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Nasik inscription of Ushavadata
Cave No.10 "Nahapana Vihara" (circa 120 CE). 3D tour. The inscription is visible on the front porch of Cave No.10, over the entrance doors and windows, behind the columns.
MaterialStone
WritingHybrid Sanskrit
Created120 CE
Period/cultureWestern Satraps
DiscoveredNasik Caves
Present locationNashik, Maharashtra, India

The Nasik inscription of Ushavadata is an inscription made in the Nasik Caves by Ushavadata, a son-in-law of the Western Satraps ruler Nahapana, in the years circa 120 CE. It is the earliest known instance of the usage of Sanskrit, although a rather hybrid form, in western India. It also documents the Indian tradition of dana (charity) to Brahmins, Buddhists and of building infrastructure to serve pilgrims and the general public by the 2nd-century CE.[1]

Characteristics

The inscription is classified as "Inscription No.10" of the Nasik Caves. It is located on the front porch of Cave No.10, also called the "Nahapana Vihara". It is several meters in length.

Usage of hybrid Sanskrit

Altogether, the caves contain six inscriptions of the family of Nahapana, but the Ushavadata inscription is particularly important in that it is the earliest known instance of the usage of Sanskrit, although a rather hybrid form, in western India.[1] Most of the other inscriptions made by the Western Satraps were in Prakrit, using the Brahmi script.[1]

In what has been described as "the great linguistical paradox of India", Sanskrit inscriptions first appeared much later than Prakrit inscriptions, although Prakrit is considered a descendant of the Sanskrit language.[2] This is because Prakrit, in its multiple variants, had been favoured since the time of the influential Edicts of Ashoka (circa 250 BCE).[2] Besides a few examples from the 1st century BCE, most of the early Sanskrit inscriptions date to the time of the Indo-Scythian rulers, either the Northern Satraps around Mathura for the earliest ones, or, slightly later, the closely related Western Satraps in western and central India.[3][4] It is thought that these Indo-Scythian rulers became promoters of Sanskrit as a way to show their attachment to Indian culture: according to Salomon "their motivation in promoting Sanskrit was presumably a desire to establish themselves as legitimate Indian or at least Indianized rulers and to curry the favor of the educated Brahmanical elite".[4]

In western India, the first known inscription in Sanskrit appears to have been made by Ushavadata, son-in-law of the Western Satrap ruler Nahapana, at the front of Cave n°10 in the Nasik Caves. The inscription dates to the early 2nd century CE and has hybrid features.[5] It was followed by the Junagadh rock inscription, inscribed by Rudradaman I circa 150 CE, is "the first long inscription recorded entirely in more or less standard Sanskrit".[5] Sanskrit inscriptions by the Western Satraps are not found for about two hundred years after the Rudradaman reign, but it is important because its style is the prototype of the eulogy-style Sanskrit inscriptions found in the Gupta Empire era.[5] These inscriptions are all in the Brahmi script.[6]

Dedication of the cave to Buddhists

Nasik Cave inscription No.10. of Nahapana, Cave No.10

The inscription reveals that Kshatrapa Nahapana’s son-in-law and Dinika's son- Ushavadata built cave No.10 for Buddhist monks and donated 3000 gold coins for this cave as well as for the food and clothing of the monks.

"Success ! Ushavadata, son of Dinika, son-in-law of king Nahapana, the Kshaharata Kshatrapa, (...) inspired by (true) religion, in the Trirasmi hills at Govardhana, has caused this cave to be made and these cisterns."

— Part of inscription No.10 of Ushavadata, Cave No.10, Nasik[7]

The dedication of the cave to the Buddhist Samgha is mentioned in another inscription in the same cave, inscription No.12:

"Success ! In the year 42, in the month Vesakha, Ushavadata, son of Dinika, son-in-law of king Nahapana, the Kshaharata Kshatrapa, has bestowed this cave on the Samgha generally...."

— Part of inscription No.12 of Ushavadata, Cave No.10, Nasik[8]

Full text of the inscription

Inscription of Ushavadata, son-in-law of Nahapana
Nasik Cave No.10, inscription No.10

Full text of inscription No.10 (hybrid Sanskrit, Brahmi script):[1][7]

(Line 1)"Success! Ushavadata, Dinika's son, son-in-law of King Nahapana, the Kshaharata Kshatrapa, who has given three-hundred-thousand cows, who has made gifts of money and tirthas on the river Barnasa, who has given sixteen villages to the gods and Brahmanas, who causes one-hundred-thousand Brahmanas to be fed the (whole) year-round, who has given eight wives to Brahmanas

(Line 2) at the religious tirtha of Prabhasa, who at Bharukachha, Dedapura, Govardhana and Sorparaga has given the shelter of quadrangular rest-houses, who has made wells, tanks, and gardens, who has out of charity established free ferries by boats on the Iba, Parada, Damana, Tapi, Karabena and Dahanuka, and erected on both banks of these rivers shelters for meeting and such for gratuitous distribution of water, who has given thirty-two-thousand stems of coconut trees at the village Nanamgola to the congregation of Charakas

(Line 3) at Pimditakvada, Govardhana, Suvarnamukha and the Ramatirtha in Sorparaga, inspired by (true) religion, in the Trirasmi hills at Govardhana, has caused this cave to be made and these cisterns. And by order of the lord I went to release the chief of the Uttamabhadras, who had been besieged for the rainy season

(Line 4) by the Malayas, and those Malayas fled at the mere roar (of my approaching) as it were, and were all made prisoners of the Uttamabhadra warriors. Thence I went to the Pokshara tanks, and there I bathed and gave three-thousand cows and a village. A field has also been given by him, bought at the hands of the Brahmana Asvibhuti, son of Varahi, for the price of four-thousand – 4,000 – karshapanas, which (field) belonged to his father, on the boundary of the town towards the north-western side.

(Line 5) From it food will be procured for all monks, without distinction, dwelling in my cave."

— Inscription of Ushavadata, Nasik Cave No.10, inscription No.10.[7]

Characteristics of Sanskrit in the inscription

The first three lines of the inscription consist of an eulogy of Ushavadata, and are written in fairly standard Sanskrit, except for a few hybrid features, including several sandhi hiatuses and hybrid morphology (e.g. bhojāpayitrā).[1] The rest of the inscription records the actual donations, and is more hybrid.[1] Ushavadatta is otherwise known for making inscriptions in Prakrit in the Karla Caves, which, especially for the eulogy portion, are largely similar in content.[1]

According to Richard Salomon, Ushavadatta may have followed the example set by the Northern Satraps of Mathura, in using Sanskrit in some of his inscriptions.[1] It would seem the usage of literary Sanskrit may have been a fashionable way of adding some formality to inscriptions which had traditionally been made in Prakrit.[1][9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Salomon 1998, pp. 88–89
  2. 1 2 Salomon 1998, pp. 86–87.
  3. ↑ Salomon 1998, pp. 87–88.
  4. 1 2 Salomon 1998, pp. 93–94.
  5. 1 2 3 Salomon 1998, p. 89.
  6. ↑ Salomon 1998, pp. 10, 86–90
  7. 1 2 3 Senart 1906, pp. 78–79.
  8. ↑ Senart 1906, pp. 82–83.
  9. ↑ Salomon 1998, pp. 83–84.

Sources

  • Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509984-2.
  • Senart, E. (1906). Hultzsch, E. (ed.). Epigraphia Indica. Vol. VIII.
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