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History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t4: Their original status and territories

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t4

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Their original status and territories

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The Maukhari seal, written in Mauryan Brāhmī characters, to which we have referred above, contains the earliest epigraphic notice of the Maukharis. Regarding its importance Mr. Jayaswal says, "The Maukhari seal probably denotes that they were a political (republican) community in origin; they must have been bereft of power in B. C. (3rd century) as there is no room for a secondary, real political power near Gaya and Rājagṛiha in those days when the Mauryas were ruling. The seal may refer to a social (Jātisangha) organisation only at the time. I feel that their seat has always been the district of Gaya."³ Besides this seal there are three other inscriptions which give us a clue to the original territory and dignity of the Maukharis. They are inscribed in characters of the same type, which Indraji and Bühler think are “a little later than those of the Guptas, and hence probably belonging to the fifth century A. D.”¹ Kielhorn was also of opinion that on palæographic grounds they cannot be placed later than the first half of the sixth century.² Mr. C. V. Vaidya, on the other hand, suggests for these inscriptions “a date later than that of Harṣa.”³ But there does not seem to be any warrant for this assumption. As is well pointed out by Mr. N. G. Majumdar, the script used in these inscriptions is far more archaic than that of the Haraha inscription of 554 A. D. clearly indicating that “they are of a considerably earlier date.”⁴ They were discovered in the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills, two of the easternmost parts of the Vindhyas, abutting on the Gaya district.⁵ These inscriptions mention a set of three rulers, viz. Yajñavarman, Śārdūlavarman, and Anantavarman, who belonged to the Maukhari lineage, since one of them describes Anantavarman having “adorned by his own (high) birth the family of the Maukhari kings.”⁶ These Maukharis are given the unassuming general title of “nṛipa” or ruler;⁷ and in one of the records Śārdūla is specifically called a “Sāmanta-cūḍāmaṇi,” the best among “chieftains.” Considering, therefore, the date and find-spots of these documents, it does not seem unreasonable to hold that about the close of the fifth century A. D. the Maukharis were still settled in Magadha round the Gaya region, and that they were feudatories to some power—very possibly the Later Guptas—as even at this time they were powerful enough to curb the rise of an independent state in the very heart of their home-territories.¹ But owing to the Hūṇa invasions and perhaps family feuds the hold of the Guptas was gradually being sapped in the outlying provinces, and this must have afforded a splendid opportunity for bold spirits to seek fresh fields and pastures new. Probably Harivarman, the first king in the Kanauj line, was one such daring adventurer, who in the prevailing confusion migrated westwards and succeeded in carving out a kingdom in the fertile Doab with his seat of government at Kanauj.²

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³ Ibid.

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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, XIII, p. 428, Note 55.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 3.

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³ *H. M. H. I.*, vol. I, p. 34.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, XLVI, p. 127.

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⁵ *C. I. I.*, III, Nos. 48-50, pp. 221-28.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, No. 48, pp. 222, 223.

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⁷ See on Nṛipa, *Amarakoṣa*, VIII, 2—(Nṛipo ’nyo Maṇḍaleś-varaḥ).

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¹ Mr. N. Ray, however, thinks that these three Maukhari chiefs “ruled in the Bihar region as governors of the Kanauj Maukharis. They were perhaps charged with the viceroyalty of the Magadhan region after its loss by Dāmodaragupta” (*Cal. Rev.*, Feb., 1928, p. 210). But in view of the archaic character of the script of their inscriptions this conclusion seems unjustified.

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² The fact that the Gaya line of feudatory chiefs ends with Anantavarman, and Harivarman founded his power about the close of the fifth century (see *Infra*), may lend additional support to this theory of westward migration during the decline of the Gupta power.

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