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JUNE, 1926]
VYAGHRA, THE UOHOHAKALPA
VYAGHRA, THE UCHCHAKALPA. BY PROF. G. JOUVEAU DUBREUIL.
TANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY SIR RICHARD C. TEMPLE, BT.
A NEW inscription, discovered in 1919 at Ganj in the Ajaigarh State of Bundelkhand was published in the Epigraphia Indica (vol. XVII, p. 12) in January 1925. It is a short inscription:"Vyaghradeva, who meditates on the feet of the Mahârâja, the illustrious Prithivishêna, of the family of the Vakatakas, has made this, for the sake of the religious merit of his parents."
On this statement the following questions arise :-Who was this Vyâghradêva? Who was Prithivishêna the Vakataka? What is the date of the inscription? These questions are answered in an uncertain manner in the article in the Epigraphia Indica. My own opinion is, however, that, on the contrary, we have here, despite the incertitude of Central Indian history, an instance of quite clear precision.
103
Fleet (Ind. Ant., vol. XIX, 1890, p. 227) has affirmed that the Uchchakalpas employed the Trikåta Era. In my opinion this is incorrect, and my own idea is that the inscriptions of the Uchchakalpas are dated in the Gupta Era. About the year A.D. 511, there were in this part of Central India two neighbouring kingdoms, and to make their boundaries clear their respective kings set up at Bhumara a boundary pillar (Gupta Insc., p. 111). Assuming that these kings were using the Gupta Era, it is easy to determine their date. One of the two, Hastin of the Parivrâjaka family, was a feudatory of the Guptas, and his inscriptions (Gupta Insc., pp. 95, 102, 107, 114) prove that he was reigning in A.D. 475, 482 and 511. The other, Sarvanatha of the Uchchakalpa family, is mentioned in the inscriptions at Bhumara, and of him we have three inscriptions (Gupta Insc., pp. 126, 133 and 136), which are dated in the years A.D. 512, 516, 533. This Sarvanatha was the son of a king called Jayanatha (A.D. 493 and 496 G. Inscrip., pp. 118 and 122), and grandson of a Vyâghra. The date at which this Vyaghra was reigning can be determined approximately. In fact, his son was reigning in A.D. 493 and 496. He himself was therefore reigning about A.D. 475. His son's inscriptions have been found (at Karitalai and Khoh) in the Nagaudh State of Baghalkhand and near Mudwara in the Jabalpur District of the Central Provinces. In that region we find the Vyaghra kingdom, and it is precisely in the same region that the Inscription of Ganj has been discovered, telling us that Vyaghra was the vassal of Prithivishena the Vâkâṭaka. We cannot but conclude that about the year A.D. 475-that is to say, during the reign of Vyåghra, the Uchchakalpa, there was reigning a Vâkataka called Prithivishêņa.
In my work The Ancient History of the Deccan I have attributed approximately (p. 110) to the Vakataka Prithivishêņa II the date A.D. 475. In short, a chronology of the family can be thus made out:
Chandra-Gupta II (c. A.D. 375-415). I
Queen Prabhavati
wife of Rudrasena II and regent during the minority
of his son Pravarasena (see JRAS., Jan. 1924, p. 95).
I
Pravarasena II (c. first half of 5th century).
I
Narendrasena (c. A.D. 450).
Prithivishena II (c. A.D. 475).
Also about A.D. 475 there was reigning at Ganj and Nachna (Gupta Insc., p. 234) in Bundelkhand a powerful sovereign, Prithivishena the Vakaṭaka. His vassal was the Uchchakalps king Vyaghra.
