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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 5.─BADAGANGA ROCK INSCRIPTION OF BHUTIVARMAN The late Dr. N. K. BHATTASALI, DACCA3 (1 Plate)2 In Vol. V (1937-38) of the Journal of the Assam Research Society, on pp. 14-57, Mr. R.M. Nath, B. E., of the Assam Engineering Service (P. W. D.), described some ancient ruins of the Kapilī and the Yamunā Valleys, in the Nowgong District of Assam. Professor P. C. Sen4 was the first to point out that the existence of a well-known place called Ḍabokā on the Yamunā river in the Nowgong District situated midway between Samataṭa (identified with Tipperā and Noākhāli Districts of Bengal)5 and Kāmarūpa (the well-known ancient kingdom round modern Gauhāṭi in Assam) made the identification of the region round Ḍabokā with the ancient kingdom of Ḍavāka almost certain. Rai Bahadur K.L. Barua in his Early History of Kāmarūpa supported the identification. Mr. Nath in his article under reference described some antiquities found at Ḍabokā and he also supported the identification of Ḍabokā with Ḍavāka. In his article, Mr. Nath described the ruins of a temple on a small rivulet called Baḍagaṅgā about 14 miles to the north-east of Ḍabokā. The following is a quotation from that description :─. “By the south of the Mahāmāyā Hill flows the river Harkāṭi. To the south of this river, running almost parallel to this, is a small stream known as Baḍagaṅgā, written as Barkhugā in the map. About 1½ miles to the south-west of the Mahāmāyā temple, there is a small lake formed in this Baḍagaṅgā river. On the left bank of this lake, there is a slightly elevated big plot of land now covered with thick jungles, which contains ruins of a very big temple. The whole structure, 86′ long by 30′ wide, consisted of three parts, the Maṇikūṭa built with hard sand-stone, and the Deorighar and the Naṭ-mandir built with bricks. “On the left bank of the Baḍagaṅgā stream, where the stream has abruptly widened into lake, there are two huge blocks of natural rock standing side by side with a small gap in between. The rocks are about 22′ long, 12′ high and 7′ to 12′ wide. Each rock has got a dvārapāla 4′ high with a spear in his hand engraved on the rock at the entrance. The left rock has got a figure of Hanumān engraved on it. On the inside face of the left rock and facing the passage, there are 3¼ lines of writing in an embossed block, 2′ X2′. The writing has been partly damaged by the continued effect of rain, sun and wild fire of the jungle for years together. The figure of the dvārapāla looks like the figure of an up-country man.” Sometime in June, 1939, Mr. Nath sent to me a small photograph of an inscription inside a rectangular panel, consisting of three and a quarter lines of writing and I had no difficulty in ____________________________________
[1] This was probably the proper name of a local monastery of the Lōkōttaravādin sect of the Hīnayāna form
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