Old Bramhi Inscriptions In Udaygiri And Khandagiri

SR No.: 020516
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Benimadhab Barua
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1929
Total Pages: 354
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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OLD BRAHMI INSCRIPTIONS
The association of the two names in one and the same inscription as well as in one and the same work of art and architecture is significant, and it may be taken to indicate that the gentleman was the husband and that the lady was his wife. It may be inferred from the two games, Kamma and Cūlakamma, that the gentlemen known by these two names were related to each other as brothers, of whom Kamma was the elder and Culakamma the younger. It seems probable that Kamma, Cūlakamma and Khiņā were counted among Khāravela's kinsfolk.
With regard to the royal officers and servants among the excavators of the caves, we have one inscription (No. IX), in which a gentleman named Bhūti has been distinctly mentioned as a Town-judge (Nagara-akhadamsa),--a designation corresponding to Nagalaka-mahāmāta or Nagalavi. yohalika-mahāmāta in Agoka's S.R.E.I., and to Nagaraka in the Artha-Sastra (11. 35. 56); one inscription (No. X), in which Nākiya of Bāriyā has been represented as a High-functionary with ministerial duties (Mahāmada); and one inscription (No. XIV), in which the donor Kusuma has been described as a Padamilika. Kusuma, as his inscription shows, donated more caves than one (leņāni).
It is snggested that Pādamūlika may be regarded as a local patrony. mic signifving a man belonging to a locality named Padamüla. But we must draw the reader's attention to the Asadisa-Jataka (Fansböll, No. 181) in which the Rāja-pādamülikıs (“Servers of the royal feet ") figure as the attendants who were in close touch with the king. Prof. Cowell and Mr. Ronse in their English translation have rendered Rāja-pādamülikā as “slaves," and we, following Mr. R. D. Banerji, have rendered Pūdamulika of the inscription as “Menial." Now it would seem that the Rāja-pāda. mülikas or Padamūlikawere not slaves or menials of an ordinary kind. For, according to the Buddhist Birth-story, they were the persons who slandered Prince Peerless to the king, big brother. In Mr. Francis' rendering of the Sarabhanga-Jätaka (Fausböll, No. 52?), the Raja-pādamülikas stand forth as "king's attendants." This Birth-story relates that on his return home from Takkasilā as a master of archery, Sarabhanga, the coval chaplain's son, was appointed a Rāja-pālamūlika bv the king of Benares in compliance with the request of his father. He daily attended on the king (upatthahi) and daily received a thousand pieces of money, a much higher honorarium than “ the king's attendants" could ordinarily expect. On the display of his skill in archery, he was soon promoted to the post of commander-in-chief, a fact which clearly proves that the king's attendant's rank was a lower status than that of a commander-in-chief,