Ikshvakus of Vijayapuri

The Ikshvakus ruled the lower Krishna valley in the 3rd and early 4th centuries CE, after the Satavahanas and before the Pallavas. In their own Prakrit inscriptions they are called Ikhaku, and later Ikkhaku. Their capital was Vijayapuri, the city whose ruins fill the valley at Nagarjunakonda, formerly in the Palnad taluk of Guntur district.¹²³

They are known almost entirely from inscriptions:⁴⁵⁶⁷

• the pillars of the Jaggayyapeta stupa (relic mound), found in 1882
• the Buddhist records uncovered at Nagarjunakonda from 1926
• the much larger finds of 1954–60, when the Archaeological Survey excavated the valley before it was to be submerged by the reservoir of the Nandikonda (Nagarjunasagar) dam⁴⁵⁶⁷

J. Ph. Vogel edited the first group in 1933, and judged that the historical information they gave about the kings was “very meagre”.⁸ The later finds added a fourth king and two princes.^9101112 They also added dated temples to Shiva and Karttikeya, and two dates that can be converted to the Christian era.^9101112

How the dynasty was discovered

In February 1882 James Burgess excavated the stupa at Jaggayyapeta and found three copies of one Prakrit inscription. It records that in the 20th year of a king of the “Ikhakus”, the artisan Sidhatha (Siddhartha) and his family set up five ayaka pillars (pillars on the stupa’s platforms).¹³¹⁴ They set them up at the eastern gate of the Great Chaitya of the Buddha “in the village of Velagiri”.¹³¹⁴ Burgess could not identify the king.¹⁴ He thought the claim to Ikshvaku descent was “most probably an idle boast” by some local dynasty that had succeeded the Andhras (Satavahanas).¹⁴

Robert Sewell’s chronology was compiled from inscriptions known up to 1923 and published in 1932.¹⁵ It still had no place for such a dynasty, and made the Pallava Bappa end Andhra rule about 225 CE.¹⁵

In March 1926 A. R. Sarasvati of the Madras epigraphy office found inscribed pillars at Nagarjunakonda. M. Hamid Kuraishi’s trial excavation that autumn, and A. H. Longhurst’s excavations of 1927–31, recovered many more, which Vogel edited in Epigraphia Indica XX and XXI.^1161718 From 1954 the Nagarjunakonda Excavation Project under R. Subrahmanyam cleared about 1,800 acres of the valley, including the citadel, temples, houses and a stadium.^19202122 Its inscriptions were edited by D. C. Sircar and others in Epigraphia Indica XXXIII–XXXV.²³

Origins and the Ikshvaku name

The kings called themselves Ikhaku, after Ikshvaku, the mythical ancestor of the solar dynasty of Ayodhya, the line of Rama. Vogel noted that the Buddha too was called a scion of that race.⁸ One inscription of Virapurushadatta’s reign describes the Buddha as born of a race “sprung from hundreds of sages and excellent kings of Ikhaku’s lineage”.²⁴

Sircar suggested in 1939 that this epithet might reflect the king’s own claim to share the Buddha’s ancestry.²⁵²⁶ He found it hard to tell whether the family descended from northern immigrants, or was a local ruling house that had adopted the famous name.²⁵²⁶

The language of the inscriptions gave another clue. Sten Konow, in a letter printed with Vogel’s edition, found Kanarese-looking (Kannada) names among the donors. He concluded that the inscriptions were written in a standard Prakrit “used by people whose home tongue was Dravidian, and probably Kanarese”. So, he thought, the Ikshvakus might have come to the Krishna country “from the West”. He added that “all such conclusions are bound to be uncertain”.²⁷²⁸

The kings followed Satavahana models. Like Gautamiputra Satakarni and Vasishthiputra Pulumavi, they bore metronymics, names taken from their mothers’ clans (gotra).⁸²⁹ Examples are Vasithiputa, “son of a Vasishtha mother”, and Madhariputa, “son of a Mathara mother”.⁸²⁹ Sircar argued that the first king’s horse sacrifice marked a break from Satavahana overlordship.³⁰³¹ He placed this break about the third decade of the 3rd century.³⁰³¹

