North Indian Inscriptions

PART B

the Kosambakuṭi. Unfortunately the sculpture does not settle the question. As shown in the treatment of B 33 the Gaṇḍamba tree is also represented, though it was not in the Jetavana but only in its vicinity. At any rate the Kosambakuṭi appears to have been in existence from the middle of the first century B.C. to the middle of the first century. A.D.

B 35 (805); PLATES XIX, XL

ON a pillar, formerly at Batanmāra, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Edited by Cunningham, StBh. (1879), p. 88; 138, No. 92, and Pl. XXVIII and LV ; Hultzsch, ɀDMG., Vol. XL (1886), p. 71, No. 99, and Pl.; IA. Vol. XXI (1892), p. 235, No. 99; Barua-Sinha, BI. (1926), p. 61, No. 164; Barua, Barh. Vol. II (1934), p. 55f., and Vol. III (1937), Pl. LIV (56); Lüders, Bhārh. (1941), p. 164.

TEXT:
Idasalaguha

TRANSLATION:
The Idasāla (Indraśāla) cave.

   The story to which the sculpture refers is the Sakkapañhasuttanta, No 21 of the D. (II, 263 ff.)^[1]. When the Buddha has retired for meditation to the Indasāla cave on Mount Vediyaka in the vicinity of Rājagaha^[2], Sakka feels a desire to pay him a visit together with the Tāvatiṁsa gods, but fearing that he might not meet with a good reception, he sends the Gandharva Pāñchasikha in advance to put the Buddha in a favourable mood. Pañchasikha takes his viṇā and sings before the Buddha a love-song embellished with complimentary allusions to the Buddha. When Sakka sees that the Buddha is pleased with the songs, he asks Pañchasikha to announce his arrival to the Buddha. With the permissions of the Buddha, Sakka and the other gods enter the cave, and in the ensuring conversation between the Buddha and Sakka the Buddha answers several questions addressed to him by the god.

   The medallion has been injured by cutting away both sides when the pillar was set up as an architrave in ones of the cenotaphs atr Batanmāra, but the middle portion and the inscription are in a good state of preservation. The sculpture represents tha cave, in the centre of which a seat decorated with floral designs and surmounted by an umbrella indicates the presence of the Buddha. Nine gods are seated cross-legged around it, the one facing the seat being probably meant to be Sakka. On the left, outside the cave, Pañchasikha stands playing the vīṇā; unfortunately the right half of the figure has been cut off. Above the cave, rocks on which two monkeys are seated, a tree, ands holes from which the heads of some animals are coming out represent the mountain on which the Indasalaguha was situated.

   The name of the cave is the same as in the Pāli texts and Indasālaguhā was also the form of the name in the Dīrghāgama of the Dharmaguptas, while in the texts of the other schools Indraśailaguhā is the current form^[3]. As remarked by Barua-Sinha (p. 125), Indasālaguhā is an upanidhāpaññatti, ‘ a name derived from an object standing at close proximity’, because
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^[1]Cf. E. Waldschmidt, Bruachstücke buddhistischer Sūtras aus dem ɀentralasiatischen Sanskritkanon, Leipzig, 1932, S. 58-113 (Das Śakrapraśna-sūtra).
^[2]On the location of the cave according to Buddhaghosa and in respect to the description of the Chinese pilgrims see Barua-Sinha pp. 125-127; Nundo Lal Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, 2nd ed. London 1927, p. 79; Bimala Churn Law, Geography of Early Buddhism, London, 1932, p. 42; Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names, Vol. I, p. 313 (further references).
^[3]Waldschmidt l.c., p. 61, note