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CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCES
283 the characters of the Nanaghat inscription belongs to a period anterior to about 100 years to that of the edicts of Gautamiputra Sātakarņi and his son Pulumāyi. N. G. Majumdar' places the Nanaghat record during the period 100-75 B. C.
The signs and characters like va, pa, da, cha etc. in the Nanaghat inscription shows a decided advance over the Asokan or for the matter of that Śunga scripts. They are on way to become triangular. On these grounds and other already discussed in regard to śātakarņi, the Nana. ghat inscriptions are to be placed in the last quarter of the first Century B. C. So the Khāravela's inscription which, as we have seen, is slightly later than or contemporary with the Nanaghat records, cannot be earlier than the first Century B. C.
Titles 'Mahārāja' & 'Chakravarty'
The titles Mahārāja' and 'Chakravarty' in Khāravela's own and in his Chief Queen's records respectively may point towards a late date of the Hāthigumpbā record and naturally of Khāravela. Undoubtedly, we find the word Mahārāja (a great king) frequently referred to in the Brāhmaṇas, and the abhisheku of a Chakravarty monarch, otherwise called the Aindra-mahābhisheka, has been referred to in the Satapatha and the Aitreya Brāhmaṇas, yet, there are but a few instances to show that such titles were in use posterior to the Buddhist period, which is generally taken as the beginning of historic period in Indian History. Mahāpadma Nanda has been called 'Sarva-ksha
1. The Monuments of Sanchi, Vol. I, Pt. IV, p. 277.
2. Aitreya VII, 34, 9 : Kaushītaki, V, 5; Satapatha, 1, 5, 4, 21 ; II, 5, 4, 9; Brihadrãyyaka Upanishad II, 1, 19; Maitrāyaṇi Upanishad, II, 1, etc., Qtd. Vedic Index, Vol. II, p 27.
3. Qtd, Hindu Polity, Pt. II, p. 27.
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