गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; APPENDIX IV. 185
sixth, or the beginning of the seventh, century A.D. And Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji
shewed¹ that the statement is certainly quite wrong as regards the name of the king and
the particular era intended; and that what it probably contains, is a reminiscence of the
conquest of the country by Harshavardhana of Kanauj, and the adoption of the Harsha
era as the result. This statement, therefore, can have influenced him but little, if at all,
in his assignment of the above-mentioned dates to the Vikrama era.
The real grounds for his doing so,—grounds which, in spite of the existence of
the date of (Gupta)-Saṁvat 316 for Śivadêva I. and Aṁśuvarman, still require to be
cleared away, in order that we may properly adjust the whole of the early chronology
of Nêpâl,—are to be found in his erroneous treatment of R., the inscription of
Jayadêva II. of (Harsha)-Saṁvat 153.
Starting with a mythological genealogy, this inscription carries the descent from the
god Brahman (line 3), through Sûrya or the Sun,² Manu, Ikshvâku, and others, down to
Raghu, Aja, and Daśaratha (l. 6). After Daśaratha, there were eight kings, in lineal suc-
cession of sons and sons' sons, who are passed over unnamed; and then there was the
illustrious Lichchhavi (l. 6). Then comes verse 6, which records that "even still," at
the time of the writing of the inscription, "there exists a family which bears the pure second
name of Lichchhavi;"—svachchhaṁ Lichchhavi-nâma vi(bi)bhrad=aparaṁ vaṁśaḥ, (l. 7).
Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, in his lithograph, text, and translation, gave aparô vaṁśaḥ "a new
race ................ which bears the pure name Lichchhavi." But, on examining his
original rubbing, I find that the real reading is aparaṁ (nâma), "another name, a second
name;"—not aparô (vaṁśaḥ), "another race, a new race." This verse, therefore, is of some
interest, in shewing that,—in addition to the appellation of Lichchhavivaṁśa or Lichchha-
vikula, the latter of which actually occurs in inscriptions A. B. and H. above,—the family
had another original name, which, however, is not recorded. After Lichchhavi there came
some kings, who again are passed over unnamed, and the number of whom is
illegible³ at the end of line 7 and the beginning of line 8; and then the illustrious king
Supushpa (l. 8) was born at the city of Pushpapura.⁴ After him, "omitting in the interim
(to mention the names of) twenty-three kings," there was another⁵ king, the famous
¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 421 f.
² In accordance with this, the Vaṁśâvali enters the historical Lichchhavis of this inscription as
members of a Sûryavaṁśi family.
³ But the number was probably twelve, as hitv=âpa[vân=dvâdaśa] seems to suit best the metre
and such traces as are discernible in the rubbing.
⁴ i.e. Pâṭaliputra, the modern Paṭna in Bihâr; Ind. Ant. Vol. IX. p. 180, note 44.—This part of
the inscription, therefore, relates to a period antecedent to the settlement of the Lichchhavis in
Nêpâl.
⁵ As no previous Jayadêva. with whom this one could be contrasted, is mentioned in the inscrip-
tions, apara seems to introduce another branch of the Lichchhavi family, not directly descended from
Lichchhavi and Supushpa.