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No. 28)
BRAHMI INSCRIPTIONS FROM BANDHOGARH
178
Brahmanical. I would even hasard a suggestion that the establishment was of Saiva origin. Though there is no direot proof, this view receives support from the fact that in one of the caves belonging to the group lying from east to west, I found a small inscription (of. No. XII) which clearly reads Sivabhatka(kta) and on the jamb of the first entrance to the left of the same cave are two clear out letter reading Siva. This cave contains seven beautifully carved letters in shell characters and also a few letters from nine inches to two feet in length in black paint. The characters belong to about the 4th century; but they are so badly effaced that no sense oan be made of the record. It is true that the two short epigraphs referred to above are in slightly later characters and may be pilgrims' records bearing personal namos. But the evidence of the painted insoriptions proves the existence of this cave at an earlier period and the fact remains that no Jaina or Buddhist would have such names or engrave such records in any of their religious establishments. I was first inclined to believe that at least the group of three caves found to the south-east of Gopalpur were of Jaina origin; but now I think that I was not justified in doing so. In one of them, on the right side of the first doorway, I found a partly effaced standing naked figure which I thought might be that of a Tirthankara or Jaina saint; but it May very well be that of a Saiva saint. If my assumption is correct, then these would be the earliest rook out caves dedicated to Saiva worship. Before the discovery of these caves, the earliest and perhaps the only caves dedicated to Siva were those at Udayagiri in Madhya Bharat, belonging to the time of Chandragupta II.
We have seen above that only three of the caves were direotly donated by the two princes Sivamagha and Vaisravana, three were gifts of two of the ministers of Pothabiri, viz. Māgha and Bhabatha, and the rest came mostly from the merchant olaas. It, however, seems strange that there were no donations direct from Bhimasons or any of his successors. There can be no doubt that these rulers were also the followers of Saiviam. The seals of both Bhimasena and Sivamagha discovered at Bhita show the represontation of a bull on their obverse. But it may be that the whole property which formed the establishment oame originally from this line of rulers, probably from Bhimasena himself, and thoro might have been other grants from them, of which we have no
nowledge at present. The caves which were donated by ruling princes, royal officials and persons who hailed from places like Kaubāmbi, Mathari and Parvata, appear to have been used by the resident monks or ascetios for various purposes.
The records are dated from the year 81 to the year 90 of an unspecified era and various theories have been put forward as to the era to which they have to be referred. That the same era has been used in the insoriptions of the Maghe rulers of Kansambl, there is no doubt. Of the latter, the following names of kings and years of their rule are known : Maharaja Gautamiputra Sivamagha (date lost), Mahārāja Bhadramagha (years 81, 83, 86 and 87), Maharaja Vaisravana (year 107) and Maharaja Bhimavarman (years 180 and 199). D.R. Sahni, while editing the inscription of Bhadramagba, referred the years to the Gupta era of 319 A.D. and so did Sten Konow. Apart from other grave objections, the palaeography of these records would go against this theory as their script is of a period much earlier than that found in the insoriptions of the Imperial Guptas. It was assumed by some that the Maghas came into power only after the 1 Corp. Ino. Ind., Vol. III, p. 38. * Soe below, pp. 176-77. . Above, Vol. XVIII, p. 189, No. II, and No. XIV below. For his real from Bhita, see A81, AR, 1911-12, p. 51,
Above, Vol. XXIV, p. 28 and Pl. ; Vol. XXIII, pp. 245 f., and Jha Commemoration Volume, pp. 101 ff.; above Vol. XVIII, p. 160, No. II (D. B. Sahni roads the date as 88). A recently discovered inscription from Kankim w has the date Maharajanya brf-Bhadramagharya ta(saminateare 80 8 na 1 di 1 eidya purodya. . Abovo, Vol. XXIV, pp. 146 f. and Pl., and Nou. XVIII and XIX below. Ind. Oult., Vol. III, pp. 177 ff., No. 1.