Sircar later dated the end of Satavahana rule in the Krishna–Guntur region to about the close of the first quarter of that century.³² Excavation found copper coins of Pulumavi, Yajna Satakarni and other Satavahanas in the valley, and coin moulds of Gautamiputra Satakarni.³³³⁴ It also found structures older than the Ikshvakus.³³³⁴

The family married into western houses. Rudradharabhattarika was a queen of Virapurushadatta.³⁵³⁶ In Vogel’s emended (corrected) reading she was a daughter of the king of Ujjain, probably of the Western Kshatrapa (Saka) line.³⁵³⁶ A memorial pillar of the next generation names Varmabhatta, a queen of Ehuvula Chamtamula, as the daughter of a Mahakshatrapa.³⁷ A daughter of Virapurushadatta married the Maharaja of Vanavasa (Banavasi, in North Kanara).³⁶ Vogel concluded that these alliances showed the Ikshvakus to be “rulers of some importance”.⁸

Territory and the capital

Vijayapuri lay in a red-soil valley about three miles wide on the right bank of the Krishna. Hills shut it in on three sides and the river on the fourth. In the 1920s it could be reached only by a footpath over the hills or by the river.³⁸³⁹

An inscription of the 14th year of Virapurushadatta places a monastery “on the Siripavata”, Sanskrit Sriparvata, “to the east of Vijayapuri”.²⁴² Vogel concluded that this was the name of the town in the valley.²⁴² Longhurst and Sircar took Sriparvata to be the old name of the Nallamalai hills, of which the Nagarjunakonda hills form part.⁴⁰⁴¹

The excavations of 1957–59 uncovered the citadel. Its walls enclosed a trapezoid about 3,000 by 2,000 feet along the river. They were built in two phases: first a rampart of earth and gravel about 80 feet wide at the base, then a brick wall 9 to 14 feet thick. A ditch up to 132 feet wide surrounded them. There were gateways on the east and west and a postern (small back gate) on the north. Barracks and stables stood near the eastern gate.²¹⁴²

Inside, a walled group of houses suggested to the excavators a separate quarter for royal buildings.⁴³ The valley had four lines of fortification in all, the last of them medieval.⁴³⁴⁴

East of the citadel lay a planned township with a main street 25 feet wide, lanes of 15 feet and by-lanes of 8 feet.²² The houses stood in compounds, many with rows of large storage jars.²²

The kingdom reached well beyond the valley. Virapurushadatta’s 20th year is recorded at Jaggayyapeta (Velagiri) in Krishna district (inscription).¹⁴⁴⁵ His 19th is recorded at a stupa near Uppugundur in the Ongole taluk, near the coast.⁴⁶⁴⁷ B. Ch. Chhabra took the Uppugundur record as new evidence of the extent of his dominions.⁴⁶⁴⁷

An inscription of Rudrapurushadatta comes from Gurzala, a few miles east of Nagarjunakonda.³⁷ The title mahatalavara appears in a fragment from Alluru in Nandigama taluk.⁴⁸ The Uppugundur donor’s grandfather came from Amaravati (Dhanyakataka).⁴⁷ Vogel once suggested that Nagarjunakonda itself might be the ancient Dhanyakataka.⁴⁹ But Sircar held that the ruins represented a city called Vijayapuri.³

Their rule also reached the Nalgonda side of the Krishna, in present-day Telangana. Excavations were made at the Buddhist site of Phanigiri, in the Tirumalagiri mandal of the Nalgonda district.⁵⁰⁵¹ They yielded a fragmentary Prakrit inscription naming the king Chamtamula, and a Sanskrit pillar inscription of Rudrapurushadatta.⁵⁰⁵¹

The editors of Epigraphia Telanganica read the pillar as adding seven years to Rudrapurushadatta’s known reign.⁵² Counting from Sircar’s date of 334 for his accession, they placed the pillar in 352.⁵² They took that year as the end of Ikshvaku rule.⁵²

