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 334

No. 39)
MADRAS MUSEUM PLATES OF ANANTASAKTIVARMAN; YEAR 28
231
tion of Aryaka. By his practice of dharma he had even conquered the celestial beings. Although this term āryaka should generally be understood as one of respect, yet in some inscriptional cases there is reason to interpret it as grandfather, much in the same way as bappa meant father. Fleet was the first to think so. Yet in the inscriptional instances, which are not many, the manner in which it occurs leaves some ambiguity as to whether the term meant father, grandfather or simply # respectable person. In the Rithapur plates of Bhava[da"]ttavarman. it is recorded that Arthapati Bhattāraka was favoured by āryaka (äryyaka-pāda-prasād-īnugrikita). The context here leaves it doubtful whether by aryaka, Arthapati's father is referred to, whether his grandfather is moant as Dr. Sircar has assumed, or whether it alludes to some respectable people as the editor of the plates Y. R. Gupto translates the term. Similarly in the Halsi plates of Kadamba Mrigeba, this king is stated to have built a temple of Jina' through devotion for the king, his āryaka' (sv-aryyake nipatau bhaktyā). Dr. Fleet, who has edited the record, translates āryaka by father, who was dead (sic).' In a literary passage occurring in the Chivaravastu,' the word āryala is used obviously in the sense of father. None-the-less, so far as inscriptions go and as Fleet has also pointed out, aryaka may be understood to stand for grandfather just as bappa meant father. A piece of inscrip tional evidence, which may be pressed into service here to clinch the issue, is provided by a Nigirjunikonda Prakrit inscription. In this, the words āyaka and ayikā are used to describe the relatives of the donatrix who mentions, besides, her pitu, mätu, mätula, eto. Evidently ägaka and ayitā here meant grandfather and grandmother respectively. Its editor, Dr. Vogel, too, interprets the terms that way. From the foregoing discusssion, it may safely be assumed that Aryyaka Saktibhattāra ka of the Andhavaram plates was the grandfather of Anantaśaktivarman and identical with Kalingadhipati Saktivarman of the Rägõla plates. While the latter issues his charter from Pishtapura, the grandson is found to have fixed his capital at Simhapura in the north. Since both were Kalingādhipatis, the change of capital need not be considered as any extension of territory effected by the grandson over and above what the grandfather had already acquired. Moreover the object of Saktivarman's grant was Rākaluva in the Kalinga vishaya, the same as Rāgõlu
1 The conception that the kings of the earth conquer those of the heaven by deeds of piety, if not by deeds of valour, is profusely illustrated in Gupta inscriptions, especially those courring on their coins. Some of the legends on their coins read like
A pratiratho vijitya kshitish sucharitair=divan jayati (archer type of Samudragupta). Kahitim=anajitya sucharitair=divan jayati Vikramadityad (Chandragupta II). Gam-avajitya sucharitaih Kumāragupto divan jayati (Kumäragupta I). The idea seems to be a very old one. Valmiki put it in these words: Raja tu dharmëna hi palayitva mahamatir dandadharak prajānam || avapya kitends tasudhash yathavad itachyutab svargam=upaiti vidvan || (Ramayana, Ayodhyākānda, canto 100, verse 76)
I am obged to Dr. Chhabra for the above references. See his article ou Chandragupla prathama ki adoittya warna mudra (A Unique Gold Coin of Chandragupta I) in the Hindi journal Kalanidhi, Vol. II, pp. 113 ff. (For ita version in English, see JNSI, Vol. XI, pp. 15 ff.) Also see JRASB, Letters III (1937), Num. Sup. XLVII, pp. 109-10: Allan : Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasties, etc., pp. 1 ff.
* C.I.I., Vol. III, p. 186 n.
I am thankful to Dr. Chhabra for drawing my attention to the instances oitod horo. . Above, Vol. XIX, p. 103, text line 24. . Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 13.
Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 24, text line 8. * Gilgit Manuscripts, Vol. III, pt. 2, p. 136. . Above, Vol. XX, p. 22, Ins. F. line 2.
I may add here that later, when this article was going through the preso, I happened to come soross the word ayyaka (Skt. aryaka) in certain Jataka stories (e.g. Nos. 362 and 542 of Fausboll's adition). Everywhere it stands for grandfather.'