Pillar from Guṇṭupalli ― reign of Nandivarman II, year 4 or 44 EpiDoc Encoding John Doe intellectual authorship of edition John Doe Conversion of encoding for DHARMA John Doe DHARMA Paris DHARMA_INSEIAD00164

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 2019-2025 Pillar from Guṇṭupalli ― reign of Nandivarman II, year 4 or 44 Arlo Griffiths Arlo Griffiths Vincent Tournier Stefan Baums Ingo Strauch assistance with XML encoding and metadata verification Chloé Chollet assistance with XML encoding and metadata verification Marine Schoettel digital humanities consultant Emmanuelle Morlock digital humanities consultant Andrew Ollett

First digital edition made by École française d'Extrême-Orient (Paris, France), realized in collaboration with the HiSoMA Research Centre (Lyon, France) and hosted by TGIR Huma-Num (France) as Early Inscriptions of Āndhradeśa, in 2015-2017.

Early Inscriptions of Āndhradeśa DHARMA_INSEIAD00164

Copyright (c) 2017 by Stefan Baums, Arlo Griffiths, Ingo Strauch and Vincent Tournier.

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svasti śrīvijayaveṅgīpurāt· śalaṅkakulāmalākāśaśaśāṅkasya bhagavattāmmrabhaktyā kr̥tadharmmanava viṣṇugr̥hacāturvvaidyaśālādyanekavidhapuṇyakarmmaparipūtayaśaśśarīrasya nānāprakāraviṣayarasavijayasya mahārājasadr̥śadhanavisarggasya bhūpatisattamasya śrīhastivarmmadharmmamahārājasya prapautraḥ dayānukampāparāyaṇasyānekaśatasahasrahiraṇyagobhūjīvatarupradānārjjitadharmmasya prajānāndīkarasya śrīnandivarmmamahārājasya pautraḥ °īṣanmātropakārāpakārakr̥tapratīkārasya pratāpopanatasāmantasya prabhūtaprakāmadhanapradasya dviṭpakṣacaṇḍadaṇḍasya mahārājācaṇḍavarmmaṇaḥ putro bhagavaccitrarathasvāmipādānuddhyāto bappabhaṭṭārakapādabhaktaḫ paramabhāgavataś śālaṅkāyanavaṁśaprabhavo mahārājaśrīvijayanandivarmmā veṅgīviṣayamutuḍabhūtaṭṭāṇḍakagrāmeyakān samājñāpayati |°asti cāyaṁ grāmaḥ °asmatkulagotrābhīvr̥ddhaye dhātu sya daśabalasukr̥tabalinas tyāga bhagavato buddhasya śiṣyāṇāṁ sadmano bharaṇārthaṁ ṣaṣṭendriyodbhūtānubhūta varṣṣiṇo kṣullakānandasthaviravasupīṭhācāryyāya? nātaviṣaye °ā nā?garājena °ātmanaḥ puṇyapratāpasatyayaśobhivr̥ddhaye vihāranivāsināṁ siddhārthakānāṁ vima ritaḥ to vāsine sthānavarāya sarvvabhūtaśaraṇāya variṣṭhāyo yativarāya °ācandrārkkatārakapr̥thivīsamakālaṁ saddhāmasya vihārasya dāyapradeyaṁ dadhyatakra sāmantabhaṭṭavarabhūparihāraṁ vandyamānasphuradaṅghribhyaḥ buddhaśiṣyebhyaḥ sampradattaḥ paṭṭikā dattā saṁ °iti |bahubhir vvasudhā bhuktā bahubhiś cānupālitā yasya yasya yadā bhūmiś tasya tasya tadā phalam· |ṣaṣṭivarṣṣasahasrāṇi svargge tiṣṭhati bhūmidaḥ °ākṣeptā cānumantā ca tāny eva narake vaset· |bhūmidānāt paran dānan na bhūtan na bhaviṣyati tasyaiva haraṇāt pāpan na bhūtan nabhaviṣyati |yathā candramaso vr̥ddhir ahany ahani jāyate tathā bhūmikr̥taṁ puṇyam sasye sasye vivarddhate |
-tāmmrā-Sankaranarayanan notes: The reading could be -tāmbra as well. Another probable, but doubtful reading, as stated above, is Bhagavat-Śambhubhaktyā: 93.Sankaranarayanan notes: Some two or three letters are (sic) lost here are perhaps Śiva or Śrīśiva: 93.-cāturvvaidya-cāturvvidyācāturvaidya-On the compound ending in -śarīrasya, Sankaranarayanan notes: Here the intended vigraha is dharmāḥ cha Śiva-Vishṇu śālādīni puṇya-karmāṇi cha, dharma karmāṇi (a Dvandva compound); kṛitani cha tāni dharma karmāṇi cha (a Karmadhāraya compound); taiḥ paripūtam yaśa ēva śarīraṃ yasya, tasya (a Bahuvrīhi compound): 93.-viṣaya-Restitution proposed by in note.śrī-hasti-Restitution proposed by in note.-hiraṇya-go-bhū-Restitution proposed by in note.prajānāndīkarasyaprajānāṁ hitakarasyaīṣān-māRestitution proposed by in note.-mātropakārāpakārakr̥tapratīkārasya-mātrā-opakār-āpakāra-pratīkārasya or -mātr-opakār-āpakāra-āpkaras-pratīkārasyaThis seems to be the underluying reading behind what we find, marred by printing errors, on pp. 88 and 94; -mātr-opakār-āpakāra-kṛta-pratīkārasya ().-prakāma-dhana-pradasyaRestitution proposed by in note.dviṭpakṣa-dvitpakṣa-Corrected in .-citrarathasvāmipādānuddhyātoRestitution proposed by in note.-mahārāja-śrī-Restitution proposed by in note.veṅgīviṣaya-vacaḍaviṣaya-He believes that what he reads vacaḍa is the name of a village (itself eponymous of a district). Our restitution of the first two akṣaras, ignored by Sankaranarayanan, is conjectural. Other possibilities would be nātaviṣaya- or nāgaviṣaya- (cf. l. 12)-mutuḍabhūtaṭṭāṇḍakagrāmeyakānWe are unable to read the first eight akṣara read by Sankaranarayanan, but the text is certainly unacceptable as it stands. One might expect something like -mutuḍasahitān, a toponym and then grāmeyakān.