Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

SR No.: 032582
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1949
Total Pages: 526
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 31 MB

Page 258

No. 31] ANDHAVARAM PLATES OF ANANTA-SAKTIVARMAN
176 found in their hundreds at various ancient sites in the Uttar Pradesh such as Räjghāt near Banāras.
The Intwă sealing is almost round in shape and about an inch in diaineter. In the centre it has what is commonly called the chaitya syinbol. Along the margin it has a logend in Brahmi characters, running the entire course. It begins at 3 o'clock. The raised letters are a little wom out. Mr. Acharya had succeeded in reading a part of the legend; but it still remained a riddle. Luckily it yielded to my examination and revealed its full text to me, which is :
Mahārāja-Rudrasēna-vihāri Shikshu-saṁghasya It means that the scal belongs to the congregation of friars at the Mahārāja Rudrasena Monastery.'
This short record on the scaling is of great historical importance. The Mahārāja Rudrasēna spoken of herein is obviously one of those Kshatrapas who were descendants of Chashtans and who ruled in Saurashtra and in the neighbouring regions from the 2nd to the 4th century A. C. There were four rulers of the name of Rudrasēna in this dynasty, and it is not possible at this stage to say definitely as to which one is meant here, though the palæography of the legend would make him Rudrasēna I, who was a son of Rudrasimha I and whose reign-period is known to be 199-222 A. C.1
The present sealing is the only record so far discovered that shows that this Rndrasēna built a monastery for Buddhist monks at Jūnāgadh-a natural inference from the name it bore : MahārājaRudrasēna-Vihāra. Further light is expected to be thrown on his activities as a patron of Buddhism when more relics will come to light from the Intwā site.
Recently Prof. Dr. J. Ph. Vogel has published an interesting paper on the Seals of Buddhist Monasteries in Ancient India, in which he has discussed similar bhikshu-samgha seals from Kasia, Särnäth, etc. To that list we may now add the Intwă sealing. And this one would be the earliest of the lot.
No. 31-ANDHAVARAM PLATES OF ANANTASAKTIVARMAN
(1 Plate)
R. Subrahmanyam, Visakhapattanam On receipt of a report from the village officers of Andhavaram, that an urn, containing four sets of copper platos with inscriptions, was accidently exposed by some cow herds of that village while playing, I visited the village on 27th February 1951. Messrs. Ramachandramurty and Raja rao, the village officers, took me to the findspot, and were kind enough to permit ine to carry the plates to Vigākhapatnam, for study and publication. Andhavaram is a small village in the Narasannapeta taluk of the Srikakulam District, Madras State. It is situated on the loft bank of the Vamsadhārā river. It is about twelve miles from Chicacole Road Railway Station. There are two
1 See E. J. Rapson's Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhra Dynasty, the Western Kshatrapas, etc., in Catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum, London, 1908, p. 96.
Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Contonary Volume (1945-1945), Nor Sorias Vol. I, pp. 27-32
[As this paper was going through the press, information was received of the discovery of two more similar clay malings of Buddhist monastaries, one from Kosam, ancient Kausimbt, and the other from Kumribir, ancient Pataliputra. The former belongs to the congregation of friars at the Ghoshita drama, while the latter pertains to the congregation of friars at Arogya vihara.-Ed.)