Nasik inscription of Ushavadata
19°56′28″N 73°44′55″E / 19.941133°N 73.748669°E
Nasik inscription of Ushavadata | |
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Material | Stone |
Writing | Hybrid Sanskrit |
Created | 120 CE |
Period/culture | Western Satraps |
Discovered | Nasik Caves |
Present location | Nashik, Maharashtra, India |
Nasik Caves (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
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
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
"Success ! In the year 42, in the month Vesakha,
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 | |
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Characteristics of Sanskrit in the inscription
The first three lines of the inscription consist of an
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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Salomon 1998, pp. 88–89
- ^ a b Salomon 1998, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Salomon 1998, pp. 87–88.
- ^ a b Salomon 1998, pp. 93–94.
- ^ a b c Salomon 1998, p. 89.
- ^ Salomon 1998, pp. 10, 86–90
- ^ a b c Senart 1906, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Senart 1906, pp. 82–83.
- ^ 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.