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AUGUST, 1882.)
MISCELLANEA.
237
Tatah Surpdrakan chaiva Taldkatam athdpichal vase chakra mahateja Dandakdracha mahdbalah ||
Ib. III, 8185-6,
Tatah Sårpdrakaṁ gachchhej Jamadagnyanishévitam II
Ramatirthé naraḥ sndtvd vindydd bahusuvar. nakaria
* Then let one go to Sarpå raka dwelt in by Jåmadagnya: the man who bathes in the RAmatirtha will obtain much gold.'
III, 8337,Vedt Súrpdrake táta Jamadagnór mahdtmanah
The vedi of the high-souled Jamadagni, my son, at Sarparaka.' Lassen understands this as the vddt of Råma.
III, 10221,
Kramena gachchhan paripurnakamah Surpdra. kaṁ punyataman dadaréa
III, 10227,
Trthoshu sarveshu pariplutángah punah sa Sür. parakam djagáma
XII, 1781-2Tatah Sdrpdrakam dééam edgaras tasya nirmaméll Sahasd Jamadagnyasya 80 parantamahitalam
Thereupon Sagara fashioned forth with for that JAmadagnya the Sarparaka country occupying the western face of the earth.'
And XIII, 1736,
Narmaddydm upaspriéya tatha Surpdrakádaks ékapaksham wirdhará rájaputro vidhiyat 1 Harivamsa, 5300,Ishupdtena nagaran kritam Surpdrakan tvayd|
Ib. 5387,-Råma the son of Jamadagni speaksKrishna ydsydmy aham táta puram Sarpdrakan หibhud
And Markanddya Purana, lvii, 49,
Dakshindtyds tv amt deed Apardnta n nibodha mé!
Surpdrakah Kalibald durgde chanskataih saha ||
Also in Varaha Mihira's Brihat Samhita, lxxx, 6 (Jour. R. As. Soc., N. S. vol. VII, p. 125), the Sureshtrian diamond is said to be somewhat coppercoloured, and that from Sarparak a, dark. See also Bhagavata Purana, x, 79, 20; and Gorresio's Rimdyana, vol. IV, p. 526.
In cave No. VIII at Násik is a Sanskrit inscription of Rishabhadatta the son-in-law of Nahapana, in which sorp&raga is mentioned apparently as a place of note, and a few lines further down, among other places is named "Ramatirtha near Sörpäraga" (Arch. Sur. Rep. W. Ind. vol: IV, pp. 41, 100; Trans. Cong. Orient. 1874, p. 328). And it has not yet been noted that in the Mahabharata III, 8185, this Ramatirtha at sarparaka is also mentioned, and at l. 8337
the Vedt at the same place. In the PÅli inscriptions also at the Kanhöri caves, Sopdraga is twice named; a short inscription over a cistern at Nânâghát reads,-Sopdrayasa Govindaddsasa deya dhama podhi; on a pillar in the chaitya cave at Karlê, it is twice spelt Sopå raka (Arch. Sur. Rep. W. I. vol. IV, p. 91; Cave Temple Insor. pp. 31, 32); and in the Silaháre grant of Anantadêva (s. 1016), it is spelt Sarp pêraka (Ind. Ant. vol. IX, pp. 35, 38), probably for Surppâraka.
In Jaina literature we find that Vairasena, a Suri-whom they place about A. D. 60-80-converted the four sons of Jinadatta at Sôpå raka, who became the founders of four Kulas.
C. Müller (Geog. Græc. Min. tom. I, p. 295), Ritter (Erdk. bd. V, p. 666, and XIV, 384), and Lassen (Ind. Alt.bd. I, pp. 137,650,679; 11,545; III, 172,278) all agree in placing Sùrp & rakaat Surat. From the statement of Al Biruni(Reinaud, Fragm. Arabes et Persans, p. 121) regarding the distances between Bharuch, Sindan, Sabara and Tina, I first identi. fied it correctly with the village of Sup&ra, 5% miles north of Vasâi, in Lat. 19° 25' N., long. 720 51 E.-a determination which affords a firm basis for other identifications (Ind. Ant. vol. I, p. 321, and Smith's Classical Atlas, p. 22).
The port of Sa para or Sabara-also called Saf&ra and Saf81a-is also mentioned by the Arab writers-Al Mas'adi, Abd'l-Fida, Rashidu'ddin, Al Istakhrt, Ibn Haukal, Al Idrist, and the Nubian geographer. Ptolemy (Geog. VII, i, 6), calls it outrápa, and the author of the Periplus Zoutnápa. Conf. also Ind. Ant. vol. II, p. 96; IV, 282; VII, 259; VIII, 144, 145; IX, 44, 46, 314.
Edinburgh, July, 1882. J. BURGESS.
DHANAKATAKA-A REPLY. The learned Editor, in his paper published in the Indian Antiquary for April 1882 (vol. XI, p. 95), opposes certain views which I expressed in an article read before the Royal Asiatic Society in November 18791 regarding the identification of Hiwen-Theang's kingdom of Dhanakataka and its two monasteries. It is with great diffidence that I again come forward as a controversialist. The truth, however, will not suffer by my attacks if I am wrong; while any light thrown on this rather difficult subject will be a gain to science.
The question stands thus :-Hiwen Theang describes two monasteries, the Parvabila and the Avarasila saighdrdmas, as existing in the kingdom of Dhanakataka. Was "Dhanakataka" the name of a city as well as of the kingdom ! Where was its site P Were the monasteries at Bezavada or not P
1 Published in J. R. A. S. N.S. vol. XII, pp. 98-109.
