The Age of the Imperial Guptas c6.65

c6.65

Marshall’s Bhita excavations yielded some very important seals. Those belonging to the Gupta period support the conclusions stated above. The official seals bear the *lāñchana* of the Gupta Empire, Lakṣmī attended by elephants and dwarfs. The best specimen is that of the office of the ordinary *Kumārāmātya*.³ The seal of the office of the district of Sāmāharṣa is also similar, (*Sāmāharṣa-viṣay=ādhikaraṇasya*).⁴ In one respect some of the seals from Bhita show a deviation from the ordinary class of Imperial official seals from Vaiśālī. In these specimens the name of a higher official is mentioned, *Mahāśvapati-Mahādaṇḍanāyaka-Viṣṇurakṣita-pādānugṛhita-Kumārāmātya=adhikaraṇasya*. The real import of the term *pādānu-* gṛhīta could not be understood in 1911-12. The Damodarpur plates have familiarised us with similar terms. Thus during the reign of Kumāragupta I the Uparika Cirātadatta was appointed viceroy of Puṇḍravardhana and the term used is *tat-pāda-parigṛhīte* “was accepted by His Majesty’s feet” in the plates of G.E. 124 and 129. A similar term is used in the case of Budhagupta’s viceroy for the same province, Brahmadatta, in the plate of G.E. 163 as well as in the case of Jayadatta in the undated plate of the time of the same Emperor. An exactly similar term is used in the plate of Rājaputradeva in the plate of G.E. 224 of the reign of Bhānugupta. Shorn of its elegance, the phrase simply means “(The seal) of the office of the *Kumārāmātya* appointed by the Cavalry-leader and general Viṣṇurakṣita.”¹ In this case it is more reasonable to translate the term *Daṇḍanāyaka* as a general; *lit.* leader (*nāyaka*) of an army (*daṇḍa*). In the second instance of this class the legend is incomplete on account of breakage; it can be restored as *Mahārāja-Śaṅkarasiṃha-[pādānugṛhita-Yuvarāja]-padīy-Āyuktak=ādhikaraṇasya*, “(The seal), of the office of the Āyuktaka, equal in rank to a prince, appointed by Mahārāja Śaṅkarasiṃha.” The space in the second line indicates that this officer had some other rank in addition to that of the *Āyuktaka*, perhaps that of a *Kumārāmātya*.² The most important point with regard to these two seals is the *lāñchana*, Lakṣmī attended by elephants. Like the Vaiśālī seals the Bhita finds contain a number of private seals of officials. The most important are the seals of a number of Ministers; or *Amātyas*; Īśvaracandra, Dharmadeva, Boḷa, Nāgadāman, Īśvarānana. So also we have the seals of a number of judges or Generals (*Daṇḍnāyaka*); Śaṅkaradatta, Grāmabala, Lāḷa, Keśavadāsa, Yajñavīrya, Umma, and Vaṅśa. One particular private seal is important because it contains the names of two Police officials; *Pratīhārayor-Vviśākha-Rudradāma(yoḥ)*. In this case one letter, the fifth, was omitted by the decipherer.¹ The Bhita finds have also provided us with one important class of seals, that of a Guild of the *Kulikas* or Bankers, which could not be found in the Vaiśālī collections of Bloch and Spooner. The legend is simply *Kulika-Nigamasya*.² It should be noted in this connection that Mr. R. G. Basak is inclined to translate the word *Kulika* as “artisan.” But though the commentator Bhānuji Dīkṣita explains it as “the foremost person in a company of artisans,” the explanation in the *Amarakoṣa* connects it with the *Śreṣṭhins*.³