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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA if it is proposed to refer the year of the date of our record to the regnal reckoning of an unknown Kushāṇa overlord of Kadambēśvaradāsa.[1] Sahni was inclined to refer the year 25 in our inscription to the Gupta era. But it is difficult to believe that the suzerainty of the Guptas and the use of their era ever spread over the Hazara District where the inscription under review was found. The name of king Kadambēśvaradāsa literally means “ the servant (i.e. devotee) of Kadambēśvara ”, in which Kadambēśvara is certainly the name of a deity, probably Śiva in the Liṅga form. Śiva-liṅgas with names ending in the word īśvara are known from all parts of India.[2] Kadamba is primarily the name of a particular tree (Nuclea Cadamba) but may also be taken to be the name of a person, family or clan. But whether the name of the deity Kadambēśvara was due to his installation by a person named Kadamba or his association with a particular Kadamba tree cannot be determined. The inscription ends with the letters looking like daṭhasaka in line 4. This seems to refer to the locality where the temple of the god Kumāra was built by Shāphara. In that case we may suggest the emendation Daṭhasakē. If, however, the last two letters may be taken to stand for Sanskrit svakē, “ in his own ”, the first two may be read as daṭhē. The four letters would then read daṭhē svakē, “ in his (i.e. Shāphara’s) own daṭha”. But we do not know any word like daṭha. which may suit the context.
TEXT[3]
1 [Sa][4] 20 5 M[ā]rgaśira-di[5] pratha[6] kāritō=ya[7]
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[1] For a sketch of the history of the area about the North-West Frontier Province about the third and fourth
centuries, see The Classical Age (The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. III), pp. 50 ff.
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