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Gupta Period Mahayana Inscriptions in the Gupta Period Masao Shizutani We have some examples of Mahayana sculptures (e. g. Avalokitesvara (1) images) of the Kushana period, but a single Mahayana inscription of the same period has not been found. Among Gupta inscriptions, however, we can find following Mahayana inscriptions. 1. The Gunaighar grant of Vainyagupta: the year 188 (Gupta Era, (2) A. D. 506) This grant records some gifts to "the Avaivarttika , congre- gation of monks (belonging) to the Mahayana" (Mahayanika-avaivarttika- bhiksusagha), established by "the Buddhist monk of Mahayana" (Mahaya- nika-Sakyabhiksu), Santideva, in the Aryya-Avalokitesvara-asrama-vihara. (3) 2. Sarnath Buddhist image inscription (Liiders no. 1441) Written on the base of the standing figure of Bodhisattva Avalokitesv- ara, and in Brahmi script of the 5th century. L.1 Om Deyadharmmoyam paramopasaka-visayapati-suyattrasya. L.2 Yad atra punyam tad bhavatu sarvvasatvanam anuttara jnanava- ptaye. (Translation) Orh ! (This image is) the meritorious gift of the para- mopasaka, the chief of the-district (visayapati) Suyattra. Whatever religious merit (there is) in this (act), let it be for the attainment of supreme know- ledge by all sentient beings. The donor must have been a devotee of Avalokitesvara, and therefore, a follower of Mahayana Buddhism. (4) 3. Mathura Buddhist image inscription (Liiders no. 144) Written on the pedestal of the seated Buddha, headless, arms destro- yed, apparently preaching the Law, and in Brahmi script of the 5th cent- ury. This inscription is said to be partially defaced. L.1 Deyadharmoyam Sam Cghatra) kha (?) kutum [bi] nya Buddhasya -358- (48) Mahayana Inscriptions in the Gupta Period(M. Shizutani) dhituj Dhavasriyaya. L.2 Divankara(sya bimbarn) yad atra punyarh tad bhavatu sarva- satvanam Buddhatvaya.(5) (Translation) The, meritorious gift of Dhavasriya, the daughter of Bud- dha, and the wife of Samghatrakha (?). An'image of Dipankara (Buddha). Whatever religious merit (there is) in this (act), let it be for (the attain- ment of) Buddhahood by all sentient beings. The name of Dipankara appears in both Hinayana and Mahayana lite- ratures, but the cult of Dipankara is frequent in the Northern Buddhism, and in Mahayana. Moreover, the donor's prayer, which expresses a deep desire for the obtainment of Buddhahood by all sentient beings, is no doubt of Mahayana. (6) 4. Kan.heri Buddhist cave inscription (Liiders no. 992) Written on the inside of a small chamber on the left hand of the entrance of the Chaitya Cave, and in Brahmi script of the 4th century. Deyadharmmoyarn acaryya-Buddharaksitasya. Anena sarvva-satva Bud- dha bhavantu. (This is) the meritorious gift of acarya Buddharaksita. By it, may all sentient beings become Buddhas! As stated above, the prayer is of Mahayana. (7) 5. Bodh-Gaya coping-stone. inscription (Bhandarkar no. 1737) Paleographically it belongs to the 6th or 7th century, and records the religious gift by bhiksu Prakhyatakirtti, born from the house of the rulers of Ceylon, "longing to attain Buddhahood" (Buddha tvam-abhikamksata). (8) 6. Jaggayyapeta Buddhist image inscription Written on the relief of the standing Buddha in a stone panel, and in a script of about A. D. 600. It records the dedication of the Buddha image by Candraprabha, pupil of acarya Jayaprabha, "for the purpose of the attainment of Buddhahood" (buddhattva-prapti-nimittam). Each of the above two inscriptions expresses the donor's desire for his obtainment of Buddhahood, which is also chara- cteristic of Mahayana. (Epigraphical notes) 1. mahayanika. This title is found in Mahayana -357- Mahayana Inscriptions in the Gupta Period (M. Shizutani) (49) literature such as Saddharma-pundarika (See Edgerton's Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary), but, it, so far as I know, does not appear in any other Buddhist inscriptions but Gunaighar Grant. In some inscriptions of the Pala period, however, a title "mahayana-anuyayinah" (a follower of Mahayana) is adopted instead of mahayanika, by both monks and lay-wor- (9) shippers. 