Sanskrit Inscriptions (A): The Vākāṭakas

[Study of Sanskrit Inscriptions Issued During Early and Early Medieval Period (A): The Vākāṭakas]

The evidence of such migrations of vedic brāhmaṇas found in north Indian Sanskrit Inscriptions will be produced in this section and those Inscriptions will be categorized dynastywise followed by a summary with a chronological chart and relevant maps. Regarding this issue we do not find any north Indian Sanskrit inscription of the Guptas , Rulers of Valkha, and Aulikara of Daśapura during the early period in our study. However, the land grants of the Gupta period containing a few examples of domestic migration are found in eastern India which remains outside the ambit of the present work. The land grants of the Gupta period throw very significant light on the spread of vedic culture in eastern India and will be touched upon in a separate chapter. So, the early North Indian dynasty to study this subject was the Vākāṭakas.

In the period concerned the Vākāṭakas issued a great number of inscriptions. The Vākāṭaka dynasty originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their inscriptionsare found in central and western parts of India. They were the most important successors of the Satavāhanas in the Deccan and were contemporaneous with the Guptas in northern India. This dynasty was a brāhmaṇa dynasty;^[1] nevertheless, we may cite some examples of such migrations of vedic brāhmaṇas.

Pāndhurnā Plates of Pravarasena -I I (c. 449 CE)^[2] issued by the King Pravarasena (II) during 449 century CE records a grant of a village to many vedic brāhmaṇas, issued from the place of the temple of Pravareśvara. On orders from Pravarasena (II), two thousand nivartanas of land in low ground in the Vāruchcha-rājya in exchange for Vijayapallīvāṭaka given by Prithivīrājā were given to many brāhmaṇas, prominent among them being Yajñārya and Bhojārya of the Vājasaneya school and Kauṇḍinya gotra, Somārya of the same school and gotra and Dhrmārya of the same school. The villages of Ajakarna, Badarī, and Darbhapatha are respectively on the south, west, and east of the land in Dhuvavātaka. Twenty-five nivartanas land and one nivartana for building a residential house in Lekhapallikā in Ārammi-rājya were granted to Somārya who was residing at Kāllāra respectively on the 7^thday in the 5^th fortnight in the rainy season in an occasion of the days of Śrāddha (tilavāchana).^[3]

The two villages Lekhapallikā and Saṅgamikā mentioned in the inscription situated in the territorial division of Ārammi-rājya may be identical with Lākhāpur near Chikhalī on the Multāi-Chhindwārā road (District-Betul, State-Madhya Pradesh), and Saṅgam near the confluence of the rivers Kanhān and Bel (north-eastern region of the Indian state ofMaharashtra). Ārammi, in which the villages were situated, may be identical with Āmlā, a station on the Iṭārsi-Nāgpur line of the Central Railway and the village Kāllāra, where the Brāhmaṇa Somārya was residing before the grant may be Kherlī, about 13 miles north of Multāi, in Madhya Pradesh.^[4]

With the fall of the Guptas, some new dynasties,e.g., Pānduvaṃśis, Maitrakas, early Kalacuris, and others, started to gain their power in northern India. It is from the land grant charters issued by the kings of these dynasties except the Maitrakas, a few instances of migration recorded in the early period of our study.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Govind Sadashiv Ghurye, Indian Costume, p. 43.

[2]:

USVAE, vol. III, pp. 184-186.

[3]:

Pāndhurnā Plates record the donation of 2000 nivarṭṭanas of land by royal measure in the village of Dhuvavataka (Dhruvavataka) to a number of brāhmaṇas. An additional 26 nivarṭṭanas in two other villages is recorded in the third plate as being specifically donated to the Brāhmaṇa Somārya. Both Mirashi and Shastri argue that this third plate is actually a forgery, inserted into the charter at a later date to benefit Somārya. The first part of the donation, of the 2000 nivarṭṭanas was issued in exchange for the earlier donation by Prithivisena I of the village of Vijayavalli-vataka. The charter was issued in the 29th year of Pravarasena II reign and was issued from the temple of Pravaresvara [CII, vol. V, p. 63 and A.M. Shastri, Vakatakas: Sources and History, pp. 32-33] .

[4]:

USVAE, vol. III, p. 186.