Impact of Vedic Culture on Society

by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words

This page relates ‘Mingling of Cultures (F): The Katacuris’ 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 (F): The Kaṭācuris

Almost all the kings of Kaṭācuri (Early Kalācuri family) dynasty was ParamaMāheśvara by their beliefs. Māṅkaṇī Plates of Taralasvāmin (c. 595-96 CE)[1] issued by the King Taralasvāmin records a land grant of a rice-field situated on the northern boundary of the village maṅkaṇikā. The donation was made to increase the spiritual merit and fame of his parents and to attain welfare and happiness and also for the maintenance of the five great sacrifices. The donee was the Brāhmaņa Jyeshthasena, who belonged to the Jātūkarņa go tra[2] and Vājasaneya śākhā of Śukla-Yajurveda.

Sarsavṇī plates of Buddharājā (c. 610 CE)[3] issued by the Parama-Māheśvara King Buddharājā from the same dynasty records a grant of the village to Bāppasvāmin, a brāhmaṇa adherent of the Vājasaneya-Kāṇva school. The kings of the Kaṭachuri dynasty were Śaivites by religion. But they granted villages to the vedic brāhmaṇas to perform vedic sacrifices and among others for popularity and religious merit. During later time of the dynasty (Kalācuri) different sects existed side by side. Interestingly, the kings of this dynasty are sometimes mentioned in their inscriptions as the followers of more than one faith. According to, Kārtitalai stone inscription of Lakṣmaṇarāja II (later half of 10th century CE) Śankaragaṇa (son of Lakṣmaṇarāja) though a devotee of Śiva, was a Parama-Vaiṣṇava. [4] Similarly, Jasananda is called both Parama-Vaiṣṇava and ParamaMāheśvara (Rājim stone inscription, c. 1146 CE).[5]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

, vol. IV, part I, pp. 19-23.

[2]:

This gotra is interesting, for it shows that the name Jātūkarṇi of the mother of the famous Sanskrit dramatist Bhavabhūti was derived from it. (EI, vol. XXII, p. 108).

[3]:

USVAE, vol. IV, part I, pp. 191-194.

[4]:

EI, vol. II, pp. 175-177.

[5]:

IA, vol. XVII, pp. 135-138.

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