Nagarjunakonda inscription of Pushpabhadrasvamin

This inscription records the earliest dated temple to Shiva known from Nagarjunakonda, the capital of the Ikshvakus. It was built by a prince of the royal house.¹²

Where it was found, and what it looks like

The pillar was among the discoveries of the 1956–57 season.³ Sircar and Krishnan describe it as a four-faced pillar from the site of the temple whose god it names.¹ The inscription has eleven lines across the faces, covering about 27 by 21½ inches.¹⁴ It is neatly engraved and well preserved.¹⁴ A further line seems to have been added a little later by a different hand.¹⁴

The next season’s excavators placed the Pushpabhadrasvamin temple at the foot of Nagarjuna’s hill.⁵ They found a large stadium between it and the north-western corner of the citadel.⁵

The script is the usual Brahmi of the Ikshvaku records.¹ The language is Sanskrit, but with Prakrit spellings, and the king’s name is left in its Prakrit form.¹

Content

The inscription opens with a salutation to the god Mahadeva Pushpabhadrasvamin.⁶ It is dated on the 5th day of the second fortnight of summer, in the 16th year of King Vasishthiputra Ehavala Chamtamula.⁶² It then introduces the donor, the maharajakumara (prince) and mahasenapati (army chief) Haritiputra Virapurushadatta.⁶³ He built a shrine (devakula) for the god.⁶³ He set up a flagstaff (dhvaja-stambha), which the excavators took to be the inscribed pillar itself.⁶³ He gave the village of Pudokedam as a lasting endowment for the temple.⁶³

The prince’s ancestors are given on both sides.⁶ On his father’s side the record praises his great-grandfather, King Vasishthiputra Chamtamula, for his gifts of gold, cattle and land.⁶ It also praises him for the Agnishtoma, Vajapeya, Ashvamedha and Bahusuvarnaka sacrifices, and credits him with victories in battle won by his own courage.⁶ His grandfather, King Mathariputra Virapurushadatta, is barely mentioned.⁶ His father, King Ehuvula Chamtamula, is compared to Sagara, Dilipa, Ambarisha, Yudhishthira and Rama.⁶

On his mother’s side, the queen Kupanasri (Kupanasiri) was the granddaughter of the mahatalavara Skandagopa of the Pushyakandiya family.⁶ She was the daughter of the mahatalavara Khamdahala.⁶ The temple is described as the fruit of the merit of both mother and son.⁶⁴ Sircar and Krishnan took this to mean that the queen shared in the work.⁶⁴ The added last line seems to name two priests of the temple, Kankaphala and Kankachandra.⁶⁴

Significance

Sircar and Krishnan observed that the royal women of the Ikshvakus were known to have favoured Buddhism.² The religion of the second and third kings, however, had been unknown.² They took this record as the first direct proof of the family’s Shaiva leanings (a leaning to the worship of Shiva).² An inscription of Ehuvula’s 11th year also records a Shiva temple, built by a noble rather than a member of the royal house.²

The prince was apparently named after his grandfather.⁶ His metronymic (name from his mother) Haritiputra shows that his mother’s family belonged to the Harita clan.⁶ The excavators described him as a new, fifth member of the dynasty.³⁶ They thought him a cousin of King Rudrapurushadatta.³⁶ Sircar and Krishnan made Rudrapurushadatta a son of Ehuvula Chamtamula by another queen.³⁶ The village of Pudokedam has not been identified.²

Footnotes

1. 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 ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 19, with text (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. A. Ghosh (ed.), Indian Archaeology 1956–57: A Review (1957), p. 36 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 20, text line 12 and note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

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

6. Sircar and Krishnan, “Two Inscriptions from Nagarjunikonda” (1963), p. 18 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