Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

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

Page 84

No. 7] CURZON MUSEUM INSCRIPTION OF KANISHKA'S REIGN ; YEAR 23 43
The language is the mixed dialect that is generally found in the Mathurā inscriptions of the Kushāna period. It may be observed that the scribe has either wrongly omitted a few letters or else purposely used abbreviated forms in certain words. The very first word, for instance, reads maharasya which obviously stands for mahārājasya. The next is Kani, by which no doubt Kanishka is meant. It is, however, strange that the scribe should have shortened the usual expression Kanishkasya samvatsarē, or something to that effect, into a simple Kami. The title of Masyaguta is also given as [ma]harasya, As has already been indicated, the form of ma here is very uncertain.
The object of the inscription is to record the setting up of a Bodhisattva image by a lady, called Pugyasdata?) (Pushyadatta), daughter of Mahara Masyaguta (Mahārāja Matsyagupta), in her own monastery, in the first fortnight of the Grishma season of the year 23 (of the reign) of Maharaja Kanishka (which in continuation is counted as the Kushāņa era).
The importance of the date has already been recognised. The year 23 is proved to be the last year of Kanishka's reign, because we have got an inscription of his son and successor Huvishka, which is dated in the year 24 of the era thus established.
What is of much greater importance is the mention of a Mahārāja Matsyagupta' as a contemporary of Kanishka. This is evidently a new name, and, what is more, an indication of the existence of a contemporaneous royal family. Whoever this Matsyagupta was, it is apparent that he was on friendly terms with Kanishka, as is to be inferred from the fact that he or his daughter bad built a vihara in the kingdom of the Kushäņa monarch, as the inscription has it.
It may be argued that Matsyagupta might have been an ordinary individual and not a king, and the word read as mahārasya might in reality be something different, may be one denoting the name of the place from which Matsyagupta might have hailed. The reading of the first letter as ma has been admitted to be doubtful. It may not be ma, but just two horizontal strokes, one above the other, meant for a sign of punctuation.
Two considerations are against the foregoing argument. The first is : Maharasya Kani, it may be admitted, stands for Mahārājasya Kanishkasya, and just as here the first word is imperfectly written, so may it be in the case of Maharasya preceding Masyagutasya. Secondly, the name ending in guta, i.e., gupta, strongly suggests itself to be that of a king. Besides, the contraction Kani may equally be significant here. Possibly the scribe was an employee of Matsyagupta, who attached more importance to the contents of the record than to the particulars of the date. He thought, his abbreviation Kani was clear enough to serve the purpose, whereas he had to mention his master's name in full. Finally, it may be observed that the two human figures, noticed above as flanking the triratna symbol, that are not usually met with in such cases, in the present instance, may be taken to represent Mahārāja Matayagupta and his daughter Pushyadatta. This londe some further weight to the supposition that in Matsyagupta we have a king and not an ordinary individual.
It will be worth while to search for more particulars about this Mahārāja Matsyagupta in literature and in epigraphy.
That is how the syntax would have it, but possibly the meaning intended to be conveyed is 'in his own mom tory', 'his' referring to the father of the lady.
The equation of Masyaguta with Matsyagupta was kindly suggested to me first by Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao. I have no doubt about its correctness. Personal names in the period concerned are often after the names of various constellations such as Pushya Vibikha, Proshtha, eto. And in the present instano , Mataya, 1.c.. Mme, is also one such.