Epigraphia Indica Vol 01

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 91

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
and to demonstrate more forcibly the great antiquity of the Japanese and of the oldest Nepalese MSS.
The language of the edict is on the whole good Sanskrit, and there are very few clerical mistakes. As regards the spelling, no distinction is made between ba and va, no doubt because in the seventh century the pronunciation of the two letters was the same, just as at present. In samviditam (1. 10) and samvat (1. 18) the letter m remains unchanged before va, which practice is, though against grammar, very common in the inscriptions of the fourth and later centuries, and due to the pronunciation that in this point too agreed with the modern one. Ungrammatical or unidiomatic forms and words occur exclusively in the technical portion of the grant. Among them may be noted kundadhánívaishayika (1.8) for kuṇḍadhdufvishayántakpáti, bhukṭakaḥ (1. 10) for bhukta, sareaparíkṛilaparikárab (1. 11) for parikrilasarodparikáraḥ, samakálínaḥ (1. 11) for 'samakálikaḥ. Very interesting is the incorrect form pramátára, which twice (1. 9 and 1. 17) occurs in the middle of a compound. It can only be explained as caused by the influence of the vernacular language which must have had then as now forms in tár, spelt tára, such as kartár, instead of the Sanskrit words ending in tri.
The historical information which the inscription furnishes, is throughout most interesting. Great Harsha is known as one of the most eminent kings of India. His life and the lives of his immediate predecessors have been described by Bâna and by Hiuen Tsiang. It is therefore most important to see, if what he says about himself and his family agrees with the accounts in the Srtharshacharita and in the Si-yu-ki. The result of the comparison is on the whole favourable, especially for Bâņa. But we obtain some valuable additions to the facts already known. The genealogy of Harsha's family-the Vaisyas of Sthânvisvara-stands now as follows:
I. Naravardhana, md. to Vajrini-devi.
1
II. Rajyavardhana I. md. to Apsaro-devi
III. Adityavardhana, md. to Mahasenagupta-devi.
I
IV. Prabhakaravardhana, md. to Yadomati-devi.
V. Rajyavardhana II.
VI. Harsha.
The names of the first three kings and those of their queens are new. Both Hiuen Tsiang and Bâna omit them, the latter mentioning in their stead the remote founder of the family Pushpabhuti or, as the correct spelling of the name probably was, Pushyabhuti. They seem however to have stood on Mr. Fleet's Sonpat seal of Harsha, on the
Sir A. Cunningham, Anc. Geog., p. 377, is right when he asserts that the French translation of Hinen Tsiang's Fei-she was wrong in making Harsha of the Vaisya caste, and that the intermarriages with the Rajput families of Valabhi and MAIVA (recte Kanoj) prove him to bave been a Kshatriya. I also agree with his identification of Harsha's family with the modern Bais Rajputs. I would add that according to Dr. Kielhorn's MS. B., Patanjali on Panini, IV, 1, 170, (vol. II, p. 269, Kielhorn) mentions a country called Vaisa, an inhabitant of which is named Vaidya. Dr. Kielhorn prints, according to the majority of his MSS. Naida and Naisya. Though this proceeding is undoubtedly correct, yet it by no means follows that the reading of the majority of the MSS. is the original one, for na and ea are very similar in the ancient alphabet and the writers or correctors might easily make a mistake in the case of a name which does not occur in other literary works. Hence it is not impossible that the Mahabhashya has preserved the ancient name of the Bais nobles. The fact that the capital of Harsha's ancestors was Sthanvisvara-Thanesar, is fully proved by Bana's statements.
The word Pushpabhati gives no good sense. Pushyabhuti is a Nakshatra-name, and means "he to whom Pushys may give welfare." There are numerous similar ancient names like Ashadhabhúti, Somabhati, Nagabhúti, Indrabhati, and so forth. The modern Devanagari MSS. constantly interchange pa and ya, especially in compound letters.