Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati & Dr. K. Muniratnam Director i/c, Epigraphy, ASI, Mysore Prof. Suchandra Ghosh Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Epigraphy Module Name/Title Nasik Prasasti of Gotami Balasiri Module Id IC / I Epi / 30 Pre requisites This is one of the early prasastis written in Prakrit. It is the only posthumous prasasti of this age and is unique as it is being written engraved by the mother of Gotamiputa in the reign of his son Vasithiputa Pulamavi . Objectives The historical importance of the inscription is discussed here. The political contestations of the period can be gleaned from the inscription. The inscription describes the qualities of the famous Satavahana ruler Gotamiputa Satakani. Keywords Satavahana, Gotamiputa, Khakharata, Balasiri E-text (Quadrant-I) 1. Introduction The first formidable political entity in peninsular India were the Satavahanas whose authority, at the zenith of their power, embraced the entire Deccan spanning from the Narmada river in the north to the Krishna river in the south and extending from the west to the east coast of India. The Sanskrit Puranic texts mention the Satavahanas as belonging to the Andhra-jati or as Andhra-bhrityas (i.e. servants of the Andhras) in the context of enlisting ancient dynasties. As far as their family name is concerned they distinctly mention themselves as belonging to the Satavahana family (Satavahana-kula) in their own inscriptions. The earliest stronghold of the Satavahanas was in western and central Deccan with Pratishthana (modern Paithan, Maharashtra) as their capital. Gautamiputra was certainly the first Satavahana ruler to have conquered the eastern Deccan. The Satavahanas ruled from about the 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE. 2. Historical Background The first known ruler of this dynasty, according to archaeological finds and the Puranic lists, was Simuka (Chhimuka) who can be placed in the 1st century BCE. Simuka was succeeded by his brother Kanha or Krishna; next came Satakarni I. He was the first powerful ruler of the dynasty and has been referred to as the lord of the Deccan (Dakshinapathapati). However the most promising ruler of the Satavahana dynasty was Gotamiputa Satakarni (Gautamiputra Satakarni). During his reign the Satavahana power reached its zenith. The reign of Gautamiputra Satakarni witnessed the termination of the issuance of locality/region- specific coinage and the circulation of universal type of Satavahana coinage all over the Satavahana domain. His fame largely rests on his successful extermination of the rival Sakas of the Kshaharata lineage ruling in western India. The Periplus of the Erythraean sea alluded to this contestation. The steady rise of the Satavahanas in the western and central parts of the Deccan and also in Vidisa area to the north of the Narmada had previously 2 received a major jolt from the Saka Kshatrapa ruler Nahapana of western India. Nahapana probably ruled from the late first century to the second decade of the second century CE. His reign marked the beginning of the Saka-Satavahana struggle which became a major feature of the politics in the Deccan. But Gotamiputa could retrieve the lost glory of the family and the clinching evidence of his defeat of the Sakas is also alluded to by the coins issued by him. Satavahana victory is largely known from the Jogalthembi hoard of coins yielding more than 13,000 coins issued by the Saka ruler Nahapana; more than 9000 of these coins were found counterstruck with the legends and symbols of Gautamiputra Satakarni. The coins of Nahapana bore his portrait on the obverse and his dynastic emblem of the thunderbolt and arrow on the reverse surrounded by legends in Brahmi and Kharoshti. Restruck by Gotamiputa , the obverse showed an arched hill surrounded by the Prakrit legend ‘Rano Gotamiputasa Siri Satakanisa’. Moreover, in his 18th regnal year Gautamiputra Satakarni also donated to a Buddhist monastery near Nasik a piece of land which till recently had been enjoyed by Usavadata, Nahapana’s son-in-law (khetam ajakalakiyam Usavadatena bhuktam). Only after the political and military ouster of the Saka ruler Gautamiputra could have held the plot once possessed by his rivals and made a gift of the same plot to a Buddhist monastery. The matrimonial alliance of Usavadata with the Sakas might have led Gautamiputra Satakarni to confiscate the plot and make the donation again to the Buddhist monastery. The inscription also underlines that his victory over the Sakas must have been complete in or before his eighteenth regnal year. The struggle might have started by the fourteenth regnal year of Gautamiputra, if we can identify him with the king whose name is now effaced from an inscription at