History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c21.s2: II. Vākāṭaka Seals at Bhīṭā
History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Nāga–Vākāṭaka Imperial Period c21.s2
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II. Vākāṭaka Seals at Bhīṭā
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Importance of Sahajāti grows. The period of peace after the overthrow of the Kushan power is a gradation from 150/200 A.D. [the period of the Amātya administration] to the next century which is marked by a different class of officers under the Vākāṭakas to whom the Empire passed from the Bhāraśivas. Documents from princes of the blood, governors, generals, and the emperor come into evidence, showing that Sahajāti had risen into importance and that it was then in close touch with the then imperial capital of the Vākāṭakas.
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Mahārājādhirāja's Seal. In a script of about 250 A.D., ‘in northern characters of the 2nd or 3rd Century A.D.’—(Marshall, p. 52), we have a most important seal. The letters of this seal, No. 29, are not Kushan and are distinctly pre-Guptan. They are a class by themselves. They read: ‘..ṭaka mahārājādhirāja’. ² The ‘ja’ is just like the Kushan letter, and ‘ra’ with a small seriph is still straight, while ‘ka’ has a straight cross-bar. The ‘ha’ assumes a form approaching that at Jaggayapetta and it is yet distant from the Allahabad pillar form. It is thus, on the whole, a writing of the latter half of the Third Century A.D., marking a period of transition. A distinct character, however, is given to it by the first letter ṭa which curiously enough, has a box-head. It is the earliest specimen of the box-headed Vākāṭaka writing. The beginning of the legend is broken. Considering the shape of the seal, there seem to have been two more letters as Sir John Marshall has assumed. The first two missing letters, in my opinion, were Vākā (and not Bhaṭṭa- as suggested by Sir John Marshall). The whole legend gave ‘[Vākā]ṭaka-Mahārājādhirāja’. ‘Mahārājādhirāja’—a new title—appears here for the first time. It was a Hindu rendering and adaptation of the ‘Shāhanushāhi’ title of the Kushans which denoted their imperial position. Pravarasena I alone could be the Vākāṭaka sovereign to assume this title, which after his four aśvamedhas expanded into that of Samrāṭ. The seal, like the coins of Pravarasena, is dated. It bears numerals of a type which must have become archaic in his time: 30, 7 (=37). Like the other records of this king we have to take it to be in the era counted from the foundation of the family, i.e. his father’s coronation, 248 A.D. We have already seen (ante p. 79) that the reign of Vindhya-śakti covers 36 years, and the seal being dated in the 37th year, it must refer to the second year of Pravarasena’s reign. The second face of the sealing bears the bull figure which becomes the chief emblem of the dynasty and is stamped on all the seals of high State-officials and generals of the period [see below] and on the Pallava documents. It becomes the crest of the Vākāṭaka Government. This seal was found 18" (eighteen inches) above the Kushan level and eleven feet below from the top, which works out to be the level of the Third Century A.D.
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² Sir John Marshall's reading ‘..raka Mahārājādhirāja’ is inaccurate with regard to the first letter, which can never be ‘ra’ in any period of Indian palæography. The vertical which he took to be a ‘ra’ turns with a loop towards the cross-bar of the next letter ‘ka’ which it almost touches [below the left end of the bar], and there is a box-head like a ‘ṭa’ attached the top of the letter.
