North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

and are exactly akin to those of the Nālandā seals of Kumāragupta III, noticed below. The language is Sanskrit. In respect of orthography the only point worth noticing is the doubling of d(h) in conjunction with a following y in-pādānuddhyātō, line 4, but not in the same expression occurring in line 3.

       The legend on the seal is purely genealogical and follows the stereotyped formula found on every other Gupta seal. It refers itself to the reign of Vainyagupta who, in common with the other Gupta sovereigns, whose seals are known, is called Paramabhāgavata Mahārājādhirāja (line 5). Owing to the highly fragmentary character of the legend, no name other than that of the issuer, is preserved in full. Thus, in line 4, which is expected to contain the names of Vainya gupta’s father and mother, all that remains of the former is a hook below, evidently representing the medial u, followed by gupta. This can, however, plausibly be restored as [Pur*]ugupta as it is the only one among the known names of Gupta emperors which satisfies the requirements of the case and takes the particular form of this mdial u used here; cf., e.g., the identical medial u-sign in ru of Purugupta on the seals of Narasiṁhagupta and Kumāragupta III. The other name in the same line, namely, that of the mother is well-nigh obliterated. Thus, after śr[ī] may be seen the vestiges of two letters with only their lower parts intact. The first looks like cha while the second is a ligature, to all appearances dra, the subscript being quite legible. This may easily be restored to [Chandra][dēvī*] who is evidently represented here as the queen of Purugupta and the mother of Vainyagupta. These restorations receive confirmation from the seals of Narasiṁhagupta and Kumāragupta III which also mention Chandradēvī as the queen of Purugupta. Thus, Vainyagupta shares this parentage certainly with Narasiṁhagupta and also probably with Budhagupta. He may be one of the several brothers, ruling successively over the empire.

       The only other known record of Vainyagupta is the Gunaighar copper plate grant dated the Gupta year 188, corresponding to 507 A.D. But this Vainyagupta bears the title, not of Mahārājādhirāja but simply Mahārāja. What is further noteworthy about him is that in this record he has been described as Bhagavan-Mahādēva-pād-ānudhyāta. And quite in keeping with this is the fact that the seal attached to his charter bears the figure of a recumbent bull. Vainyagupta of the seal, on the other hand, is styled not only Mahārājādhirāja but also Paramabhāgavata. Unfortunately this seal is fragmentary, but if it had been preserved whole and entire like the other Gupta seals, the upper part of it would have been found containing a representation of Garuḍa, which was, in fact, the badge of the Imperial Gupta dynasty. The evidence thus militates against the identification of Vainyagupta of the seal with Vainyagupta of the plate. This conclusion is confirmed by another piece of evidence. The date of the Gunaighar plate is Gupta year 188, whereas the last date of Skandagupta-Purugupta is Gupta year 148. They are thus separated by an interval of 40 years which is too long an interval that should separate the ruling father from a ruling son. But if the conclusion is accepted that the two Vainyaguptas are two separate princes, Vainyagupta of the seal can easily be placed after Skandagupta-Purugupta and presumably between him and Kumāragupta II, that is, between Gupta year 148 and 154.

       It will be seen that Vainyagupta of the seal was a Mahārājādhirāja. It is, therefore, natural that coins of this king should have been identified. Coins, exactly similar to the archer type of Chandragupta II and Kumāragupta I, had so long been attributed by Allan to Chandra(gupta) III—Dvādaśāditya in his Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty, p. 144 and Plate XXIII, Nos. 6-8. But D. C. Ganguly has correctly pointed out that what has been read as Chandra on the obverse is indubitably Vainya.¹ Secondly, the obverse bears the Garuḍa standard
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¹ IHQ., Vol. IX, pp. 784 ff.