South Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MINISTERS AND FEUDATORIES OF THE
VATSAGULMA BRANCH

life. He waited upon saintly persons known for their learning, charity, compassion and other virtues and imitated in his actions righteous kings. He bestowed munificent gifts on suppliants and being moved by compassion, released from bondage terrified persons by spending large amounts for the purpose. Realising that wealth causes an obstacle in the attainment of siddhi by meditation on the Omniscient (Buddha), he adorned the earth with stūpas and vihāras, and delighted suppliants with liberal gifts, while Harishēṇa, the moon among kings, was protecting the earth. He also caused the excellent monolith maṇḍapa containing the Chaitya of the Buddha to be excavated in the form of the present Cave XVII on a beautiful spur of the Sahya mountain. He provided it with a water cistern and caused a noble gandhakuṭī ¹ to be excavated to the west of it in another part of the same hill. The last verse (29) expresses the hope that the maṇḍapa would cause the well-being of good people as long as the sun continues to dispel darkness with its rays.

... The forgoing account of the inscription must have shown that the last of these kings whose name is unfortunately lost was a contemporary and probably a feudatory of the Vākāṭaka Emperor Harisheṇa. He was preceded by ten other princes. The founder of the family whose name has not been preserved may, therefore, have been reigning in the period from circa 275 to 300 A.C.

...From the mention of Aśmaka in v. 10 of the present inscription Pandit Bhagvanlal conjectured that these princes were ruling over Aśmaka. The verse, however, plainly shows that Aśmaka was one of the countries raided by these princes ; it was not their homeland. From the Suttanipāta we learn that the Aśmakas were settled in the vicinity of the Gōdavārī and that their country bordered on that of that of the Mūlakas². The Suttanipāta further states that the disciples of the Brāhmaṇa Bāvarī who was living on the bank of the Gōdāvarī in the country of Aśmaka, proceeded to North India via Pratishṭhāna (modern Paithan), the capital of Mūlaka.³ Aśmaka, therefore, appears to have been situated to the south of the Gōdāvarī and probably comprised parts of the Ahmednagar and Bhir District. The country of Aśmaka thus lay to the south of Ajaṇṭā and was different from Khāndēsh which lay to the north of it.

... The ancient name of Khāndēsh seems to have been Ṛishīka. Varāhamihira places Ṛishīka in the southern division. In the Rāmayāṇa Ṛishīka is grouped with Vidarbha among the countries of the south which Sugrīva asked monkeys to visit in search of Sītā⁴. In the Mahābhārata also Ṛishīka is coupled with Vidarbha⁵. Elsewhere the epic mentions Ṛishīka and Aśmaka among the countries conquered by Karṇa.⁶. In the Daśakumāracharita the ruler of Rishīka is said to have been, like that of Aśmaka, a feudatory of the king of Vidarbha⁷. The Nāsik cave inscription of Puḷumāvi mentions Asika (Sanskrit, Ṛishīka) together with Asaka (Sanskrit, Aśmaka) and Mūlaka among the countries governed by Puḷmāvi’s father Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi⁸. All these references show that Ṛishīka was contiguous to Aśmaka, Vidarbha and Mūlaka. The only country which answers to this geographical position is Khāndēsh ; for it is bounded on the east by Berar (ancient Vidarbha), and on the
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¹ This is the Chaitya Cave XIX, about the age of which there was much uncertainty.
² Suttanipata, Pārāyaṇavaggo, vatthugāthā, 5, 2.
³ Ibid., v. 16.
⁴ Rāmāyaṇa. ( Nirnayasagar ed.), Kishkindhākāṇḍa, v. 10.
⁵ Mahābhārata (Chitraśālā Press ed.), Bhīshmaparvan adhyaya 9, v. 64.
⁶ Ibid., Karṇaparvan, adhyāya 8, v. 20.
⁷ Daśakumāracharita (Bom. Sanskrit Series), p. 138.
⁸ Ep. Ind., Vol. VIII, pp. 60 f.