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The next important document is the seal of Gautamiputra (No. 25) which was discovered in the débris below the floor built in the Fourth Century A.D. The seal of Gautamiputra is artistically the best seal of Hindu India and Sir John Marshall rightly observes: ‘In respect of execution the seal excels any object of this class which has yet been discovered in India’ (p. 51). On account of the title Gautamiputra, Sir John Marshall thought that the ruler in the seal was an Āndhra king. But it is not correct. The system of being described by the mother’s name was prominent in Brahmin and Kshatriya families (more prominent in the former), e.g. in the inscriptions of the Śuṅga time (at Ayodhyā, Pabhosā, etc.). The Āndhra Sātavāhanas who were Brahmins similarly followed the custom. The Vākāṭakas, who were Brahmins originally and assumed their Kshatriya rôle under the imperial influence of the Nāgas and on account of marriages into their family, would naturally observe that custom. That Gautamiputra Vākāṭaka assumed it as his official name is a fact attested by the Vākāṭaka inscriptions. His name stands out with the implicit claim that he was from a Brahmin mother. There are several facts which establish the identity of the Gautamiputra of the seal with the Gautamiputra of the Vākāṭaka inscriptions. The Āndhras never employ Sanskrit while all the known Vākāṭaka inscriptions, like the seal, are in Sanskrit. The Āndhras were not *vrishadvaja* (‘having in their banner Śiva’s bull’). The dynasty of the Gautamiputra of the seal is different from that of the Sātavāhanas. He is called here ‘The Increaser of Śrī Vindhya [*Śrī-Vindhya-bardhana-Mahārājasya*¹ the Mahārāja who is the increaser (of the family) of Śrī Vindhya, which may be compared with *Cheti-rājā-Va(m)sa=vadhanasa* of the Hathigumphā inscription]. It means that he belonged to the family of Śrī Vindhya, i.e. of King Vindhyaśakti, the founder of the Vākāṭaka family and grandfather of Gautamiputra. On the coins of Rudrasena and Pṛithivisheṇa the same hill symbol appears which is to be found in the middle of this seal and which from the later seals of the Śivalinga of Kālañjara (No. 15) is to be identified as the Vindhya Hill. The Vākāṭaka coins have got the Vṛisha of Śiva on which Śiva is seated in Rudrasena’s coin. That corresponds with the ‘*Vrishadvaja*’ of this seal. The Vākāṭakas, according to the inscriptions, were Śaiva, and in the seal the prince claims that his royalty had been dedicated to Maheśvara (i.e. Lord Śiva) and his son Mahāsena. Probably the original *Iṣṭadevatā* of Vindhyaśakti was the famous Śiva Kālañjara¹ who is apparently the same as Kāleśvara appearing in a later seal (No. 14). The Āndhras never had Śiva as their Iṣṭadevatā, nor had they the title of Mahārāja which the owner of this seal bears.
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¹ The whole text of the seal (running round the margin) is: *Śrī Vindhyabardhana-Mahārājasya Maheśvara-Mahāsenātiśriṣṭa-rājyasya vṛishadvajasya Gautamiputrasya*. It is slightly misread by Sir John Marshall as *Śrī Vindhyabedhana°*. There is neither any horizontal *e* mark, nor any room between the ligature *ndhya* and *ba* for such a mark.
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¹ The god Kālañjara has two later seals, discovered at Bhīṭā (viz. 15, 16). Both Kālañjara and Kāleśvara probably signify the same deity.
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According to the Vākāṭaka inscriptions, Gautamīputra was the son of Pravarasena I and father of Rudrasena I, and in the Vākāṭaka plates he bears the same appellation Gautamīputra (without any personal name) as here. He seems to have been a Mahārāja (governor) under his father who was Mahārājādhirāja. The letters are consciously moulded with the aim of perfect symmetry, and the forms adopted are all square which makes the scribe adopt some archaic forms (e.g. of ha and ma). They are slightly later than the letters of the seal No. 29 in their general tendency in spite of the older forms.²
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² See the i-mātrā on m in Gautamī°.
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In this seal (No. 25) we find not only a document of Gautamīputra but also the name of the first king of the family [Śrī Vindhya].
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Seal No. 27 gives the name of Bhīmasena. It was found among the débris accumulated above the Kuṣan floor (pp. 32 and 51) and Sir John Marshall rightly assigns it to the Second or Third Century A.D. This Śrī Bhīmasena is identical with the Śrī Bhīmasena of the Ginja inscription discussed above (ante p. 108), of the year 52 of the Vākāṭaka era, from which his date is fixed (300 A.D.). It has a standing Nandi-bull and the figure of Gaṅgā (compare it with the more distinct figure in seal No. 26, discussed below)³ The writing closely resembles the writing at Ginja (E.I., Vol. III, pl., p. 305). The bow-and-arrow mark which is on the seal is not an exclusive Southern Indian device. It is also found in seal No. 73 which bears Kushan characters. Bhimasena was the actual governor of the area in the year 300 A.D. which is conclusively proved by the neighbouring Ginja record. In the seal his mother's name is also given, he being called Vāsiṣṭhīputtra, not Vasasuputtra as read by Sir John Marshall. The whole legend reads: Rājño¹ Vāsiṣṭhī-puttrasya Śrī-Bhimasena[sya]. He is called mahārāja at Ginja. It seems that he also was a son of Pravarasena I, from another wife who belonged to the Vāsiṣṭha gotra.
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³ Where on Vākāṭaka seals or coins, e.g. on Rudrasena's coin or Bhīmasena's seal, the Vṛisha or Gaṅgā or both face or point towards the standard, it means that the standard is Vṛishadhvaja and that it bears these symbols on it. The device is obvious, for it would be too cumbersome to depict these figures inside a banner on such small objects as seals and coins.