Rulers

Four kings are now known, each named with a metronymic:¹⁰¹²

• Vasithiputa Siri-Chamtamula (Vasishthiputra Chamtamula). No record of his own reign survives. His descendants praise him as the performer of the Agnihotra, Agnishtoma, Vajapeya and Ashvamedha sacrifices.³⁵⁵³ A later inscription adds the Bahusuvarnaka sacrifice and credits him with victories won in battle by his own valour.⁵⁴
• Madhariputa Siri-Virapurisadata (Mathariputra Virapurushadatta), his son. Records are dated in his 6th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th and 20th years.⁴⁵⁵⁵⁴⁷ One is dated instead in the cyclic year Vijaya, which Sircar equated with 273–74.¹¹
• Vasethiputa Siri-Ehuvula-Chamtamula, son of Virapurushadatta and the queen Bhatideva, also written Ehuvala or Ehavala. His records run from his 2nd to his 24th year. One is dated in a year Vijaya that Sircar equated with 333–34.^5694112
• Vasithiputa Siri-Rudapurisadata (Rudrapurushadatta), son of Ehuvula Chamtamula, known from a memorial pillar of his 11th year. Sircar identified him with the Rulapurisadata of an inscription of the 4th year from Gurzala.¹⁰³⁷

Two princes held the rank of mahasenapati. Virapurushadatta (II), a son of Ehuvula Chamtamula and the queen Kupanasiri, built a Shiva temple. Eli Ehuvuladasa, a son of Virapurushadatta by the queen Yakhilinika, is commemorated by a memorial pillar.⁵⁴⁵⁷

Nobles and officers

The inscriptions record pious gifts, not government orders, so the administration is seen only through titles. The nobles who married the royal women were mahasenapatis (“great commanders”) and mahatalavaras. Vogel thought the first had become a title of nobility, best rendered “duke”, and could not explain the second.⁸⁴⁸ Their wives bore the titles mahasenapatini and mahatalavari.⁴⁸

Hirananda Sastri, the Government Epigraphist, found talavara in an early Jaina text and a commentary.⁵⁸ He concluded that it meant “a sort of Governor of a province”.⁵⁸ Sircar likewise took the mahatalavaras to be provincial governors or subordinate rulers.⁵⁹

The noble families included the Pukiyas, Dhanakas, Hiramnakas, Kulahakas and Pushyakandiyas.³⁶⁵⁴ Sircar and Krishnan noted that most princesses of Virapurushadatta’s time married mahatalavaras of different clans.⁵⁴

Other offices appear here and there. One chief bore the titles of mahasenapati, mahatalavara and mahadandanayaka together.³⁶ A donor’s maternal uncle was a kothagarika, which Vogel rendered as treasurer or superintendent of a royal storehouse.⁴⁸

Elisri built a Shiva temple in the 11th year of Ehuvula Chamtamula.⁶⁰ He is described as a leading talavara (talavara-vara) and the grandson of a senapati (commander).⁶⁰ Memorial pillars name rathikas, which Sircar took to be governors of small territorial units (rashtras) under an Ikshvaku king.⁶¹ An inscription of Ehuvula’s time names a woman officer in charge of the royal harem.⁶²

Taxes and revenue

No royal land grant of the Ikshvakus survives in these sources. Nothing is known of their taxes or of any exemptions they granted. The eulogy of Chamtamula calls him “the giver of crores of gold, hundred thousands of kine, and hundred thousands of ploughs (of land)”.⁶³ Sircar suggested that the phrase might refer to the great ceremonial gifts (mahadanas) of the Puranas.³¹

Endowments were made in two ways.⁵⁴⁶² The prince Virapurushadatta gave the village of Pudokedam as a perpetual endowment (akhaya-nivi) for his Shiva temple.⁵⁴ Other donors deposited money with guilds.⁶²

One record of Ehuvula’s reign mentions a hundred dinaris placed with four guilds.⁶² Interest accrued month by month, though the record does not make clear how it was spent.⁶² A fragmentary inscription records several endowments: one apparently of villages, one of 150 dinari-masakas, and one placed with a guild under its headman.⁶⁴⁶⁵

Law and order

The sources say very little about courts or policing. Vogel translated mahadandanayaka as “a high, probably judicial, official”, but Sircar took it as a leader of forces.⁶⁶⁶⁷ One endowment of Ehuvula’s reign made a provision for its shrine.⁶² If the donor failed to maintain the shrine, the council of citizens headed by the chief banker was to do so.⁶² Sircar likened this council (nigama) to a panchayat.⁶²

