Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 43

• EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(Vol. XXXIV The inscription commences with the expression siddhan followed by an invocation to the god Mahādeva Pushpabhadrasvāmin. Then the date of the record is given in the regnal reckoning of Väsishthiputra Ehavala Chantamüla as the 5th day of the second fortnight of the summer season in the year 16 (expressed in symbols). The record next proceeds to introduce Mahārājakumāra Mahäsenapati Haritiputra Virapurushadatta who is stated to have caused the construction of a rhrine (devakula) for Bhagavat Pushpabhadrasvāmin and the erection of a flagstaff (dhvaja-stambha) apparently in front of the shrine. He is further stated to have created a permanent endowment of the village of Pudokedam, no doubt for the maintenance of the temple.
Prince Virapurushadatta is introduced in relation to both his paternal and maternal lines. He is represented as the great-grandson of Mahārāja Väsishthiputra Chantamüla who is described, as in other Ikshvāku records, with reference to his munificence and also to his performance of the agrushtomat, vüja peya, a svamedha and bahusuvarnaka sacrifices and is also stated to have acquired the glory of victory in battles by his own valour. His grandfather Mahārāja Māthariputra Virapurushadatta is next barely mentioned, while his father Mahārüja Ehavala Chantamüla, in whose reign the record was engraved, is then introduced as an equal to the epic heroes Sagara, Dilipa, Ambarisha, Yudhishthira and Rāma. Then Mahādevi Kupanasri, the queen of Ehavala Chantamüla and the mother of prince Virapurushadatta, is introduced as the granddaughter of Mahätalavara Skandagopa of the Pushyakandiya clan and the daughter of Mahätalavara Khandahāla, while her maternal grandfather and uncle are stated to have been Sesabamāgūruks and Utara-mahātalavara (i. e. Mahātalavara Uttara) respectively. The expression Sesebamāgūrula apparently contains a personal name and an epithet, though it is difficult to determine them precisely. A passage in lines 9-10 saying that the said temple was the fruit of the merit of both the mother and the son suggests that prince Virapurushadatta's mother Kupanabri was associated with her son in the construction of the temple. The last line of the inscription seems to suggest that two persons Kankaphala and Kankachandra were appointed priests of the temple.
Prince Virapurushadatta is called Mahārājakumāra and Mahasenāpati, the second epithet indicating his position as the commander of his father's forces. He was apparently named after his grandfather who bore the metronymic Māthariputra. The male relations of queen Kupaņasr!, except Sesebamāgūruka whose status remains obscure, were Mahātalavaras. In this connection it may be recalled that most of the princesses of the royal household mentioned in the inscriptions of Mathariputra Virapurushadatta were wives of Mahālatavaras of different clans. Prince Virapurushadatta's metronymio Häritīputra suggests that the paternal family of Kupaņaśrī belonged to the Härita gotra.
The ancestry of Prince Virapurushadatta is indicated below in a tabular form: Ikshvāku family
Pushyakandiya family Väsishthiputra
Mahātalavara Chantamüla
Skandagopa Sese bamāgūruka
Maghariputra Virapurushadatta
Mahätalavara Khanhdahalt=daughter
Uttara-mahāts.
lavara
Väsishthiputra Ehavala Chantamüls-Kupaņasri Häritiputra Virapuroshadatta
1 The wife's paternal gobra ww not changed to that of her husband in certain forms of ancient Indian marriage 800 Proo. IHC, 1946, pp. 48 .