-ti | °asti cāyaṁ grāmaḥRestitution proposed by in note (with typing error sati for asti, corrected in )dhātusyadaśabalasukr̥tabalinasdhātuvara…daśabala¬sukr̥ta-balinasSankaranarayanan does not evaluate the length of the lacuna after dhātuvara but notes: These mutilated expressions in this line remind us of dhātu-vara-parigṛihītasya ([reference to EIAD 8], line 3); and daśa-bala-balinaḥ puṇya-jñāna-sambhāra-bhārasya ([reference to EIAD 174]). These are the epithets of the Buddha and of the Buddha-sangha as the case may be: 94. Even giving substantial benefit of the doubt, we have difficulty believing that the text really contained the akṣaras dhātuvara, but it is certainly impossible, for lack of space, to presume here anything like the compound dhātuvaraparigr̥hītasya.varṣṣiṇo kṣullakānanda-Sankaranarayanan notes: Or varshshiṇ=ākshullak-: 95. Later, he notes: Or ‘varṣine’kṣullakā: 73.nātaviṣayenataviṣayeChanged to nātaviṣaye in .yaśobhivr̥ddhayeRestitution proposed by in note.siddhārthakānāṁThere appears to be a stroke connected to the repha, and it is not impossible to imagine that it made a whole loop representing the vowel i.-pr̥thivīsamakālaṁRestitution proposed by in note.vihārasyavihāra ..-dadhySankaranarayanan refers in his note to the privilege a-harita-paṁnāsaka-puppa-phala-duddha-dadhi-ghaṭa-ggahaṁ mentioned in the Kānukollu plates of Nandivarman I (EIAD 161), lines 20-2.vandyamāna-sphurad-Restitution proposed by in note.sampradattaḥRestitution proposed by in note; sampradattam would be equally possible.paṭṭikāsaṁ °itisaṁ 4 °itiSankaranarayanan notes: we have here only a symbol denoting 4 that can be compared with numerals denoting 4 in other epigraphs. The reading here can also be, as stated above, dattā 40 4. The reading of the next expression iti is purely conjectural: 95.
(1-9) Hail! From the illustrious and victorious city of Veṅgī, the great-grandson of the illustrious Hastivarman, great king according to dharma, who was the moon in the pure sky of the lineage of Śalaṅka, whose body of fame was purified by many kinds of meritorious acts such as his acts of dharma, his (founding) of new temples for … Viṣṇu and of cāturvaidyaśālās (made) out of devotion for the Lord Tāmra, who in many ways obtained victory over his tastes for sensual objects (nānāprakāraviṣayarasa¬vijayasya), who released riches like the great king (i.e. Kubera?), and who is the most excellent/learned among kings (bhūpatisattama); the grandson of the illustrious great king Nandivarman, who was entirely devoted to sympathy and compassion, who earned merit (dharma) through numerous gifts of thousands of hundreds (of pieces of) [gold, cows, land] and living trees, and who caused the joy of his subjects; the son of the great king Acaṇḍavarman, who responded to even [the slightest] service or offense (°īṣanmātropakārāpakārapratīkārasya), due to whose splendor the neighboring kings prostrated, who gave in abundance riches of desired objects (prabhūtaprakāmadhana-pradasya), whose punishment was terrible to the multitude of (or: those siding with) his enemies; the [illustrious] and victorious [great king] Nandivarman, who is favored by [the feet] of the Lord Citrarathasvāmin, devoted to the feet of his lord father, supreme devotee of the Lord (i.e. Viṣṇu), and born in the lineage of the Śālaṅkāyanas, orders the villagers of … along with their headmen of the Veṅgī (?) district: (9-20) ‘There is this village; in order to increase our lineage and gotra … to maintain the dwelling of the disciples of the Bhagavant Buddha, …, who possesses the benefit of the ten powers (daśabalasukr̥tabalin), … liberality (tyāga) … what is produced and perceived by the mind (ṣaṣṭe[ndri]yodbhūtānubhūta) … showering (varṣiṇo) … to the great (akṣullaka), felicitous, and venerable master Vasupīṭha in the district Nāta (or Nāga?) … by [Nā?]garāja … in order to increase his merit, splendor, faithfulness and fame … in favor of (the community of monks of the school) of the Siddhārthakas [residing] in the monastery … which is the best place of …, which is a refuge for all beings, … the most excellent … and consists of the best among ascetics, [for as long as] the moon, sun, stars and earth … to be given as present (dāyapradeyaṁ) to the monastery, the excellent dwelling-place (saddhāmasya) … sour milk (dadhy atakra …) … the exemption (applicable) on land of the best among bhaṭṭas in the neighborhood (sāmantabhaṭṭavarabhūparihāraṁ) … presented to the disciples of the Buddha, whose [glittering feet are honored]. [A charter] was given (in the) year … .’ (20-23) I. By many land has been ruled (bhukta); and by many it has been protected. Whoever holds land at a given moment, to him does the fruit then belong. II. The giver of land remains sixty thousand years in heaven; the one who confiscates [land] as well as the one who approves [the confiscation] will reside as many [years] in hell. III. There is not and will not be any higher gift than the gift of land. There is not and will not be any worse sin than the theft of the same. IV. As much as the moon victoriously grows from day to day, the land-made merit prospers from crop to crop.

