|
The Indian Analyst
|
North Indian Inscriptions |
RELIGIOUS HISTORY at the end of chapter 66 of the Bhīshmaparvan to Saṁkarshaṇa’s having sung or expounded Vāsudēva according to the Sātvata rites (Vidhi) refers in all probability to such rites as are detailed in the Sātvata-Saṁhitā.” It is possible that the duty of the Upādhyāya was to manipulate these “mystic arrangements of letters and formulae” for the benefit of the laity. The second point that we have to discuss is why this Sātvata sect was flourishing in the vicinity of the Tuśām rock whereon this inscription is engraved. Not far below this record there are incised the emblem of a chakra or discus and also a shorter inscription which means “Victory has been achieved by Bhagavat in (this) region (touched) by the feet of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva)” which is engraved just above this inscription and in characters of about the same period. It seems to be the spot that was then believed to be hallowed by the feet of Vāsudēva as Vishṇu. That is perhaps the reason why a discus also was carved on the rock. And further this discus reminds us of a second one, sculptured along with another Vaishṇava record,1 which again is of the same age though it is found in the eastern part of India, namely, in a cave of Susuṇiā in the Bankura District of Bengal. It may be that this cave also was another but smaller centre of the Sātvata sect, though there is no proof of an irrefragable character to that effect. Two more emblems of the discus have been found in East India, one at Gañj2 and the other at Nāch-nē-ki-talāi3 where also was existing one Vaishṇava cave. Īśa (No. 35 below, verse 43), Hara (No. 35 below, verse 40), Mahādēva,4Mahēśvara.5
We have already pointed out that neither any Saṁhitā nor any Brāhmaṇa speaks of Śiva
as a divinity. The word Śiva no doubt occurs, but in the sense of ‘auspicious, propitious.’ It is
only in the Śvētāśvatara Upanishad that Śiva is, for the first time, found mentioned as a deity
though as a form of Rudra. There were many divinities of this class such as Bhava, Śarvan,
Paśupati, Ugra, Rudra, Mahādēva and Īśāna who have been mentioned in this ascending
order and as manifestations of Ēka-vrātya, in Book XV of the Atharva-Vēda. But we now find
that they have all been eclipsed in glory by Śiva, who had no existence at all in the Saṁhitā
or Brāhmaṇa period and that they themselves have become so identified with him as to become
his other names. Such was the unique transfusion effected in mythology in the Gupta age.
Side by side with this transfusion it is natural to expect new developments also in the mythology
connected with this god. Thus the very first inscription in our volume speaks in verse 9 of the
Ganges being confined in the inner hollow of the matted hair of Paśupati but afterwards liberated from the tangled mass, dashing forth rapidly and flowing in higher and ever higher
masses and through many paths. The story connected with the descent of the Gaṅgā to the
head of Śiva, who, to humble her pride, encircled her for long in the labyrinth of his matted
locks but eventually allowed her to come out and flow to the sea and even in the infernal
regions for the sake of Bhagīratha is well-known from the Rāmāyaṇa (I. 41) and the Vāyu-Purāṇa (chapter 47, verses 27 and ff.). This story is, however, unknown to the pre-Gupta period.
We may now proceed to consider the first three opening verses of the Mandasōr inscription of
Vishṇuvardhana6 dated Vikrama year 589. Here Śiva is mentioned as wielding the Pināka
bow, as indulging in laughter and vocal music, as being the Procreator of Worldly Life and
with his serpent veiling the radiance of the moon. All these characteristics of Śiva are described
in the Purāṇas. If we turn, for example, to the Vāyu-Purāṇa, chapter 24, we find Śiva described
as Pinākin in verse 132 and indulging in Vādya-nṛitya and aṭṭahāsa in verses 142-43 and 145. 1 Ep. Ind., Vol. XIII, p. 133.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|