Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c16.s2.17

c16.s2.17

Vasumitra’s successor is called Bhadraka in the *Bhāgavata Purāṇa*, Ārdraka and Odruka in the *Vishṇu*, Āndhraka in the *Vāyu*, and Antaka in the *Matsya Purāṇa*. Jayaswal identified him with Udāka, a name occurring in a Pabhosā inscription. The epigraph has been translated thus: “By Āshāḍhasena, the son of Gopālî Vaihidarî and maternal uncle of king Bahasatimitra, son of Gopālî, a cave was caused to be made in the tenth year of Udāka for the use of the Kassapiya Arhats.” We learn from another Pabhosā inscription that Āshāḍhasena belonged to the royal family of Adhichhatrā (Ahichhatrā), the capital of North Pañchāla. Jayaswal maintained that Odraka (identified with Udāka) was the paramount Śuṅga sovereign, while the family of Āshāḍhasena was either gubernatorial or feudatory to the Magadha throne. Marshall,² on the other hand, identified the fifth “Śuṅga” with king Kāsîputra³ **Bhāgabhadra** mentioned in a Garuḍa Pillar Inscription found in the old city of Vidiśā, now Besnagar. Jayaswal identified Bhāgabhadra with Bhāga Śuṅga, *i.e.*, Bhāgavata of the *Purāṇas*. This theory has to be given up in view of the discovery of another Besnagar Garuḍa Pillar Inscription (of the twelfth year after the installation of Mahārāja **Bhāgavata**) which proves that there was at Vidiśā a king named Bhāgavata apart from king Kāsīputra Bhāgabhadra. In the absence of clear evidence connecting "Udāka" with Vidiśā it cannot be confidently asserted that he belonged to the house of Agnimitra and Bhāgavata. The view of Marshall seems to be more probable.¹