Karla, recording in that year a royal order on the occasion of granting a village or rather regranting it after it had been originally granted by Usavadata. The king is found to have issued an order to an amacha (amatya) of paragatagamas (i.e. official appointed over the newly conquered villages). So the struggle probably began in or before regnal year 14 of Gautamiputra and seems to have stretched over a period of four years. Such protracted enmity is also suggested in a commentary on a gatha of the Jaina work Avasyakasutra, which refers to the ultimate success of Salavahana (a Satavahana monarch) against Naravahana(ie Nahapana). It is interesting to note that in both the sites of Nasik and Karle where Usavadata’s generosity was proclaimed, Gotamiputa has also engraved his inscriptions suggesting political transition. 3. Nasik prasasti of Queen Gotami Balasiri Prasastis or Panegyrics are avowedly political texts. Irrespective of the poetic embellishments and exaggerations typical of these prasastis, these provide us with the kernel of political narratives. Generally prasastis were made to be written by the ruler himself. The most eloquent testimony to Gautamiputra Satakarni’s achievements comes from the Nasik prasasti, which was caused to be engraved by his mother Gotami Balasiri during the reign of Vasithiputa Pulumavi in the 19th regnal year. It is the only posthumous prasasti of this age and is unique as it is being written engraved by the mother of Gotamiputra in the reign of his son. The occasion for the inscription was the donation to the monks of the Bhadaniya sect of a cave begun by Gotamiputa and completed by his mother. The inscription is located in Cave 3 of Pandulena Cave Complex commissioned by Gautami Balasri. It is written in the form of a gadyakavya. 4. Summary of the inscription The great queen Gotami Balasiri , delighting in truth, charity, patience and respect for life ,bent on penance, self control, restraint and abstinence and who is like a royal rishi’s wife, the mother of the king of kings, Siri Satakani Gotamiputa, who was in strength equal to mount Himavat, mount Meru, mount Mandara; king of Asika, Asaka, Mulaka, Suratha, Kukura, Aparanta, Anupa , Vidabha and Akaravanti. He is also praised as the lord of the following mountains (pavata pati): Vijha, Chhavata, Parichata, Sahya , Kanhagiri, Macha, Siritana, Malaya, Mahendra and Setagiri. He was obeyed by the circle of all kings on earth. It 3 is said that his pure face resembles the lotus blown open by the of the sun, whose beasts of burden have drunk the waters of the three oceans, whose look is as graceful and lovely as the full disk of the moon, whose gait is as pleasing as that of an excellent elephant, whose arm is as stout, rounded, massive, long and beautiful as the body of the lord of serpents, whose fearless hand is wetted by the water poured in granting asylums, who has unchecked obedience towards his living mother, who has well arranged the times and places for the pursuit of the triple object, whose happiness and misery are the same as, and not different from those of his citizens, who has quelled the boast and pride of Kshatriyas, who is the destroyer of the Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas, who spends the revenue got from taxes levied only according to the law, who does not like to destroy life even in the case of enemies who have given offence, who has increased the families of the best of Brahmans, who exterminated the race of Kshaharata, who has re-established the glory of the family of Satavahana, whose feet are adored by the whole circle of kings, who has stopped the contamination of the four castes, who has conquered the host of his enemies in innumerable battles, whose great capital is unapproachable to his enemies and has its victorious flag unconquered, to whom the great title of king has descended from a series of ancestors, who is the abode of learning, the support of good men, the home of glory, the source of good manners, the only skilful person, the only archer, the only brave man, the only supporter of Brahmans, whose exploits rival those of Rama, Kesava, Arjuna and Bhimasena; who holds festive meetings on the occasion of the summer solstice, whose prowess is equal to that of Nabhaga, Nahusha, Janamejaya, Sagara, Yayati, Rama and Ambarisha; who conquered the host of his enemies in the brunt of battle in a curious and wonderful manner in virtue of his innumerable worships and observances, and by means of rites concerning the wind, Garuda, Siddhas, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Vidyadharas, ghosts, Gandharvas, Charanas, the moon, the sun, the constellations and planets; who erects his neck high in the sky like mountains and trees and who has brought prosperity to his race.