North Indian Inscriptions

SOCIAL HISTORY

ing here. The benefactions made in connection with this site were in furtherance of Buddhism. It is therefore no wonder if the important inscriptions there begin with the praise of the Buddha, the founder of that religion. But Buddha was as much an Ikshvākus as any one of the ruling princes of that region. And one of these inscriptions speaks of the Buddha as follows: Ikhāku-rāja-pavara-risi-sata-pabhava-vaṁsa-saṁbhavasa,¹ “Of (Buddha), born of a race which was the source of hundreds of Ikshvāku kings who were gōtra-originator sages (pravara-ṛishis).” It thus appears that the Ikshvākus of Southern Kōsala had preserved some pravaras of their own which they naturally avoided when they married Brāhmaṇa girls. What these pravaras were we have now no means of knowing. Anyhow this much is certain that originally the Kshatriyas had pravaras of their own and had preserved them for a long time. Thus one can quite understand the exact significance of it when the Āpastamba Śraustasūtra says:² Atha yēshāṁ (=Kshatriyāṇām) mantrakṛitō na syuḥ sa-purōhita-pravarās=tē pravṛiṇīran. It is quite clear that some Kshatriyas retained their ārsha gōtras for a very long time. And even as late as the beginning of the twelfth century A.D. we find the mention of a Kshatriya with ārsha gōtra and pravaras. Thus we have six copper-plate charters of the Gāhaḍavāla king Jayachchandradēva of Kanauj,³ with dates ranging between Vikrama years 1233 and 1236 and recording grants to one and the same grantee, namely, the Rāuta Rājyadharavarman, son of the Mahāmahattaka, the Ṭhakkura Vidyādhara, and son’s son of the Mahāmahattaka, the Ṭhakkura Jagaddhara, a Kshatriya. Now, what does Kshatriya mean here? Does it mean “a member of the second or military order” or “an individual of the Khatri caste?” This matter is easily settled in favour of the former supposition, first because while the father and grandfather of the donee have been styled Ṭhakkura, “a Rajput chief,” he himself is called merely Rāut, that is, Rājpūt.

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Probably he did not succeed or did not care to succeed to the ancestral position, and was content to lead a different life. Quite in keeping with the rank of Ṭhakkura occupied by his father and grandfather is the title Mahāmahattaka which is coupled with their names. Secondly, if any doubt still remains on the point, it is set at rest by the place where the word Kshatriya occurs. The passage runs as follows: Vatsa-gōtrāya Bhārggava-Chyavan-Āpnāvān-Aurvva-Jāmadagny-ēti-paṁcha-pravarāya . . . . . . . – pautrāya . . . . . . . –putrāya rāuta-śrī-Rājyadharavarmmaṇē kshatriyāya.⁴ This may be compared with the passage in another grant of Jayachchandra concerning a Brāhmaṇa grantee. It is as follows: Śārkkarāksha-gōtrāya Bhārggava-Chyavan-Āpnavān-Aurvva-Jāmadagny-ēti paṁcha-pravarāya . . . . . . . – pautrāya . . . . . . . putrāya Mahāpaṁḍita-śrī-Hṛishīkēśa-śarmmaṇē brāhmaṇāya.⁵ It will be noted that Kshatriya in the first passage occupies exactly the same place as Brāhmaṇa in the second. It occurs immediately after the mention of the donee’s name. In the second passage, quite in consonance with the fact of the donee being a Brāhmaṇa are Mahāpaṁḍita and śarman prefixed and suffixed to his name. Similarly, in the first passage quite in consonance with the grantee being a Kshatriya are rāuta and varman prefixed and suffixed to his name. Further, it is worthy of note that each of the donees has five pravaras and that they are exactly the same in the case of both, though one of them is a Brāhmaṇa and the other a Kshatriya. Thus, both have one and the same ārsha gōtra, though the sept of the Brāhmaṇa is Śārkarākshi and that of the Kshatriya grantee, is Vatsa. It will thus be seen that up till the twelfth century A.D. some Kshatriyas had preserved their ārsha gōtras and pravaras and were considered to be as holy as the Brāhmaṇas; otherwise there would have been no meaning in Jayachchandra issuing grants for the augmentation of the spiritual merit not
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 22, line 1.
² Pravara-khaṇḍa, III. 15.
³ Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, pp. 135-143.
⁴ Ibid., p. 136, lines 27-28.
⁵ Ibid., p. 131, lines 27-28.