Page:The Pālas of Bengal.djvu/79

name of Nālanda(?) as the place of copying.^[1] So it may be assumed with a tolerable degree of certainty that Govindapāla ruled a portion, probably the eastern one, of Magadha. The records which mention this king contain some curious phrases and will be edited before we come to discuss the events of the king's reign:—

1. The Gaya Stone Inscription of Govindapāla.

This record was found in the walls of a small shrine to the south of the main shrine of Gadādhara, just below the courtyard of the Viṣṇupad Temple at Gayā. It has already been mentioned by Cunningham,^[2] who reproduced it in a lithograph, and by Kielhorn.^[3] It is incised on the back-slab of an image of a female deity with four hands and consists of fifteen horizontal and one vertical lines. A lingaṁ is to be found at the top of the record, which runs as follows:—

1. Oṁ^[4] oṁ svasti namo bhagavate Vāsudevaya. Vrahmaṇo dvitīya parārdhe।
2. Vārāha-kalpe vaivaśvata manvantare Aṣṭāviṁśatime yuge kalau pūrvvasaṁ-
3. -ndhyāyāṁ saṁvat 1232 Vikāri saṁmvatsare Śrī Govindapāla-de-
4. -va-gatarājye chaturddaśa saṁmvatsare Gayāyāṁ॥ Vaśiṣṭha-gotro-
5. -ti-guṇo dvivedaḥ Śrī Ḍallaṇo [ऽ] sūta-sūtaṁ mahāntaṁ। Vidyādharaṁ gu
6. gulinaṁ Gadābhṛṇ-maṭhe anākāri dhanā dvijānāṁ॥ bhokṣātham-avdaṁ pra-
7. ti-ṣoḍaś-aiva kārṣāpaṇī vṛddhita-eva ladhvāḥ Mūlañ-ca। pañcāsad-i
8. -h-āsti sākṣī Padm-ābhidhāno-tha ca Viśvarūpa॥ Nṛsiṁha Śrī-dharodeva
9. Dharo Śrī (?) daṇḍa (?) nā(ya)kau। Viṣṇu-seva-karau c-aite tapovana-nivāsinaḥ॥ Rāghavaḥ
10. Śrīkaro ऽ Sūko Dāmodarakaḥ Hīdharau Bhikhodeva nidhirddharmmī c-aite pāla-
11. -na-kāriṇaḥ। A-candrārkam-imaṁ dharmmaṁ pālayiṣyanti ye sukhaṁ। pratyavdaṁ te-
12. -śvamedhasya phalaṁ prāpsanti mānavāḥ॥ Āśvine śukla-pañcamyāṁ bhojyaṁ yo
13. vārayed-idaṁ। Labhate sāv-asaṁdigdhaṁ mahāpātaka-pañcakaṁ। praśasti-
14. -r-iyaṁ kṛtā Śrī-Yuktendreṇa likhitā c-eyaṁ Kājasīyī-Jaya-kumārābhyāṁ॥
15. Oṁ^[5] Someśvaro-tra sākṣasti Padmanābho Gayādvija Devarūpasya purato dattā c-aite Kaparddakā।.

The only peculiarity noticeable in this inscription is the use of the word gate. The words giving the regnal year may be taken—

(1) to mean that the Vikāri Samvatsara and v.s. 1232 fell in the 15th regnal year, i.e. when the 14th was expired;

(2) to mean that Govindapāla himself was dead, but this was the 14th year from the date of his consecration;

1. R. L. Mitra, Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Bib. Ind.), p. xxii Note; but see also the Catalogue of the Hodgson MSS. in the Royal Asiatic Society's Collection—J.R.A.S. (N.S.), Vol. VIII, p. 3.
2. Cunningham's Arch. Survey Report, Vol. III, p. 125, pl. XXXVIII, No. 18.
3. Epi. Ind., Vol. V, App. p. 24, No. 166.
4. Expressed by a symbol.
5. On right side.