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274
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
tion of the rule of the Kāņvas in the middle of the first Century B. C. and regard Indrāgnimitra and Brahmamitra as two immediate predecessors of king Brihaspatimitra who was the weaker rival and contemporary of Khāravela."
And if this is so, then Kbāravela should be assigned a date in the last quarter of the first Century B. C. YAVANARĀJA DIMITA
In the 8th live of the Hāthigumphā inscription, there is supposed to be a reference to the Yavanarāja Dimita viz. Demetrius, who, through the uproar occasioned by the action of Khāravela, retreated towards Mathurā.'
K. P. Jayaswal and R. D. Banerji, after a fresh examination of the inscription in 1919, announced that they had read the word Yavanarāja followed by the proper name Dimata. Jayaswal stated that he found the syllable -ma- clear and utimately, with great difficulty, read Dimata. This reading and its interpretation as the Greek king Demetrius3 were accepted both by Banerji" and Sten Konow. Konow, however, said of his own reading :-"I can see Yavanarāja as read by Jayaswal and of his Dimata the -ma- is quite legible.” He did not say if he could see the supposed faint traces of the rest of the word. It is, therefore, clear that there remained an element of conjecture in the readings. 1. Line 8: "Etinà cha karma padāna-sannūdena....senavāhane
vipamuchitum madhuram apapato yavanarāja dimita..." 2. JBORS, XIII, 1927, pp. 221 & 228.
3. Transcriptions : Dattāmitra (Patañjali & Mahābhārata); Devamantiya (Milindapað ha); Dharma-mita (Yuga Furāna); Demetriya (On the bilingual tetradrachm); Timitra (On a seal from Begnagar-ASI, 1914-15, Vol. I. p. 19; Vol. II, p. 77).
4. JBORS, XIII, 1927, pp. 221 & 228. 5. Acta Orientalia, Vol. I. 1923, p. 27. 6. GBI, 1952, App. V.lpp. 457 f.
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