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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XVI.
No. 16.–THE SANCHI INSCRIPTION OF SVAMIN JIVADAMAN: THE 13TH YEAR.
BY R. D. BANERJI, M.A. Very little is known about Srāmin Jivadaman, the father of the Kshatrapa Rudrasimha II, who ruled over Saurashtra in the third and the fourth decades of the third century A.D. and who was very probably the ancestor of the Maha-Kshatrapa Sramin Rudrasēna III. No inscriptions of this period have been discovered, and one has to depend entirely on numismatics for the reconstruction of the history of this period. The line of Chashtana seems to have come to an end with the Kshatrapa Visvasēna, son of the Maha-Kshatrapa Bhartsidāman. The latest known date of Visvasēna is Saka 226=304 A.D. In the following year (S. 227=305 A.D.) a prince named Rudrasimba strikes coins; therefore it is certain that the reign of the Kshatrapa Visvasēna came to an end either in S. 226. or in S. 227. On this point Prof. E. J. Rapson states, “There is, however, only the possibility of a very small error in regarding Visvasēna's last known coin date, 226, as the actual end of his reign, since his successor, the Kshatrapa Rudrasimla II, issued coins in the following year, 227." Nothing is known about the origin of this third dynasty of Satraps of Saurashtra. On the coins of Kshatrapa Rudrasimha II it is stated that he was the son of Svāmin Jivadāman. “With Mahakshatrapa Bhartridáman and his son, the Kshatrapa Visvasēna, comes to an end the ruling family of Chashtana. It is succeeded by a family which traces its descent back to a personage Srāmin Jiradāman, who, like Ghsamotika, the father of Chåshtana, bears none of the titles which may be regarded as distinctly royal in character, raja,' mahakshatrapa' or 'kshatra pa.'" Prof. Rapson is inclined to agree with the late Pandit Bhagwan Lal Indraji in thinking that Svåmin Jivadāman was a scion of some younger branch of the family of Chashtana, because of his title Sramin and the affix "daman to his name.
A stone inscription was discovered in the village of Kanakhoda near Sabchi in the Bhopal State, by one of the Assistants of Sir John Marshall, Director-General of Archæology in India, two or three years ago. This record throws some light on the hitherto obscure personality of the ancestor of the third dynasty of the Satreps of Saurāshtra. The inscription is in a very imperfect state of preservation and consists of six lines of writing. The language of the record is Sanskrit, and it is partly in prose and partly in verse. The inscribed surface measures 2' 2" by 6$' and the average length of letters is 13" The record opens with a number of adjectives and the first line ends with the name of Jivadāman. The object of the rest of the inscription is to record the excavation of a well by the Judge or General (Maka-Dandunāyaka) Sridharavarman the Scythian (Saka), who was the son of Nands the Scythian, in the kingdom-increasing year 13. The middle of the record has suffered considerably by Aaking, and it is impossible to make ont any sense at all. The last two lines contain two padas of a verse in the Sårda lavikridita metre, which records the purpose of the inscription, ris. the excavation of a well by Sridhara varman. The verse is followed by two numerical symbols and by three or four syllables which are illegible. The adjectives in the first line cannot refer to Jivadaman, as they begin with the word Bhagavatah. It is probable that some comparison was made between the lord who was the commander of the heavenly hosts, whose armies had never been vanquished, the lord Mahäsēna (Skanda or Kārttikėya), and Jiradaman; but the fragmentary state of the first line prevents us from making any guesses. It is quite certain, however, that the line ends with the word Jiradāman, the case-ending being illegible. It is also quite certain that the word Jivadaman is a proper name, and not an adjunct of any other name. The connection between the first line and the second line cannot be made out. It begins with the word dharmma-rijayāna, which is an adjunct of the subject Sridharararmmand. It contains & phrase the exact meaning of which is not apparent. Rapson, B. 2. Cat., csl. 166. * Ibid., ezl.
Ibid., ezli.
