Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.142

c16.s2.142

The Imperial Guptas were followers of the Vaiṣṇava faith; but the epithet *Paramabhāgavata* (literally, ‘a devout worshipper or the Bhagavat or Viṣṇu’), indicating their adherence to the Bhāgavata form of Vaiṣṇavism, appears in epigraphic and numismatic records for the first time with reference to Candragupta II (376-414 A.D.).¹ A similar epithet of sectarian character used with the names of the Gupta emperors is *Paramadaivata*. Thus Kumāragupta I is called *Paramabhāgavata* in some epigraphic and numismatic records,² but *Paramadaivata* in certain grants issued by his subordinates.³ The expression *paramadaivata* means ‘a devout worshipper of the *devatā* or god’, the word *devatā* here apparently indicating the god Viṣṇu. Similarly the Sendraka king Nikumbhǎllaśakti is called *Paramamāheśvara* and *Paramabrahmaṇya* at the same time.⁴ The expression *Paramabrahmaṇya* means ‘a devout follower of the Brāhmaṇas’ and not ‘a devout worshipper of the god Brahman’ since the king in question is specifically stated to have been a Śaiva. There are only a few instances representing a ruler as devoted to two different deities. The Eastern Gaṅgas were Śaivas. But Anantavarman Coḍagaṅga (1078-1147 A.D.) became a devotee of the god Puruṣottama-Jagannātha (Viṣṇu) of Purī after his conquest of that region. It is interesting to note that Coḍagaṅga’s earlier records represent him as a *Paramamāheśvara* and later epigraphs as a *Paramavaiṣṇava*, while an inscription of the intervening period calls him both *Paramamāheśvara* and *Paramavaiṣṇava*.⁵