Impact of Vedic Culture on Society
by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words
This page relates ‘Mingling of Cultures (U): The Bhauma-karas’ 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 (U): The Bhauma-karas
The inscriptions during the Bhauma-kara rule use some epithets as mentioned above for the rulers of this Odishan dynasty, such as Parama-Saugata, ParamaTathāgata, Unmattasiṃha, and others, which identify the Bhauma-kara rulers as Buddhist rulers of Odisha. The records says the early rulers of this dynasty followed Buddhism, and its later rulers followed Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism. However, during their reign, like all other dynasties, the vedic brāhmaṇas held a high position in the social hierarchy.
A Grant of Vakulamahādevī (10th century CE)[1] issued by Vakulamahādevī of Bhauma-kara dynasty records the grant of a village by the Bhauma-kara queen Vakulamahādevī to a brāhmaṇa. The charter records the gift of the village named Choḍātavutsā, in favor of Mīhadhīcha or probably Mahīdhara. The donee came from Śāvastha country and to have been a resident of the village Kanteḍa. He belonged to the Vasta gotra and the pravaras of Bhārgava, Cyavana, Āpnava, Aurva, and Jāmadagnya and was a student of the Āśvalāyana śākhā of gveda. The importance of this record lies in the fact that it is the only charter of the reign of this queen known so far. The grant was made to increase the merit and fame of the donor queen as well as her parents.
In the above inscription, Vakulamahādevī is mentioned by the title Paramamāheśvarī, the feminine form of Paramamāheśvarā. The Bhauma-kara rulers were tolerant of Buddhism as well as Śaivism. Śubhākara I, a Buddhist by belief, married to Mādhava-devi, who was a Śaivite. The Neulpur Grant of Śubhākaradeva (later half of 8th century CE) records that the king was Parama-Saugata (a devout worshiper of Buddha) while ruling in Uttara-Toṣālī (now Cuttack, Odisha), granted two villages to two hundred vedic brāhmaṇas for the increase of the merits of his parents and himself. Śubhākaradeva’s father was Śivākaradeva , and he also has been described as a great devotee of Saugata (Buddha).
The later part of the Bhauma-kara rule marked the revival of Brahmanism in northern India, especially in Odisha. As a result except from the Queen Tribhuvanamahādevi (c. 846 CE) who was a Vaiṣṇavite, all the subsequent rulers of the family were Śaivite along with the present donor queen Vakulamahādevī. But as we see, the growing influence of purāṇic culture did not confine vedic culture in contemporary society. The greatness of the ancient culture had its roots deep into society.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ibid., vol. VIII, pp. 78-84.