Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.306

c8.306

Magadha is also mentioned in the Bhabru Edict of Aśoka as well as in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (IX. 22, 45; X. 2, 2; X. 52, 14; X. 73, 33; X. 83, 23). In the Tibetan Buddhist Geography Magadha is not within Prācī but within Madhyadeśa. It comprises the districts of Gayā and Patna. Some place it to the west of Aṅga being separated from the latter kingdom by the river Campā. King Aśoka in his Bhabru Edict after saluting the Samgha (Buddhist Church) wished them good health and comfortable movement. It seems probable that in the Sarnath Pillar Inscription of Aśoka we have just the first two syllables (Pāṭa) of the name of Pāṭaliputra. But it is definite from the Barhut inscriptions that three persons went there from Pāṭaliputra. The Hāthigumphā inscription shows that when Bṛhaspatimitra was the king of Aṅga-Magadha (2nd century B.C.), king Khāravela of Kaliṅga marched towards Magadha after having stormed Gorathagiri and brought pressure to bear upon Rājagṛha, the ancient capital of Magadha (Rājagaham upapīdāpayati—E.I., X, App. No. 1345; cf. Acta Orientalia, I, 265; Barua, Old Brāhmī Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khaṇḍagiri Caves, p. 17).¹ The Magadhan empire did not wholly perish on the death of Skandagupta. It was ruled by Puragupta, Narasinhagupta, Kumāragupta II and Buddhagupta. Then the imperial line passed on to a dynasty of eleven Gupta princes. The Dāmodarpur plates, Sarnath Inscriptions, the Eran epigraph of Buddhagupta and the Betul plates of Parivrājaka Mahārāja Saṃkṣobha, dated in the year A.D. 518, testify to the fact that the Gupta empire continued to exert sovereign rights in the latter half of the 5th as well as the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. In the first half of the 7th century the Gupta power, though overshadowed, was ruined by Ādityasena who assumed the titles of Paramabhaṭṭāraka and Mahārājādhirāja. As proved by the Aphṣad and Deo-Baraṇārk inscriptions, Ādityasena and his successors were the only North Indian sovereigns who appear actually to have dominated Magadha and Madhyadeśa. About the early part of the 8th century A.D. the throne of Magadha was occupied by Gopāla, a Gauḍa king as the Pāla inscriptions seem to indicate. According to the Rāgholi plates of Śaktivarman, Śaktivarman, king of Kaliṅga, is said to belong to the Magadha family. It is distinctly stated in the plates that the glorious Mahārāja Śaktivarman adorns the Magadha family (Māgadha-kulataṅka) (E.I., XII, 2ff.). The Sirpur Stone Inscription of the time of Mahāsivagupta (E.I., XI, 184ff.) states that Vāsalā, the mother of Mahāsivagupta, was the daughter of the king of Magadha (Magadhādhipatya) named Sūryavarman. The Mahākūṭa Inscription of Mangaleśa (I.A., XIX, 14ff.) states that Kirtivarman I alias Puru-raṇaparākramāṅka obtained victories over the kings of many cities including Magadha. The inscription of Jayadeva at Katmandu refers to the grand-daughter of the great Ādityasena, king of Magadha (Magadha-dauhitrī Magadhādhipasya mahataḥ Ādityasenasya).