Mothers ode to her son in Nashik cave number 3
One
specialty of ancient Buddhist rock cut temples in Maharashtra state
of India, is that they are widely littered with rock inscriptions of
various word lengths everywhere. You can find these writings in main
prayer hall or Chaitya, residence quarters excavated for the monks
and even near water cisterns. Some of them are short; just one or two
liners, whereas some are very lengthy. The most distinguished example
of such lengthy inscriptions is found in Nashik cave numbering three.
In this inscription, 'Goutami', the mother of the great king
Goutamiputra Satkarni, who defeated the saka satrup Nahapana's forces
decisively to liberate Deccan region sometimes in the first century
CE, has gone absolutely eloquent in describing the bravery and great
deeds of her son. However, such lengthy epigraphs, of much interest
to historians, are not of any real use to us from the point of view
of our subject here and I shall rather concentrate on the shorter
variety.
Inscription on the pillar in Great Chaitya hall at Karle'n
According to the book; “Inscriptions from the Cave-Temples of Western India” written by Jas Burgess and Bhagvanlal Indraji Pandit, total numbers of inscriptions found in following Cave temples are as follows.
- Buddhist Monastery at Karle'n - 37 Inscriptions
- Buddhist Monastery at Bhaje- 8 Inscriptions
- Buddhist Monastery at Nashik- 30 Inscriptions
- Buddhist Monastery at Pitalkhora- 7 Inscriptions
- Buddhist Monastery at Junnar- 34 Inscriptions
It
would be clear to readers that these are in substantially large numbers
and therefore deserve our special attention. Above inscriptions can
be divided in two categories. The first category of Inscriptions are
carved to put on record orders of Kings, Governors or of persons
having some authority. The inscription from King's mother, which I
mentioned above is from this category. The second category consists
of inscriptions that have been primarily carved on behalf of private
individuals. It is this category of inscriptions that is of specific
interest to us because these inscriptions are essentially a record of
a donation of an individual to the monastery.
Bhaje inscription near water cistern
As an
example let us consider an inscription carved in Bhaje caves. This
says:
“The
meritorious gift (or benefaction) of a cistern by Vinhudata the
Mahàrathi, son of the Kosikè.”
It
should be clear from the text that this inscription was made as an
acknowledgment of the donation received from an official known as
'maharathi,' and with a name as “Vinhudata,” that was used to
excavate the cistern at the place where this inscription is found
carved. This means that that these large number of inscriptions done
at the behest of private individuals were essentially carved to mark
the donations of the individuals to the monastery.
Going
deeper into the details of these donors, who willingly gave large
sums to the monastery, we find people from all kinds of trades and
profession. There are rich merchants, officials, as well as
professionals like a Carpenter or a Perfume Man, besides ordinary lay
people like a farmer's wife. The list is very interesting no doubt.
However there is another category of Donors, which presents itself as
of special interest to us. This category of donors calls themselves
as 'Yavana.'
Samuel
Clark Laeuchli has tried to explain origin and meaning of this word.
He says and I quote:
“There
are three words, i.e., Yona, Yonaka, and Yavana, which have all been
considered to mean "Greek.'' Panini gives Yavani as the feminine
of Yavana and the word is therefore attested in Sanskrit prior to the
advent of Alexander. The from Yona could be the normal Prakrit form
of the word, while Yonaka would be the same, only with the addition
of the very common suffix -ka. The major difficulty with this
analysis is that Yavana/Yona stems from the Greek Ioanes which should
come into old IndoAryan as Yona, not Yavana. In this case the form
Yavana would be a back building in Sanskrit from the Prakrit
Yona..... Although the word Yona / Yonaka occurs in the Asokan
edicts, the Heliodoros pillar, etc., the form Yavana is found only at
Junnar, Karla, Nasik, and Junagadh in western India, and perhaps in
Kharavela's Hathigumfa Inscription in Orissa.”
Mr.
M.K. Dhavlikar, whom I have mentioned earlier says and I quote:
“ The
existence of Grecko-Romans, that is the Yavanas, in Western India has
been well attested by their inscriptions in Western Indian Buddhist
cave temples, especially at Karla, Nashik and Junnar. They were
present in this part of the country right from the days of Asoka (
272-32 B. C. ), who is said to
have deputed a Yavana missionary, one Dhammarakhita, to propagate the
teachings of the 'Enlightened One'. The excavation of a ancient site
near at Nashik has yielded fragments of amphorae - wine jars -
imported from the Roman empire.”
Having
established that the word 'Yavana' means a person of Greek origin,
let us try to find out whether there are any 'Yavanas' in the list of
donors to the Buddhist monasteries. Fortunately for us Laeuchli has prepared a list of
number of inscriptions done at the behest of private Yavana donors.
(To be
continued)
My
travelogue of visits to Buddhist rock cut temples; 'Traces of an
Empire'; can be accessed from this link.
17th
April 2014
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