Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t4: 4.3.2 Inscriptions of the Śuṅga period (ca. second to first centuries B.C.)
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t4
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4.3.2 Inscriptions of the Śuṅga period (ca. second to first centuries B.C.)
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During the so-called Śuṅga period⁷⁶ inscriptions become somewhat more common, though the overall number of sites is still relatively small. Most records of this time are short Brāhmī inscriptions in Prakrit from northern and central India, though there are also a few from the east and south.
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⁷⁶ This name (like some others in this chapter) is merely a term of convenience, referring to the best-known but by no means the only dynasty ruling in this period.
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One of the most important of the early Śuṅga inscriptions is the Besnagar pillar inscription (Appendix, no. 2), recording the erection of a *garuḍa-dhvaja* by one *Heliodora* (i.e., Hēliodōros), who was the Greek ambassador (*yonadūta*) from King Aṃtalikita (i.e., Antialkidas) to King Kāśīputra Bhāgabhadra, presumably a Śuṅga ruler.
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The Buddhist *stūpa* site of Bhārhut has yielded some 225 inscriptions,⁷⁷ of which 141 are donative in nature while the remaining 84 are labels describing the accompanying sculptural representations of *jātakas*, *avadānas*, and so on (cf. 4.1.5). A Bhārhut pillar inscription (CII 2.2, 11–12) recording the donation of a gateway (*toraṇa*) “during the reign of the Śuṅgas” (*suganaṃ raje*) provides the only epigraphic attestation of the dynastic name *Śuṅga*.
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⁷⁷ Lüders published 218 Bhārhut inscriptions in CII 2.2, and 7 additional records now in the Allahabad Museum were added by Sircar in EI 33, 57–60. The original site of Bhārhut has been dismantled, and the relics and inscriptions found there are scattered in various collections, the largest number being in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.
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A similar corpus from approximately the same period consisting of 842 mostly donative inscriptions is found at the *stūpa* site of Sāñcī.
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Among the several other records of this period from northern and central India are the earliest known inscriptions in Sanskrit (see 3.3.1). These are the Ghosuṇḍī (SI I.90–1) and Hāthībāḍā (EI 22, 198–205) stone inscriptions of about the first century b.c. and the Ayodhyā stone inscription (SI I.94–5), which is probably slightly later.
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Among the recent discoveries in northern India from this period is the Reh stone *liṅga* inscription, attributed by G. R. Sharma (*The Reh Inscription of Menander*) to the Indo-Greek king Menander, though as shown by B. N. Mukherjee (JAIH 12, 1978–79, 150–5) this attribution is unjustified. Also worthy of note is the Pratāpgaṛh stone pillar inscription (EI 39, 79–80) recording the erection of the pillar by a *bhāgavata* Utararakhita (Uttararakṣita). Excavations at Pauni have yielded a few dozen Buddhist donative and label inscriptions similar to those from Sāñcī and Bhārhut (S. B. Deo and J. P. Joshi, *Pauni Excavation*). Other recent finds include an umbrella shaft inscription from Pāṅgurāriā (EI 40, 119–20) and the Sūryamitra stone inscription in the National Museum, Delhi (EI 40, 165–7).
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From eastern India, the most important inscription of the Śuṅga period is the Hāthīgumphā inscription of Khāravela (SI I.213–21), which records the dedication of residential caves to Jaina monks and contains a detailed, year-by-year account of Khāravela’s exploits. The Hāthīgumphā inscription is poorly preserved, so that its readings, translation, and historical interpretation by different scholars vary widely, and it is not possible to establish a single standard version (cf. 5.2). Some further light has been shed on the history of Khāravela’s little-known Mahāmeghavāhana dynasty by a new inscription duplicated on four different pillars from Guṇṭupalli (JESI 5, 49–51), mentioning a King Siri Sada (= Śrī-śāta?) who may have been a successor of Khāravela.⁷⁸
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⁷⁸ Several other significant inscriptions of later centuries were also found at Guṇṭupalli; see JESI 5, 51–9, and I. K. Sarma, *Studies in Early Buddhist Monuments and Brāhmī Inscriptions of Āndhradēśa*, ch. 3.
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An important epigraphic site of the Śuṅga period in southern India is the *stūpa* at Bhaṭṭiprōḷu (Krishna Dist., AP), which yielded ten short Buddhist relic dedications (SI I.224–8). These inscriptions are of particular interest for their dialectal and especially their paleographic peculiarities, including the use of a diacritic mark to indicate postconsonantal *a* (see 2.2.5.1). Several early dedicatory *stūpa* inscriptions resembling those from northern India (Bhārhut and Sāñcī) in form, content, and paleography have also been found at Amarāvatī (*Ancient Ceylon* 3, 97–103).