North Indian Inscriptions

ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS

The pillar at Ēraṇ was originally a large one. Supposing that the bottom line of the present inscription which was originally incised on it was at the same height as in the case of the pillar inscription^¹of Budhagupta at the same town, i.e, about 3' 3'' above the ground, the total height of the yashṭi may have been about 9' above the plinth. Its top does not appear to have been tampered with. So a standard yashṭi seems to have been generally eight-or sixteen-sided, with a round top, but without any capital such as that which generally crowns a jaya-stambha or a dhvaja-stambha. It was generally decorated with panels of warriors or scenes of fighting.

The present pillar was erected by Satyanāga, the Sēnāpati of the Śaka king Srīdharavarman, apparently to commemorate some great battle, fought at Ērikiṇa (modern Ēraṇ), in which several Nāga soldiers had met with a hero's death. This is indicated by the original sculptures carved on it. On each of the three faces of its middle octagonal part on the same side as the present inscription, there is a compartment showing a horseman holding the reins of his horse in the left hand and a sword or a javelin in the right.^² In the present inscription Satyanāga expresses the hope that the yashṭi raised by the Nāgas themselves (nāgair=ēva) would inspire future generations of warlike people to perform similar heroic deeds; for, it was a place where friends and foes met in a spirit of service and reverence. This description fits Ēraṇ very well. It was the battle-ground of hostile powers for several centuries as shown by several Satī-stones and inscriptions with dates ranging from the fourth to the eighteenth century A.C.³ One of the memorable battles fought at Ēraṇ was during the reign of the Gupta Emperor Bhānugupta in the Gupta year 191 (510-11 A.C.). In this battle Gōparāja, ‘renowned for manliness’, who had accom- pained Bhānugupta as his ally, died fighting, His wife immolated herself on his funeral pyre. The event was fittingly commemorated, evidently by the order of the Gupta Emperor, by incising another short inscription on the opposite side of the same yashṭi which had been exhorting warlike people to perform such heroic deeds for more than a century. A panel, showing Gōparāja and his wife sitting on a couch, was also sculptured on the face of the pillar immediately above the centre of that inscription.^⁴ Later, the pillar seems to have fallen down and broken to pieces. As it had a round top, it was found serviceable by some devotee of Śiva, who turned it into a Śiva-liṅga by fitting a pīṭha or ablutiontrough to it. Both the inscriptions on it were concealed from view-that of Satyanāga was on the part buried underground, while the other one, commemorating Gōparāja's death, was hidden by the pīṭha. None could, therefore, suspect that the liṅga was originally a yashṭī or memorial pillar, notwithstanding the panels carved on it.⁵

As for the geographical names occurring in the present inscription, Mahārāshṭra finds epigraphic mention here for the first time. From the Aihoḷē inscription which is
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¹C.I.I., Vol. III, p. 88.
² The inscription is slightly misplaced with reference to the sculptures. If we designate the faces of the pillars as A,B,C and D, the inscription is on the faces A,B and C, while the sculptures of the horsemen are on B, C and D. The sculpture on the face D is slightly damaged by a narrow channel, subsequently cut into the centre of it from the bottom upwards. Four small holes are now seen in the lower part of the channel. In Saurashtra such memorial stones are usually marked with the figure of a horseman. D.R. Bhandarkar Volume, p. 174. They are called pāliyās in Gujarat Saurashtra, vīrakkal in South India and vīrgal in Maharashtra.
³ C.A.S.I. R., Vol. X, pp. 89 ff.
⁴ These sculptures are evidently of the Gupta age, as shown by the characteristic coiffure of the male figure. They are, again, much better preserved than earlier sculptures of horsemen mentioned above.
⁵ The third inscription neat the top of the pillar, which is now illegible, may have been purposely defaced when the pillar was converted into a Śiva-liṅga.