Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.505

c6.505

*Mathurā*.—In one of the Mathurā Buddhist Rail-pillar inscriptions the name of Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti, son of Dhanabhūti (?) and Vātsī, is recorded as the donor of a railing (*vedikā*) and arches (*toraṇas*) at the Ratnagṛha for the worship of all Buddhas (Luders’ List, No. 125). The railing with the arches was dedicated by him together with his parents and the four sections, the monks, nuns, *upāsakas* and *upāsikās* of the Buddhist community. The name of the prince Vādhapāla, the son of king Dhanabhūti, is recorded as the donor of a rail of the Barhut railing (*Ibid.*, No. 869). The name of Vādhapāla’s father, king Dhanabhūti, the son of Agaraju (Aṅgāradyut) and Vātsī, and the grandson of king Viśvadeva, figures prominently as the donor of the ornamental gateways of the stūpa of Barhut (*Ibid.*, Nos. 687-88; cf. also No. 882). It is expressly recorded in the Barhut gateway inscriptions that the gateways were caused to be erected by King Dhanabhūti in the dominion of the Śuṅgas (*Sugaṇam raje*) (Barua and Sinha, *Bārhut Inscriptions*, pp. 1ff.). If prince Vādhapāla the son of king Dhanabhūti of the Bārhut Inscription, be the same person as Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti, the son of Dhanabhūti of the Mathurā Buddhist Rail Inscription, as it seems very likely, one cannot but be led to think that Mathurā was then placed in a territory contiguous to the dominion of the Śuṅgas. From the existing fragment of the inscription it cannot be made out if the epithet of king was affixed to the name of Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti. Vādhapāla introduced as Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti must have been a ruler; otherwise there is no reason why in the dedication he should have been associated with his parents (presumably aged) and a big retinue of all the four sections of the Buddhist community. Prince Vādhapāla’s inscription at Bārhut is written in Aśokan Prakrit, while the language of Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti’s inscription at Mathurā marks a transition from the Aśokan Prakrit to the typical mixed Sanskrit of the inscription of the Kuṣāṇa age. Its alphabet too stands midway between the Aśokan Brāhmī and that of the Kuṣāṇa period. The interval of time between the two inscriptions was not long enough to account for such a marked change in their languages. The difference can be easily explained on the supposition that Bārhut and Mathurā were situated in two contiguous but slightly different linguistic areas. In the absence of any reference to the dominion of any other ruler or dynasty, it may be legitimate to assume that Vādhapāla (?) Dhanabhūti and his predecessors were local rulers of Mathurā and that prior to the Kuṣāṇa rule.