Army

Several kinds of evidence point to a strong military establishment. Brick fortifications on Nagarjuna’s hill used bricks of the same size as the Buddhist buildings, and a second fortified hill guarded the river approach.³⁸⁶⁸⁶⁹ The citadel had barracks with stables, and an outwork guarded its western gate.²¹⁴²⁴³ The princes Virapurushadatta (II) and Eli Ehuvuladasa served as mahasenapatis.⁵⁴⁵⁷

Memorial pillars (chhaya-khambha) were set up for men killed in battle. They name soldiers of contingents led by a commander called Peramadi. They also name leaders, including a prince, who all came from a place called Magalarana. Sircar inferred that a great battle had been fought by supporters of an Ikshvaku king, but no king or date is given.^23646170

Another pillar commemorates Chamtapala of the Kulahaka family, a mahasenapati described as a subduer of enemies and a captor of elephants.⁷¹ The excavators read his inscription as recording his death in an army camp.⁷² Sculptures from the palace site show a bearded soldier, apparently a Scythian, in a Roman-like helmet, quilted tunic and trousers.⁷³

Economy and trade

The Krishna was the city’s highway. The limestone of its pillars and sculptures was not quarried locally.⁷⁴⁷⁵⁷⁶ It must have been rafted down the river and landed at a stone-built quay about 250 feet long.⁷⁴⁷⁵⁷⁶ The excavators found a brick embankment along the river with a dock-like recess and a stepped ghat (river steps).⁷⁷⁷²⁴³ They also found an Ikshvaku-period canal 30 feet wide.⁷⁷⁷²⁴³

Bodhisiri’s inscription mentions an emporium called Kantakasela, which Vogel identified with Ptolemy’s Kantikossula at the mouth of the Krishna.⁴⁹ Sircar identified it with Ghantasala.⁷⁸ Vogel attributed the wealth of the Buddhist foundations to sea trade with Sri Lanka and the West. Their followers, he wrote, were “largely recruited from the commercial classes”.⁷⁹

The townspeople included bankers (sreshthin), merchants and householders. Guilds of confectioners and, probably, of betel-leaf sellers took deposits.^62414724

One house in the township was a goldsmith’s shop, with crucibles, a touchstone, weights and moulds for ornaments.²² A pillared hall with storage jars and small vessels may have been a provision shop.⁴³

Roman contacts are attested by two gold coins, of Tiberius and of Faustina the Elder.³³⁷ Handles of Roman amphorae (storage jars) and clay sealings with a head perhaps copied from a Roman coin were also found.³³⁷ No Rouletted Ware, a fine pottery found at other early sites in Guntur district, was found at Nagarjunakonda.⁸⁰

Coins

The Ikshvakus issued lead coins. Those found in the 1955–56 season bore an elephant with raised trunk and worn legends, read tentatively as Siri Virapu(rushadata) and Siri Chata(mula).⁸¹ Lead coins of the first three kings were found in the citadel’s later layers and in the township.⁴²⁷²² One house there held a hoard of 900 Ikshvaku coins in a small pot.⁴²⁷²²

Longhurst had earlier found many small lead coins of the Andhra kind in a monastery cell, with lead ore and an earthenware die.⁸²⁸³ He concluded that the monks made their own coins.⁸²⁸³

The inscriptions also name a money of account, the dinari-masaka.⁸⁴⁸⁵⁸⁶ Vogel derived the word from the Latin denarius.⁸⁴ Sircar connected it with the Kushana gold dinara.⁸⁵⁸⁶ Vogel understood one pillar inscription of Virapurushadatta’s 6th year to mean that a queen contributed 170 dinari-masakas towards the building of the Great Stupa.⁸⁷⁸⁸

Social life

The inscriptions name many women of the royal house and their marriages.³⁵⁸⁹ Chamtamula’s sister Chamtisiri married the noble Kamdasiri of the Pukiya family, and her daughter married her cousin, King Virapurushadatta.³⁵ Two other queens of Virapurushadatta were daughters of another sister of Chamtamula.³⁵

