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BRAHMI INSCRIPTION FROM KAILVAN
connection with the Sraddha ceremony of a deceased person is not unknown in Hindu rituals1 and the junction of two rivers is regarded by the Hindus as of particular sanctity in religious matters.
The inscription under study seems to be the only record so far discovered in Bihar, which bears a date in the Kanishka era. There are Chinese and Tibetan traditions referring to Kanishka's successful expedition against Paṭaliputra and this may suggest the spread of Kushāņa influence over Bihar. But the real nature of such influence cannot be determined without further evidence. The tradition regarding the rule of the Murundas of Saka nationality in the Bihar region about the second century A.D. and the spread of the Kanishka era in Bihar as suggested by the inscription under study, when read together with the Chinese and Tibetan traditions referred to above, may suggest the inclusion of Bihar within the Kushana empire but do not prove the point conclusively. The discovery of Kushana coins in Bengal and Orissa and the possible adoption of the Kanishka era by the Lichchhavis of Nepal' can hardly be regarded as definite proof of Kushāns rule in those areas.
Whether Bihar formed a part of the Kushana empire or not, the present inscription seems to show that king Arya-Visakhamitra was ruling over the Patna-Gaya region (ancient Magadha). as an independent monarch in the last quarter of the second century. The coins and inscriptions of certain rulers with names ending in the word mitra have been found in the said region, although their relations with the Mitra kings of Pañchāla and Kausāmbi, known from their coins, cannot be determined. A Magadhan monarch named Brihaspatimitra or Brihatsvātīmitra is known to have been a contemporary of king Kharavela of Kalinga who flourished about the close of the first century B.C. Arya-Visakhamitra of the inscription under notice appears to have belonged to the Mitra dynasty of Magadha. Whether his epithet Arya hints at the contemporary or past rule of the non-Aryas or Mlechha foreigners in any part of Bihar cannot be determined without further evidence. It is also uncertain whether Arya in this case is a dynastic name like Aira (Sanskrit Arya) found in the records of the Chedi-Mahāmeghavahanas of Kalinga."
TEXT
Rājño Arya-Visaghamitrasya savachhare sat-Athe 100 8 gimha-pakhe sa(a) [tha*]ma(me) 8 divasa pachame 5 bhagavato achariyasya kude upanite [*] Mahanadake Phagunadike kiti-bhūtika-misa hi kuḍe upanita bhagavat[o] [*]*
TRANSLATION
On the fifth-5-day of the eighth-8-fortnight of summer in the year one hundred and eight-108-of king Arya-Visakhamitra, the vessel of the most worshipful teacher is offered as a present. The vessel of the most worshipful one, which is verily associated with his fame and power, is offered as a present (in the name of) the Mahanadaka and the Phalgunadika.
1 See Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I, p. 185. The performance of the ceremony on the Phalgu at Gaya is known to have been regarded as specially meritorious.
Age of Imperial Unity, p. 142.
Raychaudhuri, PHAI, 1938, p. 460.
Age of Imperial Unity, loc. cit.; Select Inscriptions, p. 366.
* Raychaudhuri, op. cit., p. 327.
• Select Inscriptions, p. 209.
Ibid., pp. 206, 214.
From the original and impressions.
There are some symbols here. See above, p. 229.
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