This kind of grant is typically found engraved on copper plates. As Sankaranarayanan argues, it seems likely that we have on this pillar a copy of a copper-plate grant, maybe commissioned, as he suggests, by the monks of the endowed monastery. The text starts with a four-tiered genealogy of the Śālaṅkāyana kings from the donor Nandivarman to his great grandfather Hastivarman. The king orders villagers concerning a gift to a Buddhist community or even to the Buddha (the last part of the text are heavily lacunose).

tāmmrā-: 83-84 has a long discussion about who this god Tāmra is and concludes that he is Rudra-Śiva in the form of the rising sun.

mahārājasadr̥śadhanavisarggasyaOn the identification of mahārāja as Kubera, see : 85.

bhūpatisattamasyaOn sattama with the meaning of “learned,” see : 86.

dviṭpakṣacaṇḍadaṇḍasyaAs pointed out by : 88 we have here a pravacana of the name of the king Acaṇḍavarman, taken in the sense of ‘one who has no violent person excelling him’, i.e., the most violent person.

ṣaṣṭendriyodbhūtānubhūtaOn ṣaṣṭendriya as manas, see .

kṣullakānandasthaviravasupīṭhācāryyāya?Sankaranarayanan notes : A Buddhabhikṣu is also introduced and praised (line 12 ff. much damaged). His names was perhaps Vasupīṭhācārya and had the title(?) akṣullakānanda-sthavira” ‘an elderly monk of the congregation full of bliss of high order’: 60.

siddhārthakānāṁThe context suggests that we have here a Sanskrit form of the name of the school known as Siddhatthaka to the Kathāvatthu-aṭṭakathā, attributed to Buddhaghosa, as one of the Andhaka schools. This would represent the only safe epigraphic evidence of this school known so far. Cf. Tournier, in preparation.

First described and very tentatively edited by : 78-81. Improved edition by , published in fact in 1992 and revised as . The text is re-examined here from the available visual documentation, which is very poor. The apparently good estampage used by Sankaranarayanan is not available to us. We thus rely heavily on his edition and can suggest improvements only in few passages. Many conjectural restorations by Sankaranarayanan are pertinent and are recorded in our apparatus.

1977-78: no. B.441977-78: 60-1: 56-8: 135-7 (no. 68): no. Gunt 9: 113-4 (no. 11): 24