Hirananda Sastri remarked that such cousin marriages, though “obnoxious to the Brahmanical Hindus of Northern India”, were still current in the Madras Presidency.⁹⁰ Kings had several queens. Sircar read the memorial pillar of Chamtamula as listing his sisters, mothers and five queens.⁸⁹ After them come two women he described as concubines or harem guards.⁸⁹

Chamtamula’s grandson was named after him.⁸ Vogel thought this custom was not native to India, but the editor of his article added Indian parallels.⁸

Lay donors appear with their families. The lay woman Bodhisiri dedicated her gifts in the name of some thirty relatives.²⁴ Among them were her husband, his father the householder Revata of Govagama, and a maternal uncle who was a treasurer.²⁴ A footprint slab was given by Budhi, “the sister of Moda, the Scythian”, evidence that Sakas lived at the capital.⁹¹³⁷

Sculptures show female guards, and in one scene an armed woman guards a palace door.⁹²⁹³ The excavators found a stadium between the citadel and Nagarjuna’s hill.²¹⁴²⁹⁴ It had an arena 309 by 259 feet, sunk 15 feet and surrounded by brick steps for spectators, with a pavilion on the west.²¹⁴²⁹⁴

They identified a cremation ground on the slopes of the hill, perhaps for the royal family.⁴³ A sculpture of a woman on a ladder suggested to them that sati was practised there.⁴³

Religion

The kings were Brahmanical, and Chamtamula’s eulogy lists the Vedic sacrifices he performed.³⁵⁸ It calls him favoured by Mahasena (Skanda, the war god), lord of the Virupakshas.³⁵⁸ Hirananda Sastri noted that no gift by a male member of the royal house had been found at the Buddhist sites.⁹⁵ The later excavations found the first direct evidence of their Shaiva worship.⁹⁶

In the 16th year of Ehuvula Chamtamula, the prince Virapurushadatta built a shrine of Mahadeva Pushpabhadrasvamin (inscription).⁵⁴ In the 11th year, the noble Elisri, a devotee of Karttikeya, built a temple described as an abode of Shiva.⁶⁰ Another record of Ehuvula’s reign mentions a shrine of a god whose name may be Nodagisvarasvamin.⁹⁷

Shrines of Karttikeya stood along the river.⁷⁷⁹⁸ Within the citadel the excavators found a stepped tank and animal bones. They interpreted the tank as the purificatory bath of a performer of the horse sacrifice.⁹⁸

The royal women and many townspeople were Buddhist. Chamtisiri rebuilt or founded the Great Stupa and built a shrine and a pillared hall beside it for the Aparamahavinaseliya school.³⁵⁴⁵ Bodhisiri built a shrine at the Chula-Dhammagiri monastery for monks from Sri Lanka (inscription).⁴⁸⁴⁵ Other women founded monasteries for the Bahusutiya and Mahisasaka schools.⁴⁸⁴⁵

A footprint slab names teachers of the Theravada Vibhajjavada school who lived in the Great Monastery (Mahavihara).⁹⁹ Excavators later observed that Brahmanical shrines clustered along the river and in the fortified zone.⁷⁷ Buddhist monasteries filled the rest of the valley.⁷⁷ See also Religion.

Art and architecture

Longhurst’s excavations recovered stupas, monasteries, apsidal temples, a palace site and over four hundred carved reliefs in the style of Amaravati.¹⁷⁷⁵ The buildings were of large bricks laid in mud and finished with plaster and whitewash. Stone was used only for pillars, floors and sculpture.⁷⁵¹⁰⁰

The stupas were built on a wheel plan, with platforms facing the four gateways that carried rows of five pillars.¹⁰¹¹⁰² Longhurst regarded these platforms as the most important decorative feature of an Andhra stupa.¹⁰¹¹⁰² The temples were long brick halls with an apse and barrel-vaulted roofs.⁷⁶

Longhurst saw Gandhara and Roman influence in some sculptures.¹⁰³ Pillars from a building in the city that he took for a palace show a Scythian soldier.⁷³ They also show a figure he thought a crude representation of Dionysus.⁷³ A bronze statuette of Prince Siddhartha as an archer was found in the 1956–57 season.³³

The Brahmanical temples were also of brick. Surveyors in 1959–60 found temple complexes with halls in line, an enclosure wall, a gateway and a flagstaff. They also found subsidiary shrines on square, octagonal and circular plans. The main shrines were apsidal, like the contemporary Buddhist halls.¹⁰⁴ See Temples and architecture.

