Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

SR No.: 032588
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 384
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 196

138 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIV of the Avanti country) was different from Mo-la-p'o or Mälava, Bana's Kādambari likewise speaks of Vidisā on the Vētravati (1.e. Besnagar near Bhilsa) as the capital of Mälava and Ujjayins on the Siprā as the capital of Avanti. The same tradition is followed by Yasodhara, the 13th century commentator on Vätsyāyana's Kamasutra, in his Jayamangala which explains Avanti as AparaMālava (i.e. West Malwa) and Malava as Pūrva-Mālava (i.e. East Malwa), although the name Mālava has been assigned by this author to the whole of modern Malwa. A late medieval work entitled Shatpanchāśaddēšavibhāga makes a similar distinction between the Avanti and Mälava countries. It is therefore impossible to be sure whether the name Mālava has been used in the Rāshtrakūta records in the sense of Avanti in all cases.
I do not understand why Vatsarāja, who was ruling over the Avanti country, or more probably from the city of Avanti (i.e. Ujjayini), in Saka 705 (783 A.D.) acoording to Jinasēna's Harivamsa Purāna, cannot be identified with the Pratibāra king of that name simply because the original home of the Gürjaras was in the Maru or Marwar region and the kings of Avanti and Gurjara are separately mentioned in inscriptions like the one under study. Hiuen-tsang in the 7th century mentions Pi-lo-mo-lo (i.e. Bhillamāla, modern Bhinmal in the Jodhpur Division of Rajasthan) as the capital of Ku-che-lo, i.e. the Gürjara country. Similarly, in the 11th century Al-Biruni mentions Bazana (i.e. Bayana in the Bharatpur District of Rajasthan) as the old capital of Gurjaratrā (i.e. the Gürjara country) and the doubtfully read Jadūra (probably modern Rājorgarh in the Alwar District of the same State, which was the headquarters of the Gürjara Pratihāra chief Mathanadēva according to an inscription of 960 A.D.)" as its new capital. In Al-Biruni's time, the oapital of the Gürjara-Pratibāra empire, which included the Gürjara country with its capital first at Bayana and then at Räjorgarh, was at Kanauj. We do not know where the capital of the Gurjara country was in Vatsaraja's time. But even if it was at Bhinmal as in Hiuen-tsang's days, does it follow that the capital of Vatsaraja's empire, wbich certainly included the Gürjara country, could not have been at Ujjayini ?
Then comes the question whether Avanti could be mentioned separately when it formed a part of the Gürjara-Pratibāra empire. In our opinion, even if Vatsarāja had his capital at the city of Avanti (Ujjayini), the ruler, who governed the Avanti territory forming a part of Vatsarāja's empire, could have been described separately as the king of Avanti side by side with his Gurjara-Pratihāra overlord. The Sirur iscription of the time of Rashtrakūta Amõghavarsha I, dated Saka 788 (866 A.D.), refers to the Răshtrakūta king to have been worshipped by the rulers of Vanga, Anga, Magadha, Mālava and Véngi (Vang-Anga-Magadha-Mälava-Verg-īšair-abhyarchita-fāsana), the same passage also occurring in the Nilgund inscription of the same king's reign. But we know that, in the days of Amõghavarsha, the three countries, Vanga (South-East Bengal), Anga (East Bihar) and Magadha (South Bihar), were included in the empire of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar. The reference is therefore to the governors or subordiante rulers in the said three territories forming provinces of the Pala empire. This seems to be suggested by the fact that, socording to the evidence of Sandhyakaranandin's Ramacharita and its commentary, supported by that of the Sārnāth inscription of Kumaradēvi, the Chhikköra chief Devarakshita and his successor Bhimayasas were
1 Soo Wattors, on Yuan Chuang's Travels in India, Vol. II, pp. 250-51, 242-43.
Cf. majjan-Malava-vilasini ........ Vetravatyä parigata Vidit-abhidhänā nagari rajadhany=asit (Siddhantavagisa's ed., pp. 18-19) and Sipraya parikshipta ...... vijit-amara-loka-dyulir-Avantish=0jjayini nama nagart (ibid., pp. 176-83).
• Boo the commentary on the Kamasutra, VI, 5, 22 and 24 (Avantika Ujjayini-deba-bhavak, ta er=Apara-Malavyal .... Malanya iti Püra-Mälava-bhaval).
Ind. Cult., Vol. VIII, pp. 51-52; Siroar, Geog. Anc. Med. Ind., pp. 91-92. .8. JN81, Vol. VIII, pp. 136-37 ; Sachau, Alberuni's India, Vol. I, p. 202; cf. Bhandarkar's List, No. 74. • Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 218, toxt line 6
Abovo, Vol. VI, p. 108, toxt lino 8.