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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
surprised, if we meet hereafter with epigraphic instances of further corruptions such as Raṭṭhôḍa
and Râṭhôḍa, of which forms the last is actually the modern name which in gazetteers, etc., is
presented as ‘ Ráthor ’ and ‘ Ráhtor.’[1] But, in the name Râshṭrôḍa, the second component,
kûṭa, of Râshṭrakûṭa, is duly represented.[2] Whereas, in the name Raṭṭa there is nothing
whatever to represent that second component of the other name. And, for that reason we cannot
admit Raṭṭa as a corruption of, or in any way obtained from, the name Râshṭrakûṭa.
It can only be the case that the name Râshṭrakûṭa was evolved out of the name Raṭṭa.
And, that that was the case, is unconsciously disclosed by the draft presented in the Dêôlî plates
of A.D. 940 and the Karhâḍ plates of A.D. 959, in the verse which puts forward the eponymous
person Raṭṭa as the imaginary original ancestor of the Mâlkhêḍ family, and asserts that he had a
son named Râshṭrakûṭa, and says that it was from the name of that son that the family became
known as the Râshṭrakûṭa race, or the race of Râshṭrakûṭa or of the Râshṭrakûṭas.[3] But the
name Râshṭrakûṭa is certainly not merely a Sanskṛitised form of nothing but the name Raṭṭa ;
for the simple reason that in Raṭṭa there is nothing to account for the component kûṭa in the other
form of the name. The name Raṭṭa does account for the first component, râshṭra. It does not,
however, account for it in the way of having been literally translated by the word râshṭra. The
explanation is that, in devising an ornamental form of a name, Raṭṭa, which, whatever may have
been the origin of it, did not mean a ‘ country,’ there was used, not unnaturally, a Sanskṛit word,
râshṭra, which was the actual representative and origin of words of very similar sound, such as
raṭṭha, raṭha, and raṭa,─ possibly even raṭṭa itself, if the existence of that form should be
established hereafter,─ which did possess that meaning. There was thus obtained, as the first
step, a name Râshṭra. But it seems to have been then recognised that the appellation thus
obtained was not sufficiently high-sounding, and that something more was needed to adapt it
better to the purposes for which it was wanted. Now, the word kûṭa has the meaning, among
others, of ‘ the highest, most excellent, first,’ derived no doubt from its meanings of ‘ any
prominence, a peak or summit of a mountain.’ In literature, it occurs in that meaning in the
Bhâgavatapurâṇa, 2, 9, 19, where Bhagavat (Vishṇu-Kṛishṇa) is represented as addressing
Brahman as kûṭa yôginâm, “ O chief of ascetics !” In the epigraphic records, it is used in the
same meaning in the official title grâmakûṭa, ‘ a chief or headman of a village,’[4] and also actually
in the word râshṭrakûṭa as an official title meaning ‘ the headman of a territorial division
technically known as a râshṭra.’[5] The word kûṭa, in that same meaning, was plainly employed
in making up the full family-name Râshṭrakûṭa. And the use of it, to fill out and give
sufficient pomp to that form of the name, was very probably suggested by the actual existence
of the word râshṭrakûṭa as an official title. But we need not think, any longer, that the name
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[1] Dr. Bühler has told us that “ the bards of Râjputânâ,” inversing the process, “ have invented Râshṭrauḍha as
an etymon for Râṭhôḍ,” in order to explain a difficult Prâkṛit word ; see Ind. Ant. Vol. XVII. p. 192, note 34.
[2] Namely, by the uḍa in Râshṭra-uḍa, from which we have eventually Râshtrôḍa. Compare grâmakûṭa, 751;ḍa, etc.; see page 183 above.
[3] Vol. V. above, p. 193, text lines 11, 12 ; Vol. IV. p. 287, verse 7, and p. 282, text lines 10, 11.
[4] For instance, in the Sâmângaḍ plates of A.D. 754 ; see Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 112, text line 29. Another form
of this title was grâmakûṭaka, which we have, for instance, in the Kauṭhêṁ plates of A.D. 1009 ; see id. Vol. XVI.
p. 24, text line 60.─ Regarding the fact that the word grâmakûṭa was the origin of the Kanarese title Gauḍa,
answering to the Marâṭhî Pâṭîl, Pâṭêl, see page 183 above.
[5] For instance, in an Eastern Chalukya record of the period A.D. 799 to 843 ; see Ind. Ant. Vol. XX. p. 416,
text line 17. Another Eastern Chalukya record, belonging or purporting to being to the same period, presents the
simple word kûṭaka, which we may take as standing either for râshṭrakûṭaka or for grâmakûṭaka, as we like ;
see Vol. V. above, p. 120, text line 15. The records of Western India usually present, instead of râshṭrakûṭa,
either râshṭramahattara, as in the Sarsavṇî plates of the Kaṭachchuri king Buddharâja of A.D. 610 (see Vol. VI.
above, p. 298, text line 18), or râshṭrapati, as in the Sâmângaḍ plates of the Râshṭrakûṭa king Dantidurga of A.D.
754 (see Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 112, text line 28), and in the Kauṭhêṁ plates of the Western Châlukya king
Vikramâditya V. of A.D. 1009 (see id. Vol. XVI. p. 24, text line 60).
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