Decline and successors

An inscription found at the river’s edge in 1958–59 is dated in the 30th year of the Abhira king Vasishthiputra Vasushena. It records that a local mahatalavara installed the god Ashtabhujasvamin, a form of Vishnu.^10567106 Men from Avanti (Ujjain), Sanjayapura and Vanavasa took part with him.^10567106

The Abhiras ruled around Nasik.¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁸ Sircar referred the year to the era of 248 CE, giving 278–79.¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁸ He suggested that Vasushena briefly extended his rule over the Ikshvaku kingdom.¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁸ He later proposed that the Abhiras overthrew Virapurushadatta about 275, and that the Ikshvakus regained their throne within a few years.¹²

The Pallavas of Kanchi followed the Ikshvakus in the Krishna–Guntur region. In 1959 Sircar suggested that the Pallava Simhavarman ended Ikshvaku rule about the end of the 3rd century or the beginning of the 4th. Simhavarman’s Prakrit inscription was found at Manchikallu in Palnad. Sircar thought he perhaps destroyed Vijayapuri. He called this a conjecture.^109110111

After the Vijaya-year dates were read, Sircar placed the Pallava conquest about the middle of the 4th century.¹² The Brihatphalayanas, who ruled around Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam), may also have weakened the Ikshvakus. The queen Varmabhatta belonged to the Brihatphala clan.³¹¹²³⁷

Vogel listed several causes for the decline of Buddhism on the lower Krishna:⁷⁹

• the falling-off of trade with Rome
• the southern campaign of Samudragupta
• the rise of Brahmanical dynasties such as the Pallavas⁷⁹

B. V. Krishna Rao suggested that the Salankayanas of Vengi had been subordinate to the Ikshvakus before becoming independent.¹¹³ Occupation of the valley continued for at least two centuries after the Ikshvakus. A temple of the goddess Hariti there was dated to the 4th or 5th century.^3455114 When the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang passed in the 7th century, he found the region’s convents “mostly deserted and ruined”.⁴⁹

Evidence and disagreements

Chronology

All Ikshvaku records but two are dated only in regnal years.³⁵¹¹ So the dynasty was long placed only by its script and its relation to the Satavahanas and Pallavas.³⁵¹¹

Source	Date proposed
Burgess (1887)13	Jaggayyapeta inscriptions “about the third or fourth century A.D., but are possibly earlier”
Bühler, accepted by Vogel (1933)48	Virapurushadatta in the 3rd century, before the Pallavas reached Vengi
Hirananda Sastri and Longhurst (1931, 1938)11517	Dynasty ruling in the 2nd and 3rd centuries
Sircar (1939)116117	Records of the middle and second half of the 3rd century; Chamtamula about 223–240, Virapurushadatta about 240–265
Sircar (1959)32	Virapurushadatta about the middle of the 3rd century
Sircar (1963), alternative A12	Virapurushadatta about 255–75, Abhira interregnum about 275–80, Ehuvula Chamtamula about 280–335
Sircar (1963), alternative B12118	Virapurushadatta, his son and grandson about 265–335, ended by a joint attack of Abhiras and Pallavas

The two cyclic-year dates rest on Sircar’s reading of the word Vijaya in two inscriptions. He admitted that no other Ikshvaku record is dated in this way, but found no other satisfactory explanation.¹¹

How many kings?

