Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 48
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
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100
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1919
idaw palayali, l. 16), while Kumâragupta I was ruling the earth in 493 M.E. (Kumdragupta prithivira praxäsati, 1. 13). Hence, Pandit Sastri's statement 19_"Mr. Smith is wrong. ( believe, in including Mândasor in the map of Samudragupta's conquest. For Naravarman and his son Visva varman do not seem to have acknowledged any obligation to the Guptas" - is not vouchsafel by epigraphic evidence which seems rather to lead to a contrary conclusion.
To prove completely that the Chandravarman of Pushkarana and the Chandra of the Iron Pillar inscription are identical, one has to establish, first of all, that Chandravarman came to Bengal on a campaign of conquests. But the Susunia Hill insoription has not the slightest reference to any conquest by the king of Pushkarana (Pushkaranadhipati). It simply states, as already pointed out, that the dedication of the wheel is a pious "deed of maharaja Chandravarman, son of maharaja Sixhavarman, king of Push karana." It does not at all say "that Chandra of Pokarna did conquer that part of the country" as boldly asserted by Pandit Sâstri. Chandravarman seems to have gone there on a pilgrimage to the hill-cave to do honour to the god Chakrasvâmin, and it was probably & very famous place of pilgrimage in old days also. It may be advanced as an argument that as the wheel in the Susunia Hill cave and the flag-staff (dvaja) of the Iron Pillar are both sacred to the god Vishnu, it favours the identity of Chandravar man and Chandra. But we know that the Gupta rulers too were themselves devotees of Vishnu (paramabhagavata).
Let us now consider the historical data that can be obtained from the Meharauli Iron Pillar inscription :
(i) King Chandra destroyed his enemies in Bengal (Vangeshu) who offered an
united resistance against him. (ii) He, in course of war, crossed the seven mouths of the Indus (Sindhu) and
overcame the Vâhlikas. (iii) The Southern Ocean was to-day (even after his death) being perfumed by on the breezes of his prowess, i.e., who probably proceeded towards the South
for making conquests. (iv) His majestic glory still lingered on earth in the shape of fame even after his ** * death." (v) He enjoyed for a very long time lord-paramountey (oikadhirdjyani) on earth
earned by the strength of his own arms ( svabhuj - arijitai), i.e., he was a
mahârâjâdhiraja, a title which he himself earned by his own prowess. (vi) He was a Vaishnava and established this pillar as a flag-staff of the god Vishņu
on the Vishnupada hill. From these data we find that Chandra was a mighty monarch and had the title of maharajadhiraja (stated for metrical exigencies as aikadhirajyani praplena, l. 5), whereas Chandravarman is simply mentioned in the Susunia inscription with the title maharaja, which, in early times especially during the Gupta period, was used by kings of smaller states and by feudatory rulers. The datum (v) above is most significant. The statement that Chandra earned supreme sovereignty in the world by means of his own arms (svabhuj-drijitai aikadhirajya) and enjoyed it for a long time (chiral) and that he led his arms of conquest to the distant countries of Vanga in the east and to the country washed by the mouths of the Indus on the west, and also towards the south, applies more
12 Ante, 1913, p. 218.
