History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c20: Appendix B. On Chandravalli Inscription of Mayūraśarman

History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Nāga–Vākāṭaka Imperial Period c20

Language: English

Appendix B. On Chandravalli Inscription of Mayūraśarman

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The Archaeological Survey of Mysore Annual Report, 1929, published in 1931, came to my hands after I had completed the above History. In the Report (p. 50 ff.) Dr. M. H. Krishna has published a new inscription of Mayūraśarman where Mayūraśarman's name clearly appears. This inscription may be compared with the Kadamba inscription of Maḷavalli in which I have read Mayūraśarman's name (§ 161). In both records he is ‘Mayūraśamman’. In the new record, which is engraved on the embankment of a lake at Chandravalli by the fort of Chitaldrug in three short lines, Dr. Krishna has read certain geographical names as ‘Pāriyātrika, Sakasthā[na], Sayindaka, Puṇāṭa, Mokari’. He has given a photograph of the rock which at places is very indistinct, and he has given a drawing (eye-copy) of the letters. From the photograph I have checked the reading which needs modification.

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Dr. Krishna's reading of the first line I fully accept: it is:
(1) Kadambāṇaṃ Mayūraśammaṇā [viṇimmi]aṃ

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The second and third lines he reads as
(2) taṭākaṃ, dūbha Trekūṭa Abhīra Pallava Pāri-
(3) yātrika Sakasthā[na] Sayindaka Puṇāṭa Mokariṇā.

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And he has translated them as ‘(Mayūraśarman) who defeated Trekūṭa, Abhīra, Pallava, Pāriyātrika, Sakasthāna, Sayindaka, Puṇāṭa, and Mokari’.

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But Mokariṇā will mean ‘by Mokari’, i.e. by Mayūraśarmman a Mokari, Mokariṇā qualifying the above Mayūraśarmmaṇā. Nor can dūbha be taken for ‘defeated’. The reading is obviously not correct. Following the photograph I read the two lines thus:

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Symbols: between lines 1 and 2 there are symbols of the sun and moon, denoting perpetuity

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(2) taṭī[.] Kāñchī-Trekūṭa-Ābhīra-Pallava-[pu]rī-
(3) [yāti]keṇa Sātahanistha-Sendraka-puri-damanakāri[ṇā].

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The three lines will mean: ‘Mayūraśarmman, of the Kadambas, who marched against Kāñchī and Trekūṭa (Trikūṭa)—the Ābhīra and the Pallava capitals—and who subdued the Sendraka capital at ¹Sātahanī, built the embankment’.

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¹ Or, ‘in Sātahanī’.

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The first two capitals were of the Pallavas and the Ābhīras respectively; the order is wrong in the inscription; having mentioned Trekūṭa the writer put down Ābhīra. The Sendraka seat seems to have been at Sātahanī which name as the name of a province we already know. As the names of capitals are sought to be given, I am more inclined to take this Sātahanī as the name of a town.

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In taṭī the long ī was seen by Dr. Krishna (p. 54), but he refused to read it, to connect with it the next ka. Dr. Krishna has drawn in his tracing the form pu after Pallava but has read it as pa, with the result that he obtains Pāriyātrika. The next letter ṇa he has missed. The supposed ka of his sakasthāna is clearly ta; ha and ni (the next letters) he has completely missed. Evidently a part of the ligature in Sendraka is taken by him as a part of a y which does not exist. There is an i- or ī-mātrā on r (read by Dr. Krishna as ṇā of his Puṇāṭa); the suggestion of a straight line to the right at the tail-bend of the letter is no part of the letter which can be clearly seen under a magnifying glass.

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It will be seen that Mayūraśarman has not yet assumed any royal title.

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The date of the inscription on palæography would be cir. 300 A.D. The late Chalukyan form of r is to be noticed in Sendraka. Dr. Krishna’s date (250 A.D.) is influenced by his wrong reading.

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We are thankful to Dr. Krishna for bringing the record to light and for deciphering most of the letters, which must have entailed great labour.

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APPENDIX C.

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On Chandrasena, and Nāga Marriage.

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*Chandra-sena* (pp. 113, 117): On Chandrasena as a ruler in the district of Gaya see Cunningham, *Reports*, XVI, 41-42. General Cunningham heard the tradition at Dharāwat [a village near Kauwāḍol] that the king of the place was Chandrasena whose lake *Chandra Pokhar* measuring 2,000 ft. × 800 ft. is still existing. He is said to have married a fairy. His time was before Guṇamati, the Buddhist scholar (p. 46). Seals in Gupta characters were dug out by Cunningham at Dharāwat.

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*Nāga marriage and Kalyāṇavarman’s marriage* (pp. 113, 118): The marriage of Kalyāṇavarman was peculiar in that the young king did not go to Mathurā for his marriage; on the other hand the bride was brought to Pāṭaliputra. This custom of bringing the girl by her parent’s party to the bridegroom’s house for marriage was a Nāga custom, which has been brought out by Mr. Hira Lal Jain in his edition of the Jaina text the *Nāya* [= *Nāga*]-*Kumāra-chariu* of Pushpadanta, Karanja Series, 1933 (p. xxvii).

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N.B.—*Ajantā*: I have ascertained now that the correct pronunciation is *Ajantā*, not *Ajaṇṭā* which I adopted above from Vincent Smith [*E.H.I.*, 442].

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Bhita Excavations on the Huns' War on the Kushans

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On Vākāṭaka Seals and Inscriptions.

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catastrophes, in the Kushana period, but it is not so easy to tell, as in the case of the other places just mentioned, and by the excavations and inscriptions at Bhita in the same area, how long the cities had been standing when they were destroyed. It is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty.

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At Takṣaśilā, the fifth method, "deliberate arson," took place on the scale finally to have been an act of warfare or the fact had to have caused this terrible activity on the city; for many vessels, such as lamps and other better ones found in the houses and fixed with the contents were never burnt, while in the houses would be remaining, even the sacred images of the gods were abandoned at that site."¹