North Indian Inscriptions

PART B

B 32 (731); PLATES XIX, XXXVIII

ON a pillar of the South-Eastern quadrant, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (P. 14). Edited by Cunningham, PASB. 1874, p. 115 f.; Childers, Academy Vol. VI (1874), p. 586; 612, with a further note by Childers-de Zoysa, Academy Vol. VII (1875), p. 454 f.; Cunningham, StBh. (1879), p. 84; 133, No. 20, and Pl. XXVIII, LIII and LVII ; Hultzsch, ɀDMG; Vol. XL (1886), p. 64, No. 38, and Pl.; IA. Vol. XXI (1892), p. 230, No. 38. A correction was made by Bloch, JBAS. Vol. LXVII, Part I (1898), p. 285, and the inscription was edited again by Ramaprasad Chandra, MASI., No I (1919), p. 20, No. 16, and Pl. V; and by Barua-Sinha, BI. (1926), p. 59 ff., No. 161 ; Barua, Barh. Vol. II (1934) p. 27 ff., and Vol. III (1937), Pl. XLV (45); Lüders, Bhārh. (1941), p. 168 ff.

TEXT:
Jetavana Anādhapeḍiko deti koṭisaṁthatena keta^[1]

TRANSLATION:
Anadhapeḍika (Anāthapiṇḍika) presents the Jetavana, having bought it for a layer of

[B 32-34 refer to one of the same sculpture.]
The story of Anāthapiṇḍika’s presentation of the Jetavana to the Saṁgha occurs in the Chullav. 6, 4, 9 ff.; 6, 9, 1 f., and in the Nidānakathā of the J. Vol. I. p. 92 f.

    In the Chullavagga we are told that prince Jeta reluctantly sold his park to Anāthapiṇḍika for a layer of crores. Anāthapiṇḍika had the money brought out in carts and ordered the ground to be covered with pieces laid side by side. Only a small spot close by the gateway remained uncovered, and here Jeta himself erected a Koṭṭhaka, while Anāthapiṇḍika built vihāras and all sorts of buildings required for the residence of the monks. Later on, when he had entertained the Buddha and his retinue at his own house, he asked the Buddha what he should do with regard to the Jetavana, and was advised by the Buddha to dedicate it ‘to the Saṁgha of the four quarters, whether now present or hereafter to arrive’. Anāthapīṇḍika did so, and the Buddha praised the gift of viharas in some Gathas.

    The account in the Nidānakathā is more explicit, although prince Jeta is here ignored altogether. Anāthapiṇḍika is simply said to have purchased the Jetavana for a layer of eighteen crores and to have erected a large number of buildings, among which the Gandhakuṭī for the Dasabala is expressly mentioned. After the completion of the buildings Anāthapiṇḍika arranges a sumptuous inaugural ceremony, Together with 500 seṭṭhis and accompanied by his son, his two daughters and his wife, each followed by a retinue of 500 persons, he receives the Buddha who has come for that purpose from Rājagaha. The account of the conversation between Anāthapiṇḍika and the Buddha, the transfer of the ārāma to the Saṁgha and the praise of the Buddha is almost literally the same as in the Chullavagga, but it is added that the merchant poured water from a golden bhiṁkāra on the hand of the Buddha.

   The representation of the sculpture is more in keeping with the later version. In the right half of the medallion Anāthapiṇḍika is standing by the side of a bullock cart with the yoke titled up in the air and two bullocks unyoked lying beside it. A labourer is engaged in unloading coins from the cart, while another is carrying a load of coins on his back to the spot where they are to be spread. Two other scaled labourers are covering he ground
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^[1]The reading is distinctly ketā, not ketō as assumed by Barua-Sinha.