Memorial pillar of Chamtamula, Nagarjunakonda

This inscribed pillar is the memorial of Vasishthiputra Chamtamula, the first known king of the Ikshvakus. The women of his household raised it in the reign of his son, Virapurushadatta.¹²

Where it was found, and its carvings

The pillar was found underground near Stupa 9 at Nagarjunakonda.³ This stupa (relic mound), 42 feet across, stood by itself near a fortified hill on the south-western side of the valley, not far from the river.³⁴ Excavations in 1958–59 found that it had four building phases.⁵ The third phase was a renovation in the 9th year of King Ehuvula Chamtamula.⁵

The pillar is rounded at the top.³ As J. Ph. Vogel described it, it is carved with five panels, one above another.³ The panels do not seem to illustrate the Buddha’s life or the Jatakas (stories of his past lives).³ The carvings show these scenes:³

• the top panel, a domed building³
• the next two, a stout man, apparently a king, seated among women, some of them making music³
• the fourth, a royal elephant with a parasol held over its rider³
• the lowest, a plainly dressed king under a parasol, with an attendant holding a vessel and a group that looks like monks, beside what may be a heap of stones³

The editor of Vogel’s article suggested that the “stones” might be ingots or gift money.³

The inscription

The inscription is cut below the lowest panel, in thirteen lines of small, partly worn letters.³ It records that the sisters, mothers and consorts of the late king Vasithiputa Siri-Chamtamula raised the pillar.³¹ He is praised in the usual way as the performer of the horse sacrifice and other Vedic rites, and a giver of much gold.³¹ The women’s names fill the last seven lines.³¹ Vogel read some thirty names, ending with two women whom he called subhatarikas.¹

D. C. Sircar re-edited the text from better impressions taken in 1960 and found serious errors in Vogel’s reading.⁶ Vogel had read the date as the 20th year of Virapurushadatta, the first fortnight of the rainy season, the second day.¹⁶

Sircar read the year instead as Vijaya, a year of Jupiter’s sixty-year cycle.⁶ Only one Vijaya year in the period fitted, 273–74.⁷ He considered this the earliest known use of the cyclic year in Indian inscriptions.⁷ He also thought it the only record that fixed a year of Virapurushadatta’s reign.⁷

Sircar also restored the phrase chhaya-thabha, a memorial pillar bearing an image, which Vogel and his editor had missed.² Sircar thought the pillar was raised many years after Chamtamula’s death.²

From two punctuation marks, Sircar suggested that the list fell into three groups:²⁸

• thirteen sisters²⁸
• eleven mothers, meaning his mother and stepmothers²⁸
• five queens²⁸

He read the two final women as abhyantarikas, either close companions or guards of the harem.²⁸

Who is shown?

Vogel suggested that the pillar might stand where Chamtamula was cremated. He also suggested that the stout king of three panels and the elephant rider were Chamtamula himself.³ In the lowest panel, Chamtamula seemed to him to be making a gift.³

Hirananda Sastri, the Government Epigraphist, read the scenes as a record of the royal donors.⁹¹⁰ He counted six panels, including the one bearing the inscription.⁹¹⁰ In his view the king under the umbrella was the reigning king, with his queens beside him.⁹¹⁰ He saw next to them a child who might be the young prince Ehuvula.⁹¹⁰ In his reading, all of them touch a heap of coins given as a gift.⁹¹⁰

Hirananda Sastri took the seated king of the upper panel to be Virapurushadatta with his queens Bapisirinika and Chhathisiri.⁹¹⁰ He called these identifications conjectural (guesses).⁹¹⁰

Significance

Sircar used this date to argue that the Ikshvakus ruled until about the middle of the 4th century.¹¹ He used it together with the date of an inscription of Ehuvula Chamtamula in the next Vijaya year (333–34).¹¹

Footnotes

1. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions” (1931–32), p. 64, transcript and translation of inscription L (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

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

3. J. Ph. Vogel, “Additional Prakrit Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXI (1931–32), p. 63 and notes (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

4. A. H. Longhurst, “Excavations at Nagarjunikonda”, Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1929–30 (1935), p. 148 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

5. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1958–59: A Review (1959), p. 6 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

6. D. C. Sircar, “More Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda”, Epigraphia Indica XXXV (1963–64), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

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

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

9. Hirananda Sastri, “Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 165 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

10. Hirananda Sastri, “Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions”, ASI Annual Report 1929–30 (1935), p. 166 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

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