Vogel knew three kings. The excavations added Rudrapurushadatta, whom Sircar took to be a son of Ehuvula Chamtamula and grandson of Virapurushadatta.⁸¹⁰¹² The excavators’ report of 1955–56 also named a king Srivarman of the Brihatphala clan.³⁴ But Sircar and Krishnan found no such king in the inscription.³⁷ The Kekaya prince Sivanandavarman of a 5th-century inscription in Mysore claimed marriage links with Ikshvaku kings. Sircar thought this might mean that the family survived long after it lost Vijayapuri.¹¹²

The third king’s name

Vogel read the syllables Ehuvula with hesitation.³⁶ Hirananda Sastri gave the name as Siribahuvalachatamula, and later records spell it Ehavala, Ehuvala and Ehavalasri.¹¹⁹⁶⁰⁹ Chhabra thought the name, like those of several nobles of the time, non-Sanskrit and presumably Dravidian.⁶⁰ Sircar connected the element Eli, found in the names of a prince and of the noble Elisri, with Telugu elika, a ruler.¹²⁰

The memorial pillar of Chamtamula

On the memorial pillar, Vogel read the date as the 20th year of Virapurushadatta. Sircar re-read the same word as the cyclic year Vijaya, 273–74, and thought the pillar was raised many years after the king’s death.^12112289 Vogel identified the stout king in its carved panels as Chamtamula himself. Hirananda Sastri thought the scenes showed Virapurushadatta with two queens, setting up the pillar.^12358124

Other open questions

• Founded or rebuilt? Vogel read one pillar as saying that Chamtisiri erected the Great Stupa. Longhurst thought she only restored an older monument, perhaps of about 200 BCE.^3511517
• Wharf or temple? Longhurst identified a long pillared building on the river front as a wharf with a customs house. The excavators of 1956–57 identified it, from its inscribed pillars, as a temple of Karttikeya.^7612577
• Monks or nuns? Vogel took Bodhisiri’s shrine to be dedicated to fraternities of monks, while N. Dutt, followed by Sircar in 1939, read it as for nuns. Sircar later rejected the nuns reading on the evidence of the footprint slab.^24126127
• A hospital? Some excavators read a fragmentary Sanskrit inscription as naming a hospital. Sircar thought it more likely referred to a Buddhist residence.¹²⁸

Footnotes

1. J. Ph. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from a Buddhist Site at Nagarjunikonda, Epigraphia Indica XX (1933), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

2. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), pp. 68–69 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 14 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

6. B. Ch. Chhabra, “Nagarjunakonda Inscription of Ehavalasri’s time, Year 11”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60, publ. 1963), p. 147 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

7. Indian Archaeology 1957–58: A Review (1958), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

8. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 6 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

9. D. C. Sircar and K. G. Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIV (1961–62, publ. 1963), p. 17 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 20 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

11. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

12. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 6 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

13. James Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta (1887), p. 110 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. Burgess, Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta (1887), p. 111, translation by G. Bühler (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

15. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 16 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

16. M. Hamid Kuraishi, “Trial Excavations at Alluru, Gummadidurru and Nagarjunikonda”, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1926–27 (1930), pp. 156–157 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

17. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

18. J. Ph. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXI (1931–32), p. 61 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

19. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1955–56: A Review (1956), p. 23 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

20. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1958–59: A Review (1959), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

21. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1957–58: A Review (1958), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

22. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1959–60: A Review (1960), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

23. D. C. Sircar, “Some Brahmi Inscriptions: B. Fragmentary Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIV (1963), p. 209 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

24. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 23, translation of inscription F (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

25. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

26. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 11 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

27. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 25, postscript by Sten Konow (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

28. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 26, postscript by Sten Konow (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

29. Sircar, “Two Inscriptions from Guntur District” (1959), p. 84 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

30. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

31. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 18 and note 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

32. Sircar, “Two Inscriptions from Guntur District” (1959), p. 83 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

33. Indian Archaeology 1956–57: A Review (1957), p. 38 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

34. Indian Archaeology 1955–56: A Review (1956), p. 24 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

35. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

36. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

37. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 21 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

38. A. H. Longhurst, The Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

39. A. H. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1927–28 (1931), p. 113 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

40. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

41. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 12 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

42. Indian Archaeology 1957–58: A Review (1958), p. 6 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

43. Indian Archaeology 1958–59: A Review (1959), p. 8 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

44. Indian Archaeology 1958–59: A Review (1959), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

45. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), p. 65 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

