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

188 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL III
dêva to Śivadêva II. (both included), all of which denote "generations of kings, not reigns
of collaterals,"¹ and taking twenty-one years as the smallest possible average for these
generation-reigns, he found that no era later than the Vikrama era would meet the
requirements of the case ; and that that era would meet them. For, on the Vikrama-Saṁvat
theory, Mânadêva's first date represented A.D. 329 ; the interval from this to A.D. 759,
the date of Jayadêva II., was 430 years; and this, divided by nineteen gave about
twenty-two years and three-quarters as the average for each generation-reign. This was
all right enough from his point of view.
But let us now take the matter from the correct point of view; viz. that Udayadêva
did not come after Vasantadêva. This frees us at once from the necessity, under which
Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji laboured, of forcing Vasantadêva and his ancestors back to such
early times ; and leaves us at liberty to follow the analogy of inscription A., and to refer
his date and Mânadêva's to the Gupta era. The result is, that we have for Vasantasêna
the date of (P.) A.D. 754, just synchronous with the dates of perhaps (O.) A.D. 750,
and certainly (R.) A.D. 758, for Jayadêva II., exactly what inscription R. seeks to
convey ; and we have for Mânadêva, the grandfather of Vasantasêna, the dates of (K.)
A.D. 705 and (M.) A.D. 732-33, just about one generation before Jayadêva II.'s father
Śivadêva II., for whom we have the dates of (L.) A.D. 725 and probably (N.) A.D. 748 (?).
Here the question naturally suggests itself :—As Udayadêva and his descendants were
not successors and descendants of Vasantasêna, who were they ? I think the answer is
perfectly plain :—That they were successors of Aṁśuvarman ; and, though not his direct
lineal descendants, belonged, like him, to the family which in the Vaṁśâvali is called the
Ṭhâkurî family
Inscription R., in fact, furnishes another instance of the double government of
Nêpâl, to which Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji drew attention in the case of Śivadêva I. and
Aṁśuvar-man ; and which is illustrated in the most pointed way throughout these
inscriptions.² We have two separate families, ruling contemporaneously and mostly on
equal terms, but each preserving certain distinctive characteristics of its own.
On the one side (see Table XI. page 189 below), we have the Lichchhavikula of
the inscriptions,—the Sûryavaṁśi family of the Vaṁśâvali,—issuing its charters from
the house or palace called Mânagṛiha ; and using the Gupta era. To this family
belong inscriptions A. B. K. M. P. and S. ; and it was represented in A.D. 635 by
¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 425.
² So also in later times. See, for instance, the colophon of a manuscript of the Ashṭasâhasrikâ-
Prajñâpâramitâ (Bendall's Catalogue of Buddhist MSS. p. 4), dated in Nêpâl-Saṁvat 128 (A.D.
1007), which speaks of the double rule of Nirbhaya and Rudradêva ; and another manuscript bearing
the same title (id. p. 151), dated in Nêpâl-Saṁvat 135 (A.D. 1015), which speaks of the government
being enjoyed, half by Bhôjadêva and Rudradêva, and half by Lakshmîkâmadêva.