North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

cavations at Basaṛ or Bssāṛh in the Muzaffarpur District, Bihar, in the cold season of 1903-04. Only one specimen came to light. He published the reading and translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph, in A. R. ASI., 1903-04, p. 107, No. 2, and Plate XLI, 14. 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 all along except at the extreme proper right and measuring 1-1/8" by ¾". It is difficult to say to what variety of the Gupta alphabet the characters belong, because though s here, as on the seal described in No. 13 above, is of the eastern type characterised by a loop on the left, the other test letters, m and h, would have been found to be of the western variety as on the letter, had any such latters formed part of the legend of the present seal. The average size of the letters is about 3/16’’The language is Sanskrit; and the legend is in prose. Orthography calls for no remarks.

       The seal is one of Ghatōṭkachagupta. According to Bloch, he is “perhaps identical; with the Mahārāja Ghaṭōtkacha, the father of Chandragupta I”. This view was adopted by V. A. Smith not only in the Journal of the Royal Asiantic Society, 1905, p.153 and the Early History of India (2nd ed.), p. 266, note 2, but also in the Early History of India (3rd ed. 1914), p. 280, note 1. Allan, however, holds a different opinion. “It is remarkable in the first place,” says he, “that, if Ghaṭotkaca were known as Ghaṭotkacagupta, he should not be given this name in any known inscription.”¹ This, however, is not a very convincing argument. Nevertheless, he is strong in advancing the further argument that he has done in support of his position. “We must further consider, “he continues, “the date of the seals found aty Vaiśālī along with that of Ghaṭotkacagupta. The most important of these, and the one which gives the key to the date of the whole collection, is a seal of the ‘Mahādevī Dhruvasvāminī, queen of the Mahārājādhirāja Candragupta [II], and mother of the Mahārāja Govindagupta’. Dhruvasvāminīja is clearly the Dhruvadēvī of the inscriptions, and the date of the seal may be placed towards the end of the reign of Candragupta II, the latter being still alive, and Govindagupta governor of Vaiśalī for his father. Many of the seals are clearly those of contemporary officials of Govindagupta’s court D. R. Bhandarkar is apparently right in suggesting that the place where the seals were found was the office of the person entrusted with the duty of making seals. It is most unlikely that he would have in his possession a seal of a king who had lived nearly a century before, particularly as no seals were found which might be assured to be intermediate in date. There is really no reason, then to identify Ghaṭotkaca with Ghaṭotkacagupta of the seal.” This line of reasoning is worthy of acceptance except in one minor respect, because Allan contends that the seal of Ghaṭōtkachagupta has to be placed about the end of the reign of Chandragupta II. We have now seen that the Tumain inscription of Kumāragupta I (No, 20, above) gives Gupta year 116 as a date for both this Gupta sovereign and one Ghaṭōkachagupta who apparently was his son and governor of Airikiṇa. This date is not far removed from Gupta year 96 which is the last date we have for Chandragupta II. Everything, thus, tends to support the view that the Ghaṭōtkachagupta of our seal is identical with the Ghaṭōtkachagupta of the Tumain inscription. It is, however, somewhat doubtful whether he is the same as the Ghaṭōtkachagupta for whom there is a coin in the St. Petersburg collection. Allan, however, is emphatic on this point. In his opinion, “the style and weight of the coin place it about the end of the fifth century,” and hence, “the coin in question cannot be attributed to the Ghaṭōtkachagupta”² of the seal. The above statements Allan has made in his book in that part of Introduction which deals with
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¹ Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasties, etc., pp. xvi and xvii.
² Ibid., p. liv.