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Mahayana
Inscriptions
Gupta
Period
Masao
We have some examples
(1)
images) of the Kushana
in the
Shizutani
of Mahayana sculptures
(e. g. Avalokitesvara
period, but a single Mahayana
inscription
same period has not been found. Among Gupta inscriptions,
can find following Mahayana
1. The Gunaighar
of the
however, we
inscriptions.
grant
of Vainyagupta:
(2)
A. D. 506) This grant records
some
gifts
the year 188 (Gupta
to "the
Avaivarttika ,
Era,
congre-
gation of monks (belonging) to the Mahayana" (Mahayanika-avaivarttikabhiksusagha), established by "the Buddhist monk of Mahayana" (Mahayanika-Sakyabhiksu),
Santideva,
in the Aryya-Avalokitesvara-asrama-vihara.
(3)
2.
Sarnath Buddhist image inscription
Written
(Liiders no. 1441)
on the base of the standing figure of Bodhisattva
Avalokitesv-
ara, and in Brahmi script of the 5th century.
L.1
Om Deyadharmmoyam
L.2
Yad atra punyam
paramopasaka-visayapati-suyattrasya.
tad bhavatu
sarvvasatvanam
anuttara jnanava-
ptaye. (Translation) Orh ! (This image is) the meritorious gift of the paramopasaka, the chief of the-district (visayapati) Suyattra. Whatever religious
merit (there is) in this (act), let it be for the attainment
ledge by all sentient
of supreme know-
beings.
The donor must have been a devotee of Avalokitesvara,
a follower
of Mahayana
3. Mathura
Buddhist
and therefore,
Buddhism.
(4)
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 century. This inscription is said to be partially defaced.
L.1
Deyadharmoyam
Sam Cghatra) kha (?)
-358-
kutum [bi] nya Buddhasya
(48)
Mahayana
Inscriptions
in the Gupta Period(M.
Shizutani)
dhituj Dhavasriyaya.
L.2
Divankara(sya
bimbarn)
yad atra
punyarh
tad bhavatu
sarva-
(5)
satvanam Buddhatvaya.
(Translation) The, meritorious gift of Dhavasriya, the daughter of Buddha, and the wife of Samghatrakha (?). An'image of Dipankara (Buddha).
Whatever religious merit (there is) in this (act), let it be for (the attainment of) Buddhahood by all sentient beings.
The name of Dipankara appears in both Hinayana and Mahayana literatures, 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
Written
entrance
cave inscription
(Liiders no. 992)
on the inside of a small chamber
on the
left
hand
of the
of the Chaitya Cave, and in Brahmi script of the 4th century.
Deyadharmmoyarn
dha bhavantu.
acaryya-Buddharaksitasya.
(This is) the meritorious
it, may all sentient
Anena sarvva-satva
gift of acarya
Buddharaksita.
BudBy
beings become Buddhas!
As stated above, the prayer
5.
is of Mahayana.
(7)
Bodh-Gaya coping-stone. inscription (Bhandarkar
Paleographically
it belongs
to the 6th or 7th century,
religious gift by bhiksu Prakhyatakirtti,
of Ceylon, "longing
6.
Jaggayyapeta
of the standing
to attain
and records the
born from the house of the rulers
(Buddha tvam-abhikamksata).
(8)
Buddhist image inscription
Written on the relief
Buddhahood"
Buddha in a stone panel, and in a script of about
600. It records the dedication
of acarya Jayaprabha,
of the Buddha image by Candraprabha,
"for the purpose of the attainment
(buddhattva-prapti-nimittam).
the donor's
no. 1737)
of Buddhahood,
pupil
of Buddhahood"
Each of the above two inscriptions
desire for his obtainment
A. D.
expresses
which is also chara-
cteristic of Mahayana.
(Epigraphical
notes)
1. mahayanika.
-357-
This title is found in Mahayana
Mahayana
literature
Inscriptions
such as Saddharma-pundarika
Sanskrit
Dictionary),
(See Edgerton's
but, it, so far as I know,
other Buddhist inscriptions
the
in the Gupta Period (M. Shizutani)
but Gunaighar
Buddhist
Hybrid
appear
in any
does not
Grant. In some inscriptions
Pala period, however, a title "mahayana-anuyayinah"
Mahayana)
(9)
shippers.
is adopted instead
2. Sakyabhiksu.
period,
we find
thirty-five
record
those
does not appear
Gupta period except a Kushana
At any rate, from Gunaighar
bhiksus
inscriptions
of monks
of the
Gupta
Sakyabhiksunis.
in any other
period
of
by both monks and lay-wor-
votive inscriptions
of the
of
(a follower
of them record the gifts of the Sakyabhiksus,
inscriptions
however,
of mahayanika,
Among about 140 Buddhist
fifty-two
(49)
and
and
nuns,
and
other
two
title
Sakyabhiksu,
Buddhist inscriptions
of the pre-
inscription
The
of the Gupta
from Mathura (Liiders no. 134).
Grant we can infer that some of the Sakyawere
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
inscriptions,
and that the orthodox
title bhiksu is found
congregations
in several
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
from the Jaina monks. Nevertheless
riptions
contain
the Sakyabhiksus,
the Buddhist monks
whose votive insc-
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
Gupta Buddhist inscriptions are as follows.
the most prevalent
A. Yad atra punyam tad bhavatu sarvasattvanam
B. Yad atra punyam
jnanavaptaye.
C. Yad atra punyam
vasattvanam
tad bhavatu
matapitroh
-356-
in
anuttara-inanavaptaye.
sarvasattvanam
tad bhavatu matapitro acarya-upadhyanam
anuttara-jnanavaptaye.
types
anuttaraca sar-
(50)
Mahayana Inscriptions in the Gupta Period (M. Shizutani)
Six inscriptions
contain The type A, twelve inscriptions,
and five inscriptions,
derived
from
the
the type B,
the type C. The types B and C seem to have been
type A, and
my impression
on these prayers is that
they are of Mahayana
origin. Of four Pala inscriptions of the Mahayana(11)
three contain the type C. If my impression is right, the votive
anuyayins,
inscriptions
regarded
of the Sakyabhiksu
as Mahayana
containing
inscriptions,
(two, of Sakyabhiksuni)will
inscriptions.
one of these prayers
and consequently,
be newly
added
to the
can be
eighteen inscriptions
above six Mahayana
(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,
1909-10, p. 147; correction by D. R. Sahni, ibid, p. 147, Editor's note.
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
111
As regards the second line of the text, I prefer Sahni's reading.
G. Biihler, ASWI, V, 1883, no. 9.
Bloch, ASI, AR, 1908-09, p. 156f.
J. Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati & Jaggayyapeta,
f.
AR,
1887, p.
(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,
EI, I, 1892, p. 240f. (LUders no. 5).
(11) V. N. Aiyar, ibid, p. 74; D. R. Sahni,
135f, B (e) 1; Bloch, ibid, p. 157f.
-355-
see BUhler,
Cat. Mus. Arch. Sarnath,
1914, p.

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