Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s4: Section IV. The Nāgas and the Later Kushāns

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s4

Language: English

Section IV. The Nāgas and the Later Kushāns

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The successors of the Great Kushāns in Mathurā and certain neighbouring tracts were the Nāgas.¹ The prevalence of Nāga rule over a considerable portion of northern and central India in the third and fourth centuries A.D., is amply attested by epigraphic evidence. A Lahore copper seal inscription of the fourth century A.D. refers to a king named Maheśvara Nāga, the son of Nāgabhaṭṭa.² The Allahabad Pillar inscription refers to King Ganapati Nāga, while several Vākāṭaka records mention **Bhava Nāga** sovereign of the **Bhāraśivas** whose grandson's grandson Rudrasena II was a contemporary of Chandra Gupta II, and who accordingly must have flourished before the rise of the Gupta Empire. Some idea of the great power of the rulers of Bhava Nāga's line and the territory over which they ruled may be gathered from the fact that the dynasty performed ten *Aśvamedha* sacrifices and "*were besprinkled on the forehead with the pure water of (the river) Bhāgīrathī* (Ganges) *that had been obtained by their valour*."³ The valiant deeds of the family culminating in the performance of ten *Aśvamedha* sacrifices indicate that they were *not* a feudatory line owing allegiance to the Kushāns. We learn from the *Purāṇas* that the Nāgas established themselves at Vidiśā (Besnagar near Bhilsa), Padmāvatī (Padam Pawāyā, “in the apex on the confluence of the Sindhu and Pārā),”¹ Kāntipurī (not satisfactorily identified),² and even Mathurā which was the southern³ capital of Kanishka and his successors. The greatest of the Nāga Kings was perhaps Chandrāṁśa,⁴ ‘the second Nakhavant,’ whose name reminds us of the great king **Chandra** of the Delhi Iron Pillar inscription. *It is by no means clear that the two are identical.*⁵ But if Chandra preceded the rise of the Gupta empire, it is natural to seek a reference to him in the Purāṇic texts which were not compiled till the Gupta-Vākāṭaka age.

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¹ A Yūpa Inscription from Barnāla (in the Jaipur State) discloses the existence of a line of kings, one of whom bore a name that ended in—*Varddhana*. They belonged to the Sohartta or Sohartṛi *gotra*. But the dynastic designation is not known (*Ep. Ind.*, xxvi, 120). The record is dated in *Kṛita* 284 corresponding to A.D. 227-28.

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² Fleet, CII, p. 283.

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³ CII, p. 241; AHD, p. 72.

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¹ Coins of a *Mahārāja* or *Adhirāja* named Bhavanāga have been found at this place. His identity with Bhavanāga of Vākāṭaka epigraphs proposed by Dr. Altekar (J. Num. S. I, V. pt. II) must await future discoveries.

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² Mention is made of a Kantipurī in the *Skanda Purāṇa* (*Nāgarakhaṇḍa*, ch. 47, 4ff). In the story narrated in the text a petty prince of Kāntipurī ‘marries a princess of Daśārṇa, the valley of the Dhasan, in Eastern Malwā which, in the time of the *Meghadūta*, included Vidiśā. Kāntipurī probably lay not far from the last-mentioned city.

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³ *JRAS*, 1905, p. 233.

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⁴ > “*Nṛpān Vidiśakāṁś c=āpi bhaviṣyāṁstu nibodhata*

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⁵ Devotion to Vishṇu may suggest identification with Chandra-Gupta I, or preferably, Chandra II. But then we have to explain the significant omission of the termination -gupta in this memorable *praśasti* and the epithet Dhāva, especially as Chandra-Gupta II is known as Devagupta or Devarāja and not Dhāva. One should note also the claim to have acquired *adhirājya* and victory over a Trans-Indus people by his own prowess and not as a sequel to the power and prestige won by a line of distinguished ancestors. The Vishṇuite association of this great King precludes the possibility of identification with Chandra Kanishka. Identification with the first Maurya is fantastic in view of the date of the epigraph and recorded achievements of the hero which do not include the overthrow of the Nandas and clash with the Yavanas.

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The hand of a Nāga princess was sought by Chandra Gupta II in the fourth century, and a ‘Nāga’ officer governed the Gangetic Doāb as late as the time of Skanda Gupta.⁶ The Kushāns, however, continued to rule in the Kābul

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⁶ For later traces of Nāga rule, see Bom. Gaz., 1. 2, pp. 281, 292, 313, 574; Ep. Ind., X, 25.

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*Śeṣasya Nāga-rājasya putraḥ para purañjayaḥ*
*Bhogi bhaviṣyate* (?) *rājā nṛpo Nāga-kul-ōdvahaḥ*
*Sadācandras tu Chandrāṁśo dvitīyo Nakhavāṁs tathā.*”
—*Dynasties of the Kali Age*, p. 49.

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valley and parts of the Indian borderland. One of them gave his daughter in marriage to Hormisdas (or Hormuzd) II, the Sassanian King of Persia (A.D. 301-09). As already stated Varhrān II (A.D. 276-93) and his successors up to the time of Shāpūr II seem to have exercised suzerainty over their Scythic neighbours. "When Shāpūr II besieged Amida in A.D. 350, Indian elephants served under his command."¹ Shortly afterwards the Sassanian supremacy was replaced by that of the Guptas, and the "*Daivaputra Shāhi Shāhānushāhi*," *i.e.*, the Kushān monarch or monarchs of the North-West sent valuable presents to Samudra Gupta.² In the fifth century³ the Kidāra Kushāns established their rule over Gandhāra and Kaśmīra.⁴ In the sixth century the Kushāns had to fight hard against the Huns and in the following centuries, against the Muslims. In the ninth century A.D. a powerful Muslim dynasty, that of the Saffārids, was established in Sīstān (Seistan) and the sway of the family soon extended to Ghazni, Zābulistān, Herat, Balkh and Bamiyan.⁵ The later kings of the race of Kanishka seem to have had one residence in Gandhāra at the city of Uṇḍ, Ohind, Waihand or Udabhāṇḍa, on the Indus. Another capital was situated in the Kābul valley. The family was finally extinguished by the Brāhmaṇa Kallār or Lalliya who founded the Hindu Shāhiyya dynasty towards the close of the ninth century A.D. A part of the kingdom of Kābul fell into the hands of Alptigin in the tenth century.⁶

Cites (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit