaṁ tri-lokaM| Āloka-lokam anayat sua jayaty udārao dur-vāra-māra-visarasya jayī jinendraḥ|| tad-bhakti-valita-śaktir bhuja-dvayaurjitya-vijita-ripu-darpaḥ| sa jayati dharmaika-rataḥ khyātaḥ śrī-bhadradatto yaḥ|| tasya su-bhāṣita-bhārata-purāṇa-rāmāyoaṇārthavit tanayaḥ nāmnā śrī-dhanadattaḥ prakaṭita-mahimānvayo yo 'bhūT|| tasya gaurī mahā-bhūbhr̥t -sutā vudha-guru-stutā patnī vindu-ratir nāma yā vabhūva śiva-priyā|| tasyā bhoga-nidāna-dāna-salileair ārdrī-kr̥torjad-bhuja- sphūrjad-vajra-valārjitāji-vijaya-prājya-pratāpo mahān·| saumyaḥ sūnr̥ta-vāg arāti-bhaya-kr̥d vikhyāta-kīrttir yaśo jyotsnāhāra-tuṣāra-kunda-dhavalaṁ yo yātavān ātmajaḥ|| yaś ca kurvañ jagat-tuṣṭyai hiraṇya-kaśipu-kṣayaM| nāvalamvitavān māyān dāna-vārir api prabhuḥ||

sa khalv akhila-jana-mano-'bhirāmābhigāmikāneka-guṇa-ratna-bhūṣaṇaḥ| parama-saugato mātā-pitr̥-pādānudhyātaḥ parameśvaro mahārājādhirājaḥ śrīmāna· kāntidevaḥ kuśalī| harikelā-maṇḍale bhāvi-bhūpatīṁs tad-ātma-hitam idaṁ vodhayati viditam astu vaḥ|

Plate anayat sua anayat sa It is almost impossible not to read tsu (cf. tsu in l. 7) or else tsva (cf. lva in l. 13). Majumdar simply reads anayat sa but that reading can only be obtained by force of emendation. -salileair -salilair We do no see here the bipartite vowel marker that is used elsewhere to make -ai, but only the top stroke that is used to make -e in aneka in l. 14. śrīmāna· kāntidevaḥ The name Kāntideva is confirmed by the legend of the seal, so a parsing Śrī Mānakāntideva cannot be entertained.
Seal Śrī Kāntideva
Plate

Hail! From the illustrious victory camp which is the residence at Vardhamānapura:

Victorious is the exalted victor of the irrepressible Māras, the King of Jinas, who, after piercing the thick veil of darkness that is Illusion, with the rays of the jewel of his Law, led the entire Triple World to the world of light!

Victorious is the one called Śrī Bhadradatta, endowed with the power of devotion to that same King of Jinas, solely devoted to Dharma, who has subdued the arrogance of enemies with the force of his two arms!

His son, versed in the meaning of maxims, of the Bhārata, of the Purāṇas and of the Rāmāyaṇa, whose family was of manifest glory, was named Śrī Dhanadatta.

His fair wife, daughter of a great king, praised by wise masters, devoted to Śiva likeŚiva's dear wife Gaurī, daughter of the great mountain, praised by the gods' preceptor , was named Bindurati.

Her son too api is a great king mahān prabhuḥ, gentle, soft-spoken, terrifying to enemies; of renowned fame, because he has obtained glory as white as moonlight, pearl garland, snow and jasmine, being of immense dignity due to his battle victories gained through the power of the cracking thunderbolts that are his strong arms, moistened by the oceans of water libated on the occasion of so numerous gifts that cause enjoyment of merit, and because to please the world, he like the victor of demons dānava-ari, i.e. Viṣṇu, brought about the death of Hiraṇyakaśipu he, like unto gift water dāna-vāri,In order to lend a second meaning to dāna-vārir, I am forced to assume poet licence in the form of masculine gender for normally neuter vāri, which seems plausible if the king himself is asyndetically compared to water. caused his own supplies of gold hiraṇya and food kaśipu to diminish but without taking recourse to deception!

That one, agreeable to everyone's minds and adorned with the numerous qualities of a king who is approachable ābhigāmika, as is well known, is the devout Buddhist parama-saugata, blessed by the feet of his parents, the supreme lord parameśvara, the overlord of great kings mahārāja-adhirāja prosperous Kāntideva, being in good health kuśalin, admonishes future kings in the Harikelā country harikelā-maṇḍala of this, which is beneficial to themselves: May it be known to you

Can this Bhadradatta be identified with the one who figures in the Metal Vase of Devātideva, year 72?

The theme dānam bhoga-nidānam is encountered also in the Plate of Devātideva, year 12, stanza II.

The royal virtues called ābhigāmika are listed in Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra 6.1.3: mahākulīno daivabuddhisattvasampanno vr̥ddhadarśī dhārmikaḥ satyavāg avisaṁvādakaḥ kr̥tajñaḥ sthūlalakṣo mahotsāho 'dīrghasūtraḥ śakyasāmanto dr̥ḍhabuddhir akṣudrapariṣatko vinayakāma ity ābhigāmikā guṇāḥ.

The formulaics of the prose paragraph closely resembles that seen in the Odein stela of Dharmavijaya, year 2.

The inscription was first edited by R.C. Majumdar () with an English translation and photo of an estampage; it is re-edited here by Arlo Griffiths from the same photo of an estampage plus a photo of the plate.

324, 328, 331, 3322, 18 12019 2919, 10320