North Indian Inscriptions

PART B

1. B 1-12 INSCRIPTIONS ATTACHED TO THE FIGURES OF DEMI-GODS AND GODDESSES.

B 1 (794); PLATES XVI, XXIX

ON the inner face of the same pillar as Nos. A 58, B 2 and B 3, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta(P 5). The inscription is engraved on the same side as No. A 58. Edited by Cunningham, PASB. 1874, p. 111; StBh. (1879), p. 20; 138, No. 82, and Pl. XXII and LV; Hultzsch, ɀDMG. Vol. XL (1886), p. 70, No. 92, and Pl.; IA. Vol. XXI (1892), p.234, No. 92; Barua-Sinha, BI. (1926), p. 65 ff., No. 174; Barua, Barh., Vol. II (1934), p. 58 f., Vol. III (1937), Pl. LV and LVI (60); Lüders, Bhārh. (1941), p. 10.

TEXT:
Kupiro yakho

TRANSLATION:
The Yaksha Kupira (Kubera).

   The figures on the corner Pillar on the North-Western quadrant of the stone-railing (P 5) are labelled as Kupiro yakho (B 1), Chadā yakhi (B 2), Ajakālako yakho (B 3) and the figures on the corner pillar of the South-Eastern quadrant (P 1) as Viruḍako yakho (B 4), Gaṁgitoyakho (B 5), Chakavāko nāgarājā (B 6). As Kupira (Kubera) and Viruḍaka (Virūḍhaka) are the guardians of the Northern and Southern region respectively we can assume with certainty that on the lost corner pillars of both the other quadrants Virūpakkha and Dhataraṭṭha, the guardians of the West and East, were represented, each one with two companions. Vogel, Indian Serpent-lore, p. 212, is of the opinion that the names of the four world-guardians do not occur in the older Pāli texts, but they are given in the Mahāsamayasutta (D. II, 258) and in the Āṭānāṭiyasutta (D. III, 197 ff.) in accordance with their fixed distribution in the four directions. Of the above named companions of Kuvera and Virūḷhaka three viz. Chakkavāka, Gaṁgita and Chaṁdā are not yet ascertained in literature. They seem to have been local deities venerated in the region of Bhārhut. The Yaksha labelled Supāvaso yakho (B 7) who is represented on the pillar of the South-Eastern quadrant evidently belongs to the same class too.

   The corner pillar on which our inscription appears has three figures, one female and two male ones, each on one side of the pillar. The figure labelled Kupiro yakho is to the left of the figure of Chandrā (B 2). Kubera is represented standing with folded hands on a dwarf, who supports himself on his feet and hands. This is in accordance with his ordinary epithet naravāhana.^[1] As recognised by Cunningham, he owes his position on the northern side of the Stūpa to the guardianship of the North which is attributed to him in Buddhist as well as in
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^[1]Barua,Barh. II., p. 58, points out that Kuvera has been designated as nārivādhana ‘one having a woman for his vehicle’ in the SnA. (p. 370), where, however, no more is mentioned than that he mounted a nārivāhana for his journey to the upāsikā Nandamātā. Naravāhana certainly only means that his vehicle consists of human beings as it is the case in the Āṭānāṭiyas. (D. III, 200) where the Uttarakurus, whose sovereign Kuvera is, are referred to as using men and women, young boys and maidens as vahana.