Epigraphia Indica Vol 20

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 90

No. 7.]
THE HATHIGUMPHA INSCRIPTION OF KHARAVELA
75
before the formation of the Sātavāhana empire covering the whole of Marāțhi-speaking (e.g., Barhādi, Khāndesi, Northern Marāthi and Konkani) area.
The reference in the 6th line to the canal from Tanasuliya-räta, which was excavated in the year 103 of King Nanda, will fix the upper limit of Khāravela's time, like the reference to Muriyakäla (the time of Muriya in l. 16). Chālukya Vikramāditya VI in the Yedarūve inscription is said to have established his Chalukya era after abolishing the eras of Vikramaditya, Nanda and Saka. "Having said 'Why should the glory of the Kings Vikramiditya and Nanda be a hind rance any longer ?', he, with a loudly uttered command, abolished that (era) which has the name of Saka, and made that (era) which has the Chalukya counting ".1 Acain, we have the definite datum that Alberuni found in use in his time an era with the initial year 458 B.C., which goes back to the time of the first Nanda king (Nanda Vardhana). The year 103 of the Nanda cra would correspond to 355 B.C. when the Tanasuliya canal, which Khára ela extended to the capital in the 5th year of his reign, was originally excavated. If we take this Nanda to be tbe last Nanda, Khåravela would be referring to (325 B.C.-103=)c. 222 B.C. and not to any later year. But we have something more definite in the next datum, namely, the contemporaneity with Baha. satimita. In line 12 Kharavela reaches the Sugamgiya palace, i.e., the famous Maurya palace at Pataliputra mentioned in the Mudrārākshasa. Bahasatimita is expressly called the King of Magadha. Now we know from coins that Bahasatimitra and Agnimitra issued coins of the same type. This much we may take as certain that the time of Bahasatimitra, whosoever he may be, is the first half of the 2nd century B.C. Āshādhasēna, who belonged to the royal family of Adhichchhatrā, describes himself as the maternal uncle of King Bahasatimitra in the Pabhosā inscription, and Ashādhasēna dates his record in the 10th year of Odraka, whom KPJ. has identified with a king of the Sunga dynasty. Bahasatiinitra's coins have been found at Kosam (Kauáāmbi)' which was a state on the borders of Magadha. The characters of the coins agree with those of the Häthigumpha inscription. As Bahasatimitra does not occur in the list of the Mauryan kings and as his connection with the family of Odraka is indicated by the Pabhosā record, we are justified in taking him as one of the early Sungas before Odraka, the fifth king of the line. In other words, Khåravela's contemporary Bahasatimita would belong to a period between 188 B.C. and c. 125 B.C. It is true that we do not find the name of Bțihaspatimitra in the Sunga list. But we have the explanation given in the Purāņas themselves. It is reported there that Pushpamitra made others rule; the Vāyu says that be made his 8 sons rule equally, i.e., with equal powers. We know that Agnimitra ruled at Vidisā with a separate court of his own. Probably the 6th son was ruling in Kösala as the Sunga inscription at Ayodhya would suggest. 10 It is significant that Pushyamitra is not called king in this record, but his title Senā pati is there just as it is in Kālidāsa's Malavikāgnimitra. Similarly the dating on the Bhärhut gate" in the reign of the Sungas” confirms the Purānic datum that several sons ruled at the same time in different parts) under Pushyamitra. The Vāyu-Purāna places in the imperial list (of Magadha) the sons of Agnimitra, and not Agnimitra himself, after Pushyamitra. As
1 Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, Pt. ii, p. 477. J. B. O. R. 8., Vol. XIII, pp. 237, 241 ; Sachau, Vol. II, pp. 5 to 7. Act III. . Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 525. . Ante, Vol. II, p. 242. • Ibid. For Udraka as a proper name oompare Divydadana, p. 392.
Asta, p. 243 n. 17. • V. A. Smith, Catalogue of Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Vol. I, p. 156, .J. B. O. R. S., Vol. X, p. 202, Vol. XIII, pp. 247 and 218. 10 J. B.O. R. 8., Vol. XIII, pp. 247, 248 and p. 57 sbove.