|
The Indian Analyst
|
North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS No. 13: PLATE XIII BASĀṚH CLAY SEAL INSCRIPTION OF DHRUVASVĀMINĪ This seal was discovered by the late T. Bloch, when, as Superintendent, Archeological Survey, Eastern Circle, he was excavating the ruins of Basāṛ or Basāṛh in the Muzaffarpur District, Bihar, in the months of December, January and February of 1903-04. Two more specimens also came to light during the excavations, but they were broken and very indistinct. He published the reading of the text, and translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph in A.R. ASI., 1903-04, p. 107, No. I and Plate XL, I. The significance of its contents was afterwards considered by us in 1912 in Ind. Ant., Vol. XLI, p. 3. The seal is now deposited in the Archaeological Section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. The seal is oval in shape, marked by a single border-line preserved in the right half, and measuring 2-½" by 1-¾". The upper part is occupied by a seated lion facing right, with a horizontal line below, now faintly preserved; and the lower, by the inscription which consists of four lines. The characters, on the whole, belong to the western variety of the Gupta alphabet, because, though s is of the eastern type characterised by a loop on the left, m, and h are unquestionably of the western variety. The language is Sanskrit; and the inscription is in prose throughout. Orthography calls for no remarks.
The seal is one of Mahādēvī Dhruvasvāminī, wife of Mahārājādhirāja Chandragupta and mother of Mahārāja Gōvindagupta. That this Chandragupta is Chandragupta II of the Imperial Gupta dynasty can scarcely be doubted, because his chief queen
was Dhruvadēvī as we know from other Gupta records. The only point of doubt that
may be raised is that whereas the latter speak of her as Dhruvadēvī, the present seal
gives her the name of Dhruvasvāminī. But the term dēvī here is synonymous with svāminī.
And if any proof is required in support of it, it is furnished by the grants of the
Uchchakalpa family, one of which1 gives the name of Jayanātha’s wife as Muruṇḍadēvī
and two as Muruṇḍasvāminī.2 For the same reason Dhruvadēvī must be taken as
exactly identical with Dhruvasvāminī. Secondly, it is worthy of note that Dhruvasvāminī has been described not only as wife of Mahārājādhirāja Chandragupta but also as
mother of Mahārāja Gōvindagupta. This means that both the father and the son were living
when the seal of Dhruvasvāminī was being used and that while the former was the sovereign,
the latter was serving as the governor of a province under him. As Basāṛh has been correctly
identified with Vaiśālī,3 the capital town of the Lichchhavi principality, which is practically
co-extensive with the northern part of Bihar, and as it was on account of the Lichchhavis that
Chandragupta I became master of Pāṭaliputra and rose to political eminence, it seems natural
to infer that Vaiśālī was the seat of the Yuvarāja government. And it receives confirmation
from the fact that many seals were picked up by Bloch during his excavations at Basāṛh which
belonged to officials connected with the Yuvarāja.4 This leaves no doubt as to Vaisālī having
been the seat of the Yuvarāja, at any rate, during the earlier period of the Gupta supremacy.
And from other seals found on this site it appears that Vaiśālī was the head-quarters (adhish-ṭhāna) of not only Vaiśālī-vishaya or Vaiśālī District but also of Tīra-bhukti or Tīra Province.5 It
therefore appears that when her seal was impressed upon the clay pieces, Dhruvasvaminī
1 CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 28.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|