2. Sakyabhiksu. Among about 140 Buddhist inscriptions of the Gupta period, we find fifty-two votive inscriptions of monks and nuns, and thirty-five of them record the gifts of the Sakyabhiksus, and other two inscriptions record those of the Sakyabhiksunis. The title Sakyabhiksu, however, does not appear in any other Buddhist inscriptions of the pre- Gupta period except a Kushana inscription from Mathura (Liiders no. 134). At any rate, from Gunaighar Grant we can infer that some of the Sakya- bhiksus of the Gupta period were Mahayanists. Epigraphical evidences that the title Sakyabhiksu was not in common use even in the Kushana period, . and that, still in the Gupta period, the title bhiksu is found in several inscriptions, and that the orthodox congregations of the monks, belonging to the Sarvastivadin sect and the Mahisasaka sect, are mentioned as bhiksu- (10) sarngha, tempt us to conjecture that the new title Sakyabhiksu was of Mahayana origin. This conjecture, however, may possibly be erroneous, and the title may have been devised in order to distinguish the Buddhist monks from the Jaina monks. Nevertheless the Sakyabhiksus, whose votive insc- riptions contain the following types of prayer, must have been, in all pro- bability, Mahayanists. 3. Types of prayer. The prayer types of the above two inscriptions (nos. 3, 4) are respectively exceptional, and the most prevalent types in Gupta Buddhist inscriptions are as follows. A. Yad atra punyam tad bhavatu sarvasattvanam anuttara-inanavaptaye. B. Yad atra punyam tad bhavatu matapitroh sarvasattvanam anuttara- jnanavaptaye. C. Yad atra punyam tad bhavatu matapitro acarya-upadhyanam ca sar- vasattvanam anuttara-jnanavaptaye. -356- (50) Mahayana Inscriptions in the Gupta Period (M. Shizutani) Six inscriptions contain The type A, twelve inscriptions, the type B, and five inscriptions, the type C. The types B and C seem to have been derived from the type A, and my impression on these prayers is that they are of Mahayana origin. Of four Pala inscriptions of the Mahayana- (11) anuyayins, three contain the type C. If my impression is right, the votive inscriptions of the Sakyabhiksu containing one of these prayers can be regarded as Mahayana inscriptions, and consequently, eighteen inscriptions (two, of Sakyabhiksuni)will be newly added to the above six Mahayana inscriptions. (1) A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, 1927, fig. 78; V. S. Agrawala, Annual Bib]. of Indian Archaeology, 1934, p. 13ff. (2) D. Ch. Bhattacharyya, Ind. Hist. Quarterly, VI, 1930, pp. 45-60; discussed by N. Dutt, ibid, p. 572f. (3) D. R. Sahni, Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath, 1914, P. 118f., B (d) I. (4) H. Ltiders, IA, XXXIII, 1904, p. 155 f. no. 41; R. D. Banerji, ASI, AR, 1909-10, p. 147; correction by D. R. Sahni, ibid, p. 147, Editor's note. (5) As regards the second line of the text, I prefer Sahni's reading. (6) G. Biihler, ASWI, V, 1883, no. 9. (7) Bloch, ASI, AR, 1908-09, p. 156f. (8) J. Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati & Jaggayyapeta, 1887, p. 111 f. (9) Monks (Banerji-Sastri, JBORS, XXVI, 1940, p. 245f. no. 51; Bloch, ASI, AR, 1908-09, p. 157f. no. VI); lay-worshippers (V. N. Aiyar, EI, XVIII, 1925 -26, p. 74; S. Konow, ASI, AR, 1906-07, p. 100ff., etc.) (10) Sarvastivadin, see Vogel, El, XVI, 1921-22, p. 15; Mahisasaka, see BUhler, EI, I, 1892, p. 240f. (LUders no. 5). (11) V. N. Aiyar, ibid, p. 74; D. R. Sahni, Cat. Mus. Arch. Sarnath, 1914, p. 135f, B (e) 1; Bloch, ibid, p. 157f. -355-.
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