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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXXII
The earliest known Guhila records are believed to be the Samoli inscription of the time of Silāditya, dated 646 A.D., and the Nägda inscription of the time of Aparajita, dated 664 A.D., although the identification of Silāditya with the Guhila prince of that name is not beyond doubt since it is not impossible to identify the ruler mentioned in the Samoli inscription with Harsha Siladitya of Kanauj, who ruled from 606 to 647 A.D. over wide areas of Northern India apparently including considerable parts of Rajasthan. Guhila Silāditya again may have been named after his father's overlord Karsha Sīlāditya as in certain other cases known to us. In any case, the first of our two inscriptions, which is dated in 653 A.D., is at least the second earliest record of the Guhila family even if it is not exactly the earliest. Thus the Gubilas of Kishkindhipura were ruling side by side with the Guhilas of Mewar in the seventh century A.D., both houses probably originally owing allegiance to Harsha. The rule of the three kings of the Guhila house of Kishkindhipura known from the two records under study, viz. Dēvagana, Bhāvihita and Babhata, may be roughly assigned respectively to the second, third and fourth quarters of the seventh century A.D. Another member of the family was Rājaputra Ghorghatasvämin who is known from the second of our records and may have been a son of Babhata. But whether he ever ascended the throne is more than what can be said without further light on the subject. Mahārāja Bhētti of the Dhulēv plate of 673 A.D., ruling between Bhävihita and Bābhata, may have been a son or younger brother of the former or an elder brother of the latter. Two other members of the same family appear to have been Padda and Kadachhi, known from the undated Kalyāņpur inscriptions noticed in A. R. Ep., 1954-55, Nos, B 498 and 499, of whom the former was probably a predecessor of Dévagana and the latter apparently a successor of Babhata.
We have seen above that the rule of the chief Dēvagana can be assigned roughly to the second quarter of the seventh century A.D. and that, at that time, king Harsha of Kanauj was ruling over extensive areas of Northern India no doubt including the major part of Rajasthan. Padda and Dēvagana thus appear to have been Harsha's feudatories. But it is difficult to say to whom Bhävihita, Bhētti and Bābhata, who issued charters without specifically mentioning their overlord and were ruling semi-independently in the second half of the seventh century, owed their more or less nominal allegiance. If, however, it is believed that Sivagana of the Kanaswa inscription of 738 A. D. was a feudatory of the Maurya dynasty known also from the Mathura inscription of an earlier date, it is possible to suggest that it was these Mauryas who succeeded in extending their suzerainty over the major part of Rajasthan after the death of Harsha.
1. Grant of Bhăvihita, (Harsha) Year 48 The inscription begins with the Siddham symbol followed by the word svasti. Next comes the reference to Kishkindhipura whence the charter was issued. Lines 1-2 then introduce the dynasty of the Guhilaputras (i.e. Guhilas) and a chief named Dēvagana belonging to that dynasty is next mentioned in lines 2-6. Among the epithets applied to the Guhilaputra family and to Dovagaņa, nothing deserves mention excepting that Dēvagana is described as a devout worshipper of Mahēsı ara (Siva) and as one who acquired all the mahā-sabdas, the latter epithet indicating his subordinate position.
Lines 6-9 introduce another ruler named Bhāvihita as the donor of the grant and as meditating on (or favoured by) the feet of Dēvagana while line 11 refers to Dēvagaña as the pitsivya (father's brot her) of Bhavihita. This ruler is also called samadhigata-pancha-mahāśabda which indicates his subordinate status. The order of Bhāvihita in respect of the grant was addressed to the following classes of subordinates (lines 9-10): rājan (subordinate chief), rājaputra (son of a rājan), rājasthānika (viceroy), pratihāra (officer in charge of the gate of the palace or capital), pramäti (an officer
* CE. The Successors of the Satavahanas, pp 177, 248, note 1 ; Bhattacharya, Kamarūpasasanavali, p. xiv. . Cf. Bhandarkar's List, No. 18; above, Vol. XXXII, p. 210.
