The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.57

v1.c30.57

Some of the feudatories of the Çuṅgas are known from their inscriptions and coins. The only ancient monuments, on which the tribal name of the imperial dynasty has yet been found, came from the Buddhist *stūpa* at Bhārhut, in the Nāgod State of Central India, about 185 miles N.E. of Vidiçā². Here two gateways were dated ‘in the sovereignty of the Çuṅgas.’ One of these (inscr. no. 687) was erected by Dhanabhūti ‘Vācchiputa,’ i.e. ‘son of a princess of Vatsa (Kauçāmbī),’ and the other (inscr. no. 688) by some member of the same family. The name Dhanabhūti occurs also in an inscription at Mathurā (no. 125) and may be restored with certainty in the record of a donation made by his queen, Nāgarakhitā, at Bhārhut (no. 882). From these sources combined we may reconstruct the family tree of this king from his grandfather, king Visadeva, to his son, prince Vādhapāla; and we may conclude that this family ruled at Bhārhut, and that it was connected in some way with the royal family at Mathurā, more than 250 miles to the N.W. As none of the four names is found in the list of Çuṅgas given by the Purāṇas, it is most probable that the kings of this line were feudatories, though they may have been related to the imperial house by family ties.