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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 81, PLATE XLV. 297

the goddess of the fortunes of hostile kings, mourning, and looking up in anxious expect-
ation (of even further ill-treatment), and exposed in public;—who is a very submarine

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Mahápratîhâra, Mahâdaṇḍanâyaka, Mahâkârtâkṛitika and Mahârâja, twice applied to Dhruvasêna
I. of Valabhî, in lines 13 f. and 29 f. of his grant of (Gupta)-Saṁvat 207 (Ind. Ant. Vol. IV. p. 105),
Dr. Bühler (id. p. 106, note) accepted the same explanation. Also, the same rendering has been
given by Professor Kielhorn, in his translation of line 3 of the Kaṇheri inscription of the Râshṭrakûṭa
king Amôghavarsha I. and his Śilâhâra feudatory Kapardin II., dated Śaka-Saṁvat 775 (id. Vol.
XIII. p. 135).—Meanwhile, Mr. Sh. P. Pandit (id. Vol. I. p. 81, note), while accepting the same
explanation, added, though without quoting his authority, that it had been usual to accept the term
as referring to the sounds of five musical instruments. Taking up this idea, Sir Walter Elliot (id.
Vol. V. p. 251 f.) quoted two passages from Ferishtah, and one from the nineteenth book of Chand's
Prithîrâj-Rasa, which speak of the naubat or 'imperial band' being played at the courts of kings
five times daily; and expressed his opinion that this was the custom to which the expression under
notice referred. In commenting on this, Mr. Growse (id. Vol. V. p. 354 f.) pointed out that
the passage in Chand refers to "a noise of the five kinds of music playing every day," rather
than to "song and music playing five times a day;" quoted a line from the Râmâyaṇa of Tulsîdâs,
book i., which speaks of "the noise of the five kinds of music, and auspicious songs;" and also
gave, from a commentary on the same poem, a Hindî couplet which explains the five kinds of music
as being the sounds of the tantri or lute, the tâl or bell-metal instrument played with a stick, the
jhâñjh or cymbals, the nagâra or kettle-drum, and a wind-instrument. And finally, Mr. K. B.
Pathak (id. Vol. XII. p. 95 f.) quoting an Old-Kanarese passage from a Jain author, descriptive of a
royal procession, which mentions the sounding of the pañchamahâśabda and auspicious drums, stated
that the Liṅgâyat Vivêkachintâmaṇi enumerates the five musical instruments as being the śriṅga
or trumpet, the tammaṭa or tambour, the śaṅkha or conch-shell used as a horn, the bhêrî or kettle-
drum, and the jayaghaṇṭâ or gong.—The last two contributions to the discussion leave no doubt
whatever that the expression pañchamahâśabda denotes the sounds of five musical instruments, the
use of which was allowed, as a special mark of distinction, to persons of high rank and authority.—
Some of the inscriptions mention certain specific musical instruments, which, if they are to be classed
among the customary and technical five instruments, remain to be identified with those enumerated
in the Vivêkachintâmaṇi. Thus, the Balagâmve inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1102 (Ind. Ant. Vol. V.
p. 46, line 4) gives to the Kalachuri king Bijjala the epithet ḍamaruka-tûrya-nirghôshaṇa, 'he who
has (played before him) the sound of the musical instrument called ḍamaruka' (a double drum,
shaped like an hour-glass). So, also, the Raṭṭa chieftains of Saundatti and Belgaum had the epithet
trivaḷî-tûrya-nirghôshaṇa; e.g. in the case of Lakshmîdêva, in the Saundatti inscription of Śaka-
Saṁvat 1151 (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 268, and Archæol. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. III.
p. 113, line 62). And the Kâdambas of Goa had the epithet permaṭṭi-tûrya-nirghôshaṇa; e.g. in the
case of Śivachitta-Permâḍi, in the Veṅkaṭâpur inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1080 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XI.
p. 273, line 7 f.)—Occasionally, instead of pañcha-mahâśabda, 'the five great sounds,' we have
aśêsha-mahâśabda, 'all the great sounds;' e.g. in line 41 of the Barôda grant of the Râshṭrakûṭa
chieftain Karka II. of Gujarât, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 734 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 160), and in line 24 of
the Barôda grant of the chieftain Dhruva II. of the same family, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 757 (id. Vol.
XIV. p. 199). But, that this had no wider meaning, is shewn by the double expression aśêsha-
pañcha-mahâśabda, 'all the five great sounds' which occurs in line 1 of the Ambarnâth inscription
of the Śilâhâra chieftain Mâmvâṇi, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 782 (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. IX. p.
219, and Vol. XII. p. 329), and in line 2 of the Añjanêri inscription of the Yâdava chieftain Sêuṇa-
dêva, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 1063 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 126).—The epithet samadhigata-pañchamahâ-
śabda, 'one who has attained the pañchamahâśabda,' is of very constant occurrence in inscriptions.
in connection with the names of feudatories, and even of Mahâkumâras or heirs-apparent. But the
only instances that I can quote, in which it is applied to paramount sovereigns, are the cases of the
Râshṭrakûṭa king Amôghavarsha I., in line 6 f. of his Śirûr inscription, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 788 (Ind.
Ant. Vol. XII. p. 218); of another Râshṭrakûṭa king named Kakka, in line 22 of his Chhârolî grant,
dated Śaka-Saṁvat 679 (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XVI. p. 108); and of Dêvapâla of Dhârâ, in
line 5 f. of the Chârwâ' inscription of Vikrama-Saṁvat 1275 (No. 10 of the separate publications of
the Archæological Survey of Western India, p. 111).—The only instance known to me, in which any
reference is made to the source of this mark of distinction, viz. to its being bestowed upon a feudatory
2 P.