History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c24.11

c24.11

From the Sanskrit Inscriptions of King Mūlavarman, found on four Yūpa (sacrificial) posts of stone at Koetei in East Borneo, edited by Dr. Vogel,¹ we find that before 400 A.D. a dynasty was founded in Borneo, the third king of which performed the Vedic Yajña bahusuvarṇaka,² and gifted lands, kine, a kalpa-vṛksha (gold-tree) and money to Brāhmaṇas in the island. His father's name was Aśvavarman and grandfather's name was Kuṇḍuṅga. Aśvavarman was the founder (vaṃśakartā) of the dynasty in Borneo. The verses are in anushtubh and āryā metres. The Yajña was performed at Vaprakeśvara, evidently a Śaiva sacred place in Borneo. The script of Mūlavarman is closely the Pallava script. The name Kuṇḍuṅga is a Southern Indian name, cf. Kuṇḍu-kūra in the Pikira grant. We have instances of Aryans in the South adopting Dravidian names. It is almost impossible to hold the theory advanced on the strength of this name by the Dutch Indologists that the family was probably native of Borneo and was Hinduized. To suppose that in the second generation they could be so much and so rapidly Hinduized as to perform Vedic sacrifices and make such intimate Hindu gifts is a hard demand on probability. Kuṇḍuṅga does not seem to have flourished in Borneo as the founder was Aśvavarman.