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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 39, PLATE XXV. 187
(L. 53.)—[His son] (was) the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahârâjâdhirâja, and Paramê-
śvara, the glorious Śîlâdityadêva (V.),—the waterlilies of whose feet were tinted by be-
ing covered over with the rays of the jewels in the locks of hair on the tops of the heads
of all the chieftains, who did obeisance through the affection (produced) by (his)
his rank in the hierarchy might be.—As regards the question of bappa being a proper name, the word
does occur in this way, as the name of an official, the Balâdhikṛita and Bhôgika Bappa (id. Vol. V.
p. 212, and Archæol. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. III. p. 99, line 59) ; as the name of someone after whom
was named the Bappa-pâdîya-vihâra, or "Buddhist monastery of the feet of Bappa," at Valabhî (Ind.
Ant. Vol. VI. p. 12, line 19) ; in Bappasvâmin, one of the grantees in the Khôh grant of the Parivrâjaka
Mahârâja Hastin, of the year 163 (No. 22 above, p. 103, line 11) ; in Bappârya, one of the grantees
in line 53 of the Chammak grant of the Vâkâṭaka Mahârâja Pravarasêna II. (No. 55 below, Plate
xxxiv. line 53) ; and in Bappabhaṭṭi, a Jain teacher, allotted to Vikrama-Saṁvat 800 to 895 (Ind. Ant.
Vol. XI. p. 253). The same word is probably a component of Bappûra, the name of the family to
which, as recorded in an unpublished inscription of Maṅgalîśa (Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts,
pp. 19, 22), Durlabhâdêvî, the wife of the Early Chalukya king Pulikêśin I., belonged. A similar word
bâppa, probably derived from it, occurs in Bâppadêva, the name of a Sênâpati in the Siwanî grant of
Pravarasêna II. (No. 56 below, Plate xxxv. line 35). And, finally, Bappa has been preserved by tradi-
tion, in 'Mewar,' as the more familiar appellation of an early Gôhila chief, who is said to have estab-
lished the power of that tribe on the overthrow of the Bhillas or Bhîls (see Tod's Annals of Râja-
sthân, chapter II., Calcutta Reprint, Vol. I. p. 238 ff. ; also pp. 121, 253, 258 f. ; see also Ind. Ant.
Vol. XV. p. 275, note 26).—But the idea that, in the technical expression under discussion, bappa
denotes some particular priest, whether of the Śaiva or Vaishṇava faith, whose memory had been pre-
served in different parts of India from very early times, has been disposed of above. And, this being
so, it remains difficult, on the supposition that the word is a proper name, to imagine how it should have
cropped up again from time to time, under precisely similar circumstances, in such different parts of
the country, and such varying periods, as are indicated by instances 2 to 11 above.—The true explana-
tion of the word first occurred to me from noticing the way in which the titles that qualify bappa vary
in accordance with the titles of the persons to whom the epithet bappa-pad-ânudhyâta is applied ; and
it is fully borne out by the epithet śrî-ajjaka-pâd-ânudhyâta, which is applied only to Dharasêna IV.
in his complete grant of the year 326 (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 79, line 38; and Ind. Ant.
Vol. I. p. 16), and in his grant of the same year of which only the translation of the second plate has
been published (Ind. Ant. Vol. I. p. 45). This expression, which, if it had not been so completely
overlooked, would probably have made the matter clear long ago, dropped out in all the subsequent
Valabhî grants, even in those of Dharasêna IV. himself of the year 330 ; probably on account of some-
thing in the official relations between Śîlâditya I. and Kharagraha I. which remains to be cleared up.
But it occurs in these two instances; and, in accordance with Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar's rendering (id.
Vol. I. p. 16), it undoubtedly means "meditating on the feet of (his) illustrious grandfather." Ajja
in Kanarese, and ajâ and âjâ in Marâṭhî, are the ordinary words for 'a grandfather' in the preser
day. And it is evident that ajjaka is the older Prâkṛit word, from which these have been derived.
On this analogy, bappa suggests itself at once as the old Prâkṛit form of the modern bâp, 'a father.'
And now it becomes clear why the word is qualified by the paramount titles in its connection with the
paramount sovereign Śîlâditya IV. and his successors, the reason being that the father of each of them
was himself a paramount sovereign ; and, on the other hand, why, in its connection with feudatories,
it has either no qualificatory title at all, or only the feudatory titles Mahârâja and Bhaṭṭâraka, as in
the case of Vasantasêna, Siṁhavarman, Vijayanandivarman, Nandivarman, and Vishṇugôpavarman.
The rule thus disclosed also shews why, in the case of Śivadêva II., himself a paramount sovereign,
bappa has no qualifying term ; for, the way in which he is introduced in lines 11-12 of the Nêpâ[l]
inscription No. 15 (id. Vol. IX. p. 178 ; see also Vol. XIV. p. 348) shews that he brought in a new
branch of the Ṭhâkurî family, and that his father Narêndradêva, even if he held the rank of Mahârâja,
was at least not a paramount sovereign. And the same rule explains why, in connection with the
paramount sovereign Dharasêna IV., ajjaka is qualified by nothing more than the ordinary title śrî,
for, he himself was the first paramount sovereign in the family ; and his grandfather, Kharagraha I.,
was at the best only a Mahârâja.—The analogy of ajjaka and bappa now suffices fully to clear up
the meaning of the word bâva. It suggests at once that it is nothing but the older Prâkṛit word from
which have been derived, with somewhat differing significations in Marâṭhî, bâbâ, 'a term of respect-
2 A 2.