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No. 39)
SOME INSCRIPTIONS FROM U.P.
245
The name of Mahārāja Rudradāmasri reminds us of two Saka rulers of Western India named Rudradāman, the first of them ruling in the period 130-50 A. D. and the second in the second quarter of the fourth century A. D. We are also reminded of the name Damajadasri borne by no less than three rulers of the said Saka family. Dāmajadasri I was the son and successor of Rudradāman I, while the second and third kings of the same name ruled respectively in the first quarter and the middle of the third century A. D. Mahārāja Rudradāmasri of our inscription thus seems to have been related to the said saka house. In this connection, it may also be pointed out that, in ancient India, the honorific word sri was sometimes prefixed and sometimes suffixed to personal names. By way of illustration, we may refer to Khāravēla's name written both as sriKhäravēla and Khäravēla-srl in the Hathigumpha inscription. Thus the name of the king mentioned in our record may actually be merely Rudradāman. But it is difficult to say whether he was a scion of the Saka house or belonged to some other ruling family matrimonially related to the Sakas.
The Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta (c. 340-76 A. D.) gives a list of Aryāvarta kings extirpated by him and this is headed by a king named Rudradēva. As we have suggested elsewhere, this Rudradēva seems to be none other than Saka Rudrasēna III who was the son of Rudradāman II and ruled in the period between 348 and 378 A. D. Can we suggest the identification of Mahārāja Rudradāmasri of our epigraph with the father of Rudrasēna III? It is, however, difficult to come to any definite conclusion about the inclusion of the Mirzapur region, where the inscription under study is said to have been found, in the dominions of the Sakas of Western India during the rule of Rudradāman II. It is equally difficult to say whether our Rudradāmasri belonged to the house of the kings of Kausāmbi and whether that family had matrimonial relationswith the Sakas of Western India.
TEXT
1 [Si]ddham [l*] Mahārāja ... tatarga-Rudradāmasri....! 2 [@]tāya [pū] mo [ga]masyao ja[dda]... 3 masya.. .. [ku]liko11 Vē 12t[i] .... . 4 ... ..(pratishthā]pitan(tam ) priya .....
2. Another Fragmentary Inscription This inscription is found on a narrow slab of stone about 464 inches in length and 4 inches in height. Originally, however, the slab was apparently much bigger in height and contained a fairly big prasasti carefully engraved on its surface. The stone was re-dressed at a later date probably for
1 Select Inscriptions, pp. 207 (text line 1), 211 (text line 17). * Cf. ibid., p. 257, text line 21. * See Proc. IFC, Madras, 1944, pp. 78 ff.
From impressions.
* Two aksharas are lost here. The first of them' may be sya although the traces appear to suggest m rathor than 8.
• The akshara does not appear to have any w-matra attached to it, though the intended word may well be tunga. * As indicated above, thoakaharas 'yah sath (or earhart).... are lost here. • Sanskrit Stasyām. . The word can be restored as pūrevayām. 10 The damaged first akshara of what appears to be a personal namo may be $. 11 The word may be devakuliko.
11 This akshara may also be read as Kha. But, in that case, we have to suggest that the change of visarga into. 8 in the preceding akahara is due to Prakrit influence.
The intended reading was probably priyalari bhagavan (or bhagavax) ....
