Impact of Vedic Culture on Society

by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words

This page relates ‘Mingling of Cultures (O): The Guhilas’ of the study on the Impact of Vedic Culture on Society as Reflected in Select Sanskrit Inscriptions found in Northern India (4th Century CE to 12th Century CE). These pages discuss the ancient Indian tradition of Dana (making gifts, donation). They further study the migration, rituals and religious activities of Brahmanas and reveal how kings of northern India granted lands for the purpose of austerities and Vedic education.

Mingling of Cultures (O): The Guhilās

In the seventh century, three separate Guhilādynasties were known to rule present-day Rajasthan. Guhilās of Kiṣkindhāpura (modern Kalyāṇpur in Udaypur district) is one of the known branches. Dungarpur plates of Bhavihitra (c. 655 CE)[1] issued by the King Bhāvihita of Guhilā of Kiṣkindhāpura dynasty records a land grant to enable the performance of the daily routine rituals bali, caru, sattra (replaced atithi), vaiśvadeva and Agnihotra. The donee was Brāhmaṇa Asaṅga-śarman of the Mādhyandina-śākhā (Śukla-Yajurveda school) who was emigrated from Ujjayinī.

Again, a charter of Guhilā King Bābhaṭa issued in c. 689-690 CE[2] records a grant of a plot Pāhaka-Pāhaka-pābhaka for duly carrying out the routine rituals (the five great yajñas) and for the augmentation of religious merit and fame to his parents and himself, to five Brāhmaṇa brothers viz . Gopāditya, Gopāḍhya, Debhaṭa, Ḍhoṇḍha, and Gopasvāmi. The five brāhmaṇa were sons of the Brāhmaṇa Go pa, who belonged to sāmānya, well versed in four Vedas of Kūragiri, who belonged to Dāṇḍāyana-sagotra and were adherents of Vājasaneya Mādhyandina branch of Yajurveda.

Dungarpur Plates of Bhāvihita records they were devout worshiper of Maheśvara. As we see in the above inscriptions, vedic culture was there, and they used to perform vedic rituals to secure religious merit at the same time.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid., vol. IV, part II, pp. 44-52.

[2]:

Ibid., pp. 485-495.

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