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June, 1881.]
A NEW KSHATRAPA INSCRIPTION.
157
A NEW KSHATRAPA INSCRIPTION
BY DR. G. BÜHLER, C.I.E. THE new Kshatrapa inscription which I difference observable lies in the spelling of
1 publish below, was discovered last year by Rudrasimha's name. The form sihn is, Major J. Watson, President of the Rajasthanik however, a very common substitute for siniha. Court of Kathiâvâd, whose services to ancient The date Sam 102 is not a new one, as it history I have had to acknowledge so frequent- occurs on several of Rudrasimha's coins. Is. The stone on which it is incised, was It must be noted that no earlier year has hitherto found at Gûnda in Kathiavad, at the bottom been found on the coins of this king, while the of an old unused well. Major Watson caused latest is Sam 117. It is, therefore, very probable it to be taken to Rajkot, and an eye-copy as that our inscription was incised soon after well as a transcript into Devanagarî to be prepar. Rudrasimha's accession to the throne. cd by his able assistant, Pandit Vallabhacharya. Provisionally the date may be referred with The Pandit had done his work so well that Mr. Bhâu Daji and others to the Saka ern and when Major Watson sent the inscription to me be taken to be equivalent to 180 A.D. for consideration, I could find but one important The fact that the person who caused the inmistake, which occurred both in the copy and scription to be incised, Senapati (general) the transcript of the passage containing the date. Rudrabhùti, son of Senâ pati Baha kit, This he had rendered as .. yuttarasatetarah was an Abhira by caste, possesses some vairakha, etc. I at once informed Major interest, as it shows that the Abhiras, though Watson that varshe doyuttarasate san Y: (102) belonging to a tribe which the Brahmanas had to be read. On comparing the passage pretend to despise, rose under the Kshatra again with the original, the Pandit admitted to high offices, and that they assumed distinctly the correctness of my conjecture, and later, when I received a paper impression of the first
Transcript. three lines of the inscription, I personally (1) FAŻ TTT AK
ATTITRI satisfied myself that the signs following .... sate are really a y: i. e. Sa(vi) 102, while T R T ATTETHETET the first portion of the combination deyu[ttara] | (१) राज्ञो महाक्षत्रपस्य सामिरुद्रदामपुत्रस्य राज्ञो is very indistinct. I have now no hesitation in publishing the document, though I am not able
क्षत्रपस्य स्वामिरुद्रto furnish a facsimile, and thereby to settle the
(१) सीहस्य वर्षे झुत्तरशतेस: वैशाखशुद्धपंचमी exact spelling of a few words, and to show धन्यतिथौ श्रवणनक्षexactly the stage which the Kshatrapa alphabet
(') त्रमुहर्ते आभारण सेनापतिबाहकस्य पुत्रेण had reached in the year 102. As far as I can jndge from the eye-copy, the letters resemble सेनापतिरुद्रभूतिना ग्रमरसोthose of the Jasdan pillar inscription much
(३) पद्रे हृदार्थे खनित बंन्धापितश्च सर्वसत्वाना more closely than those of the Junagadh edict. The preamble of the new inscription confirms
हितमुखार्थमिति || the information given by the three already
Translation. published Sâsanas regarding the first four
Hail! In the year one hundred and two, Kshatrapa rulers. We have again the same Samvat 102, of the king Kshatrapa Svami order,
Rndrasiha (Rudrasimha), son of the king 1. Chashtana,
Mahakshatrapa Svámi Rudra di man, grand2. Ja ya da man,
son of the king Kshatrapa Svami Jaya då man, 3. Rudrada man,
and great-grandson of the king Mahakshatrapa 14. Rudrasimha,
Svimi Chashtana, on the fifth day of the and the assertion that each of the three last light half of the month Vaisakha, on the lunar kings was the son of his predecessor. The only day (called) Dhanya, in the Sravana-nakshatraL. 1,read : 9474. L. 2, read TIT: TEL. 5, read wat
a rt. 16. L. 8, read HEFT . L. 4 read the