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¹ It was read by Sir John Marshall as ‘Rājña’.
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Seal No. 26 belongs to another Vākāṭaka governor and was recovered from the same stratum as the seal numbered 27. The legend is in similar characters but slightly later in date: ‘Mahārāja Gautamiputrasya Śrī Śiva-māghasya’. It has the same crest of the Nandi bull and the Ganges as on the seal of Bhimasena, and the title Mahārāja. The figure of the Ganges standing on a makara is clear here. Her left hand is on the hip in both the figures and the right hand points to a standard. Mahārāja Śivamāgha² is known from a stone inscription at Kosam inscribed during his rule (E.I., Vol. XVIII, p. 159, pl. No. ii). He was actually the Governor of Kauśāmbi in the beginning of the Fourth Century A.D. He seems to have been dead or transferred by the Vākāṭaka year 86³ (334 A.D. which falls within the reign of Pravarasena I) when another governor Mahārāja Śrī Bhadrama . .was ruling at Kauśāmbi.
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² Sir John Marshall was doubtful about the vowel-force to ma and he has read doubtfully m[e]gha. But mā is clear both here and in the Kosam inscription. I take this opportunity to correct the statement, ante page 87, § 76, where I assumed the reading of Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahani (Śiva-m[e]gha) and his view, that they were Gupta governors, to be correct.
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³ E.I., XVIII, 160, pl. No. 3. Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahani read the date as 88.
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Thus we have these further records of the time of Pravarasena I:—
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Vākāṭaka-Mahārājādhirāja (Seal No. 29) [Year 37 = 285 A.D.]
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Mahārāja Gautamiputra (Seal No. 25).
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Rājā Bhīmasena (Seal No. 27) [at Ginja, ‘Mahārāja’, year 52 = 300 A.D.].
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Mahārāja Śivamagha (Seal No. 26).
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Mahārāja Bhadrama.. (Year 86 = 334 A.D.).
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Seal No. 30, of Mahādevī Rudramatī, with Nandi bull (couchant), is the latest royal document of the Vākāṭakas. We do not yet know whose queen she was. We have nothing later here than the time of Pṛithivīsheṇa. It has letters of the Fourth Century A.D. and was found in the pre-Guptan level.
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These seals and other Vākāṭaka seals of officials (to be discussed presently) prove the universal employment of Sanskrit in the Vākāṭaka Court from the very beginning, and the existence of a high stage of art and culture which is in no way inferior to that evidenced by the Gupta coins.
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We have quite a number of sealings of officials belonging to the period. They are clearly distinguishable on account of the distinctive royal Vākāṭaka emblems on them.
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Seal No. 33 is of Jayanta, a cavalry officer (aśva-pati). It has the Vākāṭaka wheel-mark. Seal No. 36 belongs to Amātya Īśvarachandra. This also has the Vākāṭaka wheel-mark. Seals Nos. 37 and 38 of Amātya Dharmadeva may or may not belong to the class as the Vākāṭaka royal marks are absent thereon. Seal No. 44 is distinctly Vākāṭakan in script and symbols. It has the Nandi bull and a wheel. The owner was a general—Daṇḍanāyaka Śrī Śaṅkaradatta. Similarly seal No. 45 has a (couchant) bull and also probably a wheel and is from Daṇḍanāyaka Grāmabala. Seal No. 46 is similar to seal No. 45 and is from Daṇḍanāyaka La... Seal No. 48 (not reproduced) appears to be similar to the above seals and is from Daṇḍanāyaka Yajña-vī.... Seal No. 49 has a couchant bull; ‘Daṇḍanā[yaka] Umasya’. No. 51 is exactly similar to No. 44: a standing bull with a mark of the sun between the horns, similar to the figure on No. 44: Daṇḍanāyaka Vu. No. 52 of Pratīhāra.. Viśākha Rudradāma. It has the couchant bull as in No. 45 but more artistically done. No. 54 is similar where the name is Gaṅgadeva. No. 57 has a powerful representation of the bull facing the figure of Gaṅgā which stands between the bull and the standard of Śiva's trident-and-battleaxe (cf. seal No. 14 of Kālañjara). No. 78 has a couchant bull with Rudrasiṃha in characters of the fourth century (a little later than those described above).
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The bull-figures may be compared with those on the Vākāṭaka coins and the Pallava seals. Majority of the bull figures on the seals exhibit great art and so does their lettering.