46. B. Ch. Chhabra, “Uppugundur Inscription of Virapurisadata’s time, Year 19”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1963), p. 189 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

47. Chhabra, “Uppugundur Inscription” (1963), p. 190 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

48. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 7 and note 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

49. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

50. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 13, Ikshvaku period No. 1, from Indian Archaeology 2010–11: A Review, p. 117. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

51. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 14, Ikshvaku period No. 3, after Epigraphia Indica XLIII pt. 1 (2011), pp. 75–77. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

52. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 15. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³

53. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 17 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

54. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 18 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

55. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1954–55: A Review (1955), p. 22 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

56. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), p. 62 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

57. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

58. Hirananda Sastri, “Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 165 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

59. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 19 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

60. Chhabra, “Nagarjunakonda Inscription of Ehavalasri’s time” (1963), p. 148 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

61. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 15 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

62. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 5 and notes (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

63. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 17, translation of pillar inscription C 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

64. Sircar, “Fragmentary Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 210 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

65. Sircar, “Fragmentary Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 211 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

66. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 32, glossary, s.v. mahadandanayaka (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

67. Sircar, “Inscription of Abhira Vasushena” (1963), p. 198 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

68. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

69. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

70. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 16 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

71. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 14 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

72. Indian Archaeology 1955–56: A Review (1956), p. 25 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

73. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 11 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

74. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1927–28 (1931), p. 114 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

75. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 7 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

76. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 8 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

77. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1956–57: A Review (1957), p. 36 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

78. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 33 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

79. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

80. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1960–61: A Review (1961), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

81. Indian Archaeology 1955–56: A Review (1956), p. 26 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

82. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

83. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1927–28 (1931), p. 121 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

84. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 29, glossary, s.v. dinari-masaka (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

85. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 26 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

86. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 27 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

87. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 19, translation of pillar inscription B 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

88. Vogel, Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda (1933), p. 20 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

89. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

90. Hirananda Sastri, “Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 164 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

91. J. Ph. Vogel, “Two Additional Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XX (1933), p. 37 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

92. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 149 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

93. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 31, description of Plate XXX (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

94. Indian Archaeology 1957–58: A Review (1958), p. 8 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

95. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1927–28 (1931), p. 119 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

96. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 19 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

97. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 4 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

98. Indian Archaeology 1956–57: A Review (1957), p. 37 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

99. D. C. Sircar and A. N. Lahiri, “Footprint Slab Inscription from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1963), p. 248 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

100. A. H. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1929–30 (1935), p. 147 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

101. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 12 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

102. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 13 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

103. Longhurst, Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda (1938), p. 15 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

104. Indian Archaeology 1959–60: A Review (1960), p. 84 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

105. D. C. Sircar, “Nagarjunikonda Inscription of the time of Abhira Vasushena, Year 30”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIV (1963), p. 197 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

106. Sircar, “Inscription of Abhira Vasushena” (1963), p. 203, translation (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

107. Sircar, “Inscription of Abhira Vasushena” (1963), p. 201 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

108. Sircar, “Inscription of Abhira Vasushena” (1963), p. 202 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

109. D. C. Sircar, “Two Inscriptions from Guntur District”, Epigraphia Indica XXXII (1959), p. 82 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

110. Sircar, “Two Inscriptions from Guntur District” (1959), p. 88 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

111. Sircar, “Two Inscriptions from Guntur District” (1959), p. 89 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

112. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 15 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

113. B. V. Krishna Rao, “Two Salankayana Charters from Kanukollu”, Epigraphia Indica XXXI (1960), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

114. Indian Archaeology 1954–55: A Review (1955), p. 23 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

115. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1927–28 (1931), p. 115 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

116. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

117. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 16, genealogical table (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

118. Epigraphia Indica XXXV, “Additions and Corrections”, correction to p. 6, line 30 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

119. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1927–28 (1931), p. 118 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

120. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 11 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

121. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), p. 64 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

122. D. C. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXXV (1963–64), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

123. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), p. 63 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

124. Hirananda Sastri, “Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 166 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

125. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 148 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

126. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 28 and note 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

127. Sircar and Lahiri, “Footprint Slab Inscription” (1963), p. 249 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

128. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, p. 18 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