History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.276

v2.c23.276

It is remarkable that Manu altogether omits the involved rules given by the gṛhya sūtras about naming a boy and prescribes (II. 31-32) two simple rules viz. that the names of all the members of the four varṇas should suggest respectively auspiciousness, vigour, wealth and lowness (or contempt) and that the names of brāhmaṇas and the other varṇas should have an addition (upapada) suggestive of śarman (happiness), rakṣā (protection), *puṣṭi* (prosperity) and *preṣya* (service or dependence on others). It is significant that none of the gṛhyasūtras except Pāraskara⁵⁷⁰ makes any reference to these additions (*śarman* and the like) to the names of brāhmaṇas and others. Therefore this was comparatively a later development, though such additions must have been in vogue at least two centuries before the Christian era. The Mahābhāṣya⁵⁷¹ (vol. III. p. 416) cites Indravarman and Indrapālita as the names of a rājanya and a vaiśya. Yama quoted by Aparārka (p. 27) says⁵⁷² that the names of brāhmaṇas should have the addition of *śarma* or *deva*, of kṣatriyas *varma* or *trāta*, of vaiśyas *bhūti* or *datta*, and of śūdras *dāsa*. Similar rules are given in the Purāṇas⁵⁷³. These rules were sometime observed, but were often broken from very ancient times as inscriptions show. A striking example of the observance of these rules is contained in the Talguṇḍa Inscription of Kākutsthavarman of the Kadamba family (E. I. vol. VIII. p. 24) where the founder who was a brāhmaṇa is styled Mayūraśarman, but his descendants who were kings had names ending in *varman* (which was appropriate to kṣatriyas). On the other hand we have frequent breaches of these rules. In the Gupta Inscriptions No. 35 (C. I. I. vol. III, p. 150, at p. 156 the Mandasor Ins. of Yaśodharman of Mālava year 589, 645-46 A. D.) the genealogy of the brāhmaṇa ministers is Ṣaṣṭhidatta, his son Varāhadāsa, his son Ravikīrti (so the upapadas 'datta' and 'dāsa' appropriate to vaiśyas and śūdras respectively were added to brāhmaṇa names). In the Neulpur plate of Śubhakara of Orissa (8th century A. D., E. I. vol. XV. p. 4) we have several bhaṭṭas whose names end in *vardhana*, *datta* and *svāmin*. In the Nidhanpura plate of Bhāskaravarman (E. I. vol. XIX p. 115) among the numerous donees (who must have been all brāhmaṇas) there are some who are named Śrāddhadāsa, Karkadatta and Merudatta. In the Inscriptions of the Śaka king Dāmijāda of the year 60 (C. I. I. vol. II. p. 16) his father is called *Valavaḍha* (Balavardhana) and his son Mitravaḍhana (Mitravardhana).