{{Infobox settlement , name = Bodh Gayā , native_name = बोधगया , native_name_lang = hi , other_name = Bodhgayā , settlement_type = town , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , nickname = , map_alt = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = India Bihar , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = {{coord, 24.695102, N, 84.991275, E, display=inline,title , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = India , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = Bihar , subdivision_type2 = District , subdivision_name2 =

Gaya Gaya may refer to: Geography Czech Republic *Gaya (German and Latin), Kyjov (Hodonín District), a town Guinea * Gaya or Gayah, a town India *Gaya, India, a city in Bihar **Gaya Airport *Bodh Gaya, a town in Bihar near Gaya *Gaya district, Bi ...

, established_title = , established_date = , founder = , named_for = , government_type = , governing_body = , unit_pref = Metric , area_footnotes = , area_rank = , area_total_km2 = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = , population_total = 30883 , population_as_of = 2001 , population_rank = , population_density_km2 = auto , population_demonym = , population_note = , demographics_type1 = Languages , demographics1_title1 = Official , demographics1_info1 = Maithili, Hindi , timezone1 =

IST Ist or IST may refer to: Information Science and Technology * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Science and Technology * Graduate School / Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan * Graduate School ...

, utc_offset1 = +5:30 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , registration_plate = , website = , footnotes = The Bodh Gayā inscription of Mahānāman is an epigraphic record documenting the construction of a temple by the Sri Lankan monk Mahānāman at

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

in the late sixth century.

Location

Bodh Gayā is located south of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, India. The shrine built by Mahānāman stood to the north of the Mahabodhi temple. The inscription, recovered by

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...

in the course of his excavations, is reported to be in the

Indian Museum The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...

; the inked impression used by

John Faithfull Fleet John Faithfull Fleet C.I.E (1847 – 21 February 1917) was an English civil servant with the Indian Civil Service and became known as a historian, epigraphist and linguist. His research in Indian epigraphy and history, conducted in India over ...

is in the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Publication

The

inscription was published by John Faithfull Fleet in 1888. It has subsequently drawn the attention of a number of scholars. Sylvain Lévi reinterpreted the inscription in 1929 in a study that showed the author of the text was familiar with Vasubandhu and the ''Abhidharmakoṣa''. In a complex analysis, Senarath Paranavitana attempted to link the Mahānaman of the inscription with Mahānāman, author of the Mahavamsa, but this interpretation has been rejected by

Oskar von Hinüber Oskar von Hinüber (born 18 February 1939 in Hanover) is a German Indologist. He joined the German Navy after leaving high school, and holds the rank of Commander as a reservist. From 1960 to 1966 he studied at University of Tübingen, University ...

. Senarath Paranavitana, "Mahanaman, the Author of the Mahavamsa." ''

University of Ceylon Review A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ro ...

'' 20 (1962): pp. 269-286; Oskar von Hinüber, ''Handbook of Pāli Literature'' (Berlin, 1996).

Description and Contents

The inscription records the building of a temple by a monk named Mahānāman. It is dated year 267, in the month of caitra on the 8th day of the śudi fortnight. This date is generally accepted as belonging to the Gupta era and thus refers to 586-87 CE.

Text

The full text is given in The South Asia Inscriptions Database. The purport of the inscription is given in lines 9-11. 9-11) laṅkādvīpaprasūtaḥ ... san mahānāmanāmā tenoccair bbodhimaṇḍe śaśikaradhavalaḥ sarvvato maṇḍapena kāntaḥ prāsāda eṣa smarabalajayinaḥ kārito lokaśāstuḥ

Translation

The purport of the inscription can be translated as follows: This beautiful mansion of the Teacher of mankind, dazzling white as the rays of the moon ... has been caused to be made by him ... whose excellent name was Mahānāman, born in the island of Laṅkā.

Notes

External links

SIDDHAṂ: The South Asia Inscriptions DatabaseBritish Museum Collection Online page
Sanskrit inscriptions in India Gupta and post-Gupta inscriptions