Mauryan Empire: Difference between revisions

Suketuvarman is known from a solitary stone inscription found at Vada to the north of Thana near Bombay but now preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. The epigraph, which is damaged and written in the southern characters of about the 4th or 5th century A.D. and refers to a king named Suketuvarman of the Maurya dynasty. He appears to have been ruling near about Thana during that period.<ref>{{Cite book|page=240|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06453|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-37, Issue no.-1-4}}

Two copper plate grants discovered in the Goa territory on the west coast reveal the existence of two kings named [[Chandravarman]] and [[Anirjitavarman]] who belonged to the Maurya dynasty as per their inscription. As both the grants are dated in the regnal years of the ruling kings, from the palaeographical point of view, they may be assigned to the 6th or 7th century A.D., the grant of Chandravarman being slightly earlier than that of Anirjitvarman. Both these rulers, who assume the epithet of Mahārāja in their records. The charter of Chandravarman records the donation, by the king, of some lands to the Mahāvihāra situated in Sivapura which is identified with the village bearing the same name near Chandor in Goa. The grant of Anirjitavarman, registers certain gifts, made by the king, to a Brāhmaņa named Hastyärya. It is issued from a a place called Kumāradvīpa which appears to be located somewhere in the Goa territory. These two records show that Candravarman and Anirjitvarman were ruling somewhere in the Goa territory about the 6th-7th century A.D.<ref>{{Cite book|page=241|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06453|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-37, Issue no.-1-4}}  

[[Dindirāja]] alias Karka fragmentary stone inscription from Mathura city in Uttar Pradesh which, on palaeographical grounds, is referred to the latter half of the 7th century A.D., mentions four members of the Maurya dynasty viz. Krşņarāja in his family, Chandragupta his son, Aryarāja and, probably his son, Dindirāja alias Karka. The last named ruler appears to have burnt the city of Kanyakubja (Kannauj). The Maurya kings mentioned in this record seem to have held sway over the south-western areas of Uttar Pradesh. The Jaina tradition represents king Yasovarman (circa 728-53 A.D.) of Kannauj as a descendant of Chandragupta Maurya. This may refer to Yasovarman's relations with Karka-Dindirāja who, in all probability, was the grandson of a Maurya ruler named Chandragupta of 7th century A.D.<ref>{{Cite book|page=242|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06453|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-37, Issue no.-1-4}}  

King Dhavala or Dhavalātman inscription" from Kanaswa in the old Kota, State of Rajasthan, dated in the Mälava year (i.e. Vikrama Samvat) 795 or 738. A.D., refers to the Brahmana Sivagana as a feudatory of king Dhavala of the Maurya lineage. Dr. D.C. Sircar has suggested, on grounds of palaeographical resemblance and geographical proximity, that the Mauryas of the Mathura region mentioned above may be connected with the Maurya king Dhavala of the Kanaswa record. It has also been suggested that the Mauryas who are stated to have been defeated by the Tājika (i. e. Arab) army in the Navsari plates of the Gujarat Chalukya chief Pulakeśin, dated 738 A.D., were probably these Mauryas of the Malwa Rajasthan region.<ref>{{Cite book|page=243|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06453|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-37, Issue no.-1-4}}  

Dhavala inscription from Dabok about 8 miles to the east of Udaipur in Rajasthan, mentions a Guhila chief Dhanika of Dhabagarta  and his lord Dhavalappa Deva. Bhandarkar was inclined to identify Dhavalappa of this epigraph with the Maurya king Dhavalātman of the Kanaswa inscription referred to above.   It is possible that they wererelated to the Mauryas of the West Coast region and might have extended their suzerainty over Rajasthan which then formed part of Harsa's (606-47 A.D.) dominion. As pointed out by Dr. Sircar, the date of the Dabok record as read by him shows that Harsa must have lost parts of Rajasthan before his death in 647 A.D., though the Mauryas of Rajasthan must have owed allegiance to him before.

 

King Durgagana mentioned in Jhalrapatan (Jhalwar District Rajasthan) inscription dated 689 A.D. mentions a Maurya ruler named Durgagana. Further, Bappa, son of Guhila or Guhadatta, founder of the Guhila family, supplanted his uncle known as the Mori (i.e. Maurya) ruler of Chitor in whose service he was before.

Govindarāja stone record from Väghli in the Khandesh District, Maharastra State, dated Saka 991 or 1069 A.D. refers to a Maurya chief Govinda or Govindaraja as a subordinate of the early Yadava king Seuņachandra II. The epigraph mentions twenty princes or chiefs who were predecessors of Mauryan King Govindaraja, the earliest member being Kikața. It is also stated that originally the capital of the Mauryas was at Valabhī in Surashtra.<ref>{{Cite book|page=244|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06453|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-37, Issue no.-1-4}}  

Ashoka appointed the princes of the royal blood as viceroys in the outlying provinces of his vast empire to carry on the administration.Four such Mauryan princes viceroys ruling at Taxila, Ujjain, Tosali and Suvarnagiri are known from lithic records of Ashoka edicts. So Mauryan lineage kings spreaded from the time of Ashoka.The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang (7th century A.D.) mentions a Maurya ruler of Magadha named Pürņavarman. While some of the later Mauryan rulers enjoyed independent status, others were either semiindependent or feudatories or even petty chiefs. Future discoveries may throw further light on these later Mauryas.