History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s2.33

c14.s2.33

The script of the inscription is earlier than that of the early Kushans. The 'i'-vowel-marks do not curve and are straight; seriph is not developed. The style of the Yaksha image is also early. The script will place the record in the first century A.D. Śiva Nandi would be one of the unnamed kings coming after Yaśaḥ Nandi. As the Purāṇas generally omit the names when a dynasty comes under an overlordship, Śiva Nandi was probably the king superseded by Kanishka. It is stated in the Purāṇas that Padmāvatī passed under a ruler named Vinvas-phāṇi who is to be identified with the viceroy of Kanishka, Mahākshatrapa Vanaspara (§ 33). Śiva Nandi up to his fourth year was an independent king, for the inscription is dated in his regnal years and not in the Kushan Era. Under the Kushans the dating was universally in their imperial era. The royal style 'svāmī' is exactly after the fashion of the earlier Sātavāhanas.¹ It was a term denoting 'sovereign' which was borrowed from Hindu politics, and which was adopted by the early Śaka rulers of Mathurā, for instance, in the Āmohini inscriptions of Samvat 42 of the reign of 'Svāmī' Mahākshatrapa Śoḍāsa—a style which went out of use at Mathurā since the rule of Kanishka.