Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 422

No. 56) TWO INSCRIPTIONS OF GUPTA AGE
305 Paramabhattāraka Chandragupta II. That the Gupta suzerain was sometimes mentioned only as Bhafçāraka or Paramabhaffäraka without specifying the name is clearly indicated by inscriptions like the Baigram platel of 448 A.D., and the Paharpur plate of 479 A.D. There is little doubt that, about the beginning of the 6th century A.D., king Narēndra of Sarabhapura mentions & Gupta emperor in his Kurud plates: merely as the Paramabhattāraka and that Mahārāja Satrudamana (first half of the 5th century A.D.) in his Peddadugam platest and Maitraka Dronasimba in his Bhamodra Mohota plates (502 A.D.) call themselves respectively Bhattāraka-padanudhyāta and Paramabhattāraka-pad-änudhyāta with reference to a Gupta emperor. There can also be no reasonable doubt that the Mahārājas Svāmidāsa, Bhulunda and Rudradāsa issued their charters in the Gupta years 67 (386 A.D.), 107 (426 A.D.) and 117 (436 A.D.) respectively and called themselves Paramabhattaraka-păd-ānudhyāta with reference to their Gupta suzerains.
The Gupta emperor Samudragupta (c. 335-76 A.D.) claims to have defeated the Aryāvarta ruler Rudradēva who seems to be none other than the Saka Mahākshatrapa Rudrasēna III ruling over the Malwa-Rajasthan-Kathiawar region in the period between 348 and 378 A.D. The absence of Rudra sēna's coins for the period between 351 and 364 A.D. was rightly regarded by Rapson as 'marked by some political disturbance during which the coinage ceased'. As we have suggested elsewhere, this was probably due to his defeat at the hands of Samudragupta and acceptance of the latter's allegiance. But Rudrasēna III appears to have assumed independence about fifteen years after his subjugation by the Gupta monarch. This necessitated the reconquest of the Saka dominions by Samudragupta's son Chandragupta II (376-413 A.D.). The latest date on the coins of the Saka Mahakshatrapa Rudrasimha III falls between 388 and 397 A.D. while the presence of Chandragupta in East Malwa, in connection with a military expedition, is indicated by his Udayagiri inscriptions, one of which is dated in the Gupta year 82 (401 A.D.). The Saka dominions in Western India thus appear to have been permanently annexed to the Gupta empire about the close of the 4th century A.D. Isvararāta of Kathiawar, acknowledging the supermacy of a Gupta emperor, may thus have issued his grant either about 360 A.D. when Kathiawar appears to have formed a part of the Samudragupta's empire or shortly after the overthrow of Saka Rudrasimha III by Chandragupta II. It may be questioned whether he would have been allowed to issue a charter in his own name in the above fashion when Gupta power was fully established in the erstwhile Saka kingdom. But, as already indicated above, we have instances of some other feudatories of the Gupta emperors issuing similar grants apparently with the permission or acquiescence of their overlords.
The importance of the inscription under study lies in the fact that it is the earliest extant copper-plate charter of the usual type so far discovered in the northern part of India. It appears to be earlier than the Dbanaidaha platele (dated the Gupta year 113-432 A.D.) of the time of Kumāragupta I, which was so long regarded as the earliest such genuine record. i I am not sure about the location of Prachakāśā nor of the district called Vankka-patta and the village called Vödhyakapika-grāma. But Vankikä-patta may be modern Wankaner in Kathiawar. Prachakābā cannot be indetified with Prakasha in the West Khandesh District, since the chiefdom of Isvararāta does not appear to have extended beyond Kathiawar.
1 Ibid., pp. 342 ff. (cf. Bhatfaraka-pad-anudhyata in line 1 and Bhaffaraka-padanam in line 13).
Ibid., pp. 346 ff. (cf. Paramabhaffaraka-padanam in line 16). * Above, Vol. XXXI, pp. 267-68.
Ibid., pp. 89 ff. * Select Inscriptions, pp. 403 ff. • Rapeon, ('a'alogue of Coins, p. 145. Proc. IAC, 1944, pp. 78 ff.
Select Inscriptions, pp. 271, 272 and noto 5. ... Rapain, Catalogue, pp. cxlix ff.; Alin, Catalogue (Gupta). pp. Xxxvii f., lxxxvi f. 10 Select Inscriptions, pp. 280 ff.