Octagonal pillar from Alluru — reign of Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla, year 8 author of digital edition Arlo Griffiths Vincent Tournier DHARMA Paris DHARMA_INSEIAD00049

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 2019-2025 Octagonal pillar from Alluru — reign of Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla, year 8 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_INSEIAD00049

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

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

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sipaṁm· halūravathavena gāmikena veṇhusiriṇo Apano bhayāya caṁdāya balakasa naṁdisiri ī jakhasiriya nāgasiriya vaḷa sasa ca nīgamitasaṁbadhibaṁdhavajanasa Imena puṁñopacayasaṁpadānen i Ubhayalokasaṁtāraṇo dhaṁmamayo selakhaṁbho sikharaṁge patithāpito raṁño Ikhākunaṁ siriEhavalacaṁtamūlasa saṁvachara 8gipa 5diva 10Ācariyānaṁ puvanagaselasikharaṁgavāsinaṁ vāsicaṁdanakapānaṁ karatalaparimajakānaṁ Ariyasaṁghasa
sipaṁm·Emend sidham·, as suggested by .halūrāvathavenahalūravaṭhavenaveṇhusiriṇoThe vocalic marker -o is unclear, as there does seem to be a horizontal mark to the left of the akṣara. Understand veṇhusiriṇā.naṁdisiriī balakasa naṁ …vaḷa…sa ca nīgamita-sacatīgamita--badhibaṁdhavajanasa -badhi baṁdhavaja saImena matapuṁñopacaya-puṁjñopacaya-saṁpadānensaṁpadāne …Ubhayalokasaṁtāraṇo … lokasaṁtāraṇosikharaṁge … rageBut cf. l. 10.patithāpitopatiṭhapitoIkhākunaṁ raṁñoIkhākunaṁ raṁjñopuvanagaselasikharaṁgavāsinaṁAvanāgaselasikharavāsinaṁvāsicaṁdanakapānaṁvāsicaṁdanaka…karatalaparimajakānaṁ ... karatalaparimajakānaṁIt is tempting to reconstruct here Ākāsakaratalaparimājakānaṁ, by analogy with the compound ākāśapāṇitalasamacitta immediately preceding the compound vāsīcandanakalpa in the formula cited in the commentary.AriyasaṁghasaAṁriyasaṁghasa pujñāye

Success! The village headman (grāmika) Veṇhusiri (Viṣṇuśrī), resident of Halūra, as the gift (producing an) accumulation of merit for his wife Candā, his son Nandisiri, ... Jakhasiri (Yakṣaśrī), Nāgasiri ... and his own friends, kinsmen, relatives, and people, established in Sikharaṅga a stone pillar, made of the Dharma, which carries across in both worlds.

In the 8th year of King Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla of the Ikṣvākus, in the 5th fortnight of summer, on the 10th day... for the noble community of the teachers residing on the flank of the summit of the mountain [named] Eastern Mountain (i.e., the Puvaseliyas), who are (calm) as the sandalwood tree (in the presence of) an axe, and who are able to touch (the element of space?) with the palm of their hands.

dhaṁmamayoMaybe this implies, in concrete terms, that this pillar had a dharmacakra on top.

puvanagaselasikharaṁgavāsinaṁSince śailaśikhara seems to be a fixed combination, occurring in several Sanskrit texts, we are inclined to see in puvanagaselasikharaṁgavāsinresiding on the flank of the summit of the mountain (sela) [named] Eastern Mountain (naga) a somewhat poetic variant of the normal expression which is puvaseliya. Cf. from the same site EIAD 200, l. 17: Ayirāna pūvaseliyāna nigāyasa.

vāsicaṁdanakapānaṁThe epithet vāsīcandanakalpa- commonly occurs in formulae describing the dispassionate state of Arhants, especially in (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādin sources. Cf. BHSD, s.v. On the meaning of this compound, also occurring in Jaina sources, see : 341–3; : 269–71. The former suggests translating he for whom the (cooling) sandal is not different from a (painful) sword, the latter like the sandalwood tree (in the presence of) the axe. Both interpretations are supported with textual parallels, but we are inclined to follow here Norman’s interpretation. On the use and interpretation of the simile in Pramāṇa works, see : 265 and n. 332.

karatalaparimajakānaṁThe compound ākāśapāṇitalasamacitta, occurring with vāsīcandanakalpa- in (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādin sources, is freely rendered by : 342 as he for whom the plainest reality is no better than the most ethereal substance. The compound attested in the present inscription must be formed on pari-mr̥j, meaning ‘to touch, to reach out to; to rub’ (cf. e.g. BHSD, s.v. parimārjaka), which is quite different from samacitta. The compound brings to mind descriptions of realised Arhants, endowed with r̥ddhi, who are able to touch (pari-mr̥j) the sun and the moon (cf. , vol. IV: 1809–14). But it remains unclear whether the present compound pointed to the mastery of this abhijñā by the recipients of the gift.

First described and edited by . Re-edited here from our photos of the ASI estampage.

1976–77: 5, no. B.13: no. Allu 2: 140 (no. 32)