This text, datable to the fourth century, is taken from the copper-plate of Mahārāja Bhuluṇḍa published in K. V. Ramesh and S. P. Tiwari, A Copper-Plate Hoard of the Gupta Period from Bagh, Madhya Pradesh (New Delhi, 1990): 1-2, here with the corrections of the editors included. They have offered a translation but my own understanding differs in a number of minor ways. The implications and importance of the inscription are explored in my book The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual (Cambridge, 2009) where this text and translation are given in chapter 1.
Text
svasti | valkhāḥ paramabhaṭṭārakapādānuddhyātena sarvvabhūtānugrahānukampinā mahārājabhuluṇḍena bhagavataḥ surāsuranaroragaguroḥ amaravararipu-rudhirasritaśaraprasarasyaikārṇṇavavipulavimalaparyaṅkatalaśāyinaḥ nābhisambhavāravindaṣaṭpadopagīyamānanidrasya śāṅkhabāṇaśakticakra-nandakajvalāṅgadāgraśūlabhāsvarāṣṭhabāhuśālinaḥ balinarakanamucivaraturagabhujagadaśavadanakāṃsacānnūrāriṣṭaśiśupāladarppamathanasya jagadskannoddharaṇavarāhasyānādimadhyanidhanasya suragaṇālaṅkariṣṇos trailokyaprabhaviṣṇor asuragaṇajiṣṇor viṣṇoḥ parameṇa bhaktisnehānurāgeṇa śirasā praṇipatya balicarusatropayojyagrāmāḥ pañca bhogatvenātisṛṣṭās
Translation
May it be auspicious! Mediating on the feet of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka in the sympathetic interest of all beings, mahārāja Bhuluṇḍa reverently bows his head to Viṣṇu with the greatest attachment, love and devotion – to Viṣṇu who illuminates the three worlds and is the victor over hoards of demons – to the preceptor of gods, demons, serpents and men – to the Lord whose flood of arrows spills the blood of the gods’ most ardent foes, who rests upon the wide and spotless couch that is the cosmic sea, whose sleep is praised in song by the bees near the lotus born of his navel, who is endowed with eight resplendent arms carrying the conch, arrow, spear, discus, radiant mace, mighty javelin and Nandaka sword,[1] who breaks the pride of Bali, Naraka, Namuci, Varaturaga, Kālīya, Rāvaṇa, Kaṃsa, Cānūra, Ariṣṭa and Śiśupāla,[2] who as Varāha lifts up the fallen earth, who has no beginning, middle or end and who is the very ornament of the heavenly hosts – by that mahārāja Bhuluṇḍa five villages were granted for the performance of (the rites known as) bali, caru and sattra.
[1] The Nandaka sword belongs to Kṛṣṇa. There are eight arms but only seven weapons listed in the text: the contradiction is explained in Bṛhatsaṃhitā (58: 33) in which one hand displays a gesture of reassurance: khaḍgagadāśarapāṇir dakṣiṇataḥ śāntidaś caturthakaraḥ | vāmakareṣu ca kārmukakheṭakacakrāṇi śaṅkhaś ca. The bees, mentioned in the prevous line, may represent devotees and, by extension, political subordinates: pādapadmopajīvin, see Fleet, CII 3 (1888): 98, n. 4. But as kindly pointed out to me by Dr Whitney Cox, aravindaṣaṭpada in the singular could also be understood as Brahmā and his singing the Vedas.
[2] In this list of demons, Bujaga is Kālīya, Daśavadana is Rāvaṇa, Cānūra was a wrestler in the service of Kaṃsa and Ariṣṭa was a demon who took the form of a bull which was killed by Kṛṣṇa. Varaturaga is identifed by the editors of the inscription as Keśin; he is said to be an incarnation of Hayagrīva who died in the Tārakāmaya war as are some of the others mentioned here, see Bhattacharyya, Indian Demonology, p. 144. The Harivaṃśa seems to be the source of the demons listed in this inscription.
