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VAKATAKA CHRONOLOGY
...The main plank in the chronological structure raised by Dr. Majumdar is the
description of Prabhāvatīguptā in the Ṛiddhapur plates. The expression actually occurs
in the following form:- sāgra-varsha-śata-diva-putra-pautrā. This has been variously interpreted. The editor of the grant suggested the following two renderings; (i) one who has sons
and grandsons, a life of full hundred years and will (in the end) live in heaven, and (ii)
who has renowned sons and grandsons and who has lived a life of full hundred years.
Oof these, the first rendering is unacceptable, as the simple word diva in that expression cannot
yield the meaning ‘who will in the end live in heaven.’ The second rendering (with the
change of diva into divya) is also equally open to objection as divya means ‘heavenly’,
not ‘renowned’. Dr. Majumdar has ingeniously suggested the reading jīva in place of
diva.1 He takes the expression sāgra-varsha-śata-jīva-putra-pautrā to mean that Prabhāvatīguptā
lived for more than a hundred years and had sons and grandsons living at the time. As
this expression is pivotal for his theory, it requires to be examined carefully.
...Dr. Majumdar apparently takes the expression sāgra-varsha-śata-jīva-putra-pautrā as
a compound consisting of two adjectival expressions sāgra-varsha-śatā and jīva-putrā-pautrā, the first referring to her own age of full hundred years and the latter stating that
her sons and grandsons were living at the time. As the compound stands, the
expression sāgra-varsha-śata-jīva appears to be connected with putra-pautrā, the intended
dissolution being sāgra-varsha-śataṁ jīvanti iti tādṛiśā. putrā pautrāś=cha yasyāḥ sā. To
have living sons and grandsons is regarded as a sign of good fortune and so the epithet
jīva-putrā is often noticed in the description of women in literature and inscriptions.2 The
preceding expression indicating long life must evidently be connected with jīva. The
expression refers to the long life must evidently be connected with jīva. The
like Prabhāvatīguptā, a long life of a hundred years is most distasteful. It is not a source
of joy. No widow is likely to boast of it. We must note in this connection that the expression occurs in Prabhāvatīguptā’s own grant. The long life mentioned in it must therefore
be taken to refer to her sons and grandsons.
...It may, however, be asked, ‘How could the sons and grandsons of Prabhāvatīguptā
have been a hundred years old in the 19th year of Pravarasēna II ?’ The question is
easily answered. The intention is to express the wish that they would be long-lived. It
is like the attributive adjective āyushmat or dirghāyus noticed in the description of small
children3. It would be wrong to infer from it that the children were then long-lived. The
expression in Prabhāvatīguptā’s grant is of the same type. The only difference is that
instead of an indefinite expression indicating long life like dīrghāyus, one denoting a life of
full hundred years is used. The expression must therefore be taken to mean that Prabhāvatīguptā had at that time sons and grandsons who, it was hoped, would be long-lived.
It does not refer to the long life of Prabhāvatīguptā herself at all.
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1 This was first pointed out by Prof. Jagan Nath in P.I.H.C., Vol. IV, pp. 58 f.
2 Cf. (i) वयम जीवा जिवपुत्रा अनागस: । Ṛigvēda, X, 36, 9.
(ii)जानासिमेजीवपुत्रे भावंनित्यमविग्रहे। Mahābhārata, V, 144, 2. कोशते न च गुह्लीते वचनं मे सुयोधन: ।
जीवपुत्रे निवतस्व पुत्रें रक्षस्व चाङ्गदम्:॥अन्तको रामरुपेण हत्वा नयति वालिनम्
(iv)जीवसुतायराजमातुयवचनेन Rāmāyaṇa, IV, 19, 11.
3 See e.g. the words of Kausalyā in the Uttararāmacharita, Ep. Ind., Vol. VIII, p. 73.
by the boys of Vālmīki’s hermitage, eager to see the horse of Aśvamēdha भजवदि जाणमि एदं अणवेवखतौ वभ्च-आमि विअ । ता एदो अण्णदो वेवखम्ह दाव गच्छमाणं दौहावुं Uttararāmacharita, Act iv. Here Kausalyā
uses dirghāyusham (long-lived) as an attribute of Lava, who was in his teens.
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