Junagadh Rock Inscription of Rudradaman

The Junagadh inscription is cut on a rock near the town of Junagadh in Gujarat. It stands at the start of the gorge that leads to Girnar hill.

The text has twenty lines. Only the last four lines, 17 to 20, are fully preserved. The script is Brahmi. The language is Sanskrit.

The same rock also carries edicts of Ashoka and a record of Skandagupta. Ashoka ruled in the 200s BCE and Skandagupta in the 400s CE. So the records span roughly 700 years.

Whose words are on this rock?

Three rulers left records on the same rock. The oldest is the set of Ashoka’s edicts. Rudradaman’s record comes next. The last is a long record of the Gupta king Skandagupta.

Skandagupta’s record is dated in Gupta years 136 to 138. That is 455 to 458 CE. Skandagupta’s record and Rudradaman’s both speak of the Sudarshana Lake.

The record gives its date as year 72. Scholars show that this is the Saka era. Saka year 72 matches 150 CE.

What does the date tell us?

The date belongs to the storm that broke the dam. The day works out as 16 November 150 CE, or less likely 18 October. The record itself was written a little later. It dates to about 151 or 152 CE.

Sudarshana was a lake near Girnar. The record says it was first built under the Maurya king Chandragupta. His provincial governor Pushyagupta, a Vaisya, had it made.

What did Ashoka’s time add?

Under Ashoka the lake was “adorned with conduits”. The work was done by the Yavana king Tushaspha. He was governing for Ashoka. Conduits are channels that carry water.

What did the storm do?

Floods from the streams of Mount Urjayat swelled the lake. A storm of terrible fury tore down hill-tops, trees, banks and gates. The dam broke.

The breach was 420 cubits long, as many broad and 75 cubits deep. All the water escaped. The lake looked like a sandy desert.

Rudradaman’s counsellors and officers thought the task was futile. The breach was too big. The people lamented that the dam could not be rebuilt.

Who did the work, and who paid?

The work was done by the minister Suvishakha, son of Kulaipa. He was a Pahlava. The king had made him governor of Anarta and Surashtra.

The record says Rudradaman paid from his own treasury. The cost was a vast sum. The dam was made three times as strong.

What did the king not do?

The record says he did not oppress the people with taxes, forced labour or “acts of affection”. The last phrase, pranaya-kriya, meant payments that were nominally voluntary. People felt forced to make them.

The record calls Rudradaman a Mahakshatrapa. It says he himself acquired the name of Mahakshatrapa. His grandfather Chashtana was also a Mahakshatrapa. His father Jayadaman was only a Kshatrapa.

How did the titles pass down?

Jayadaman’s name is lost in line 4 of the damaged text. Inscriptions and coins call him Kshatrapa.

What skills does it claim?

The record says he won wide fame by study of grammar, music, logic and other great sciences. It praises his skill with horses, elephants and chariots. It adds sword and shield, and pugilistic combat.

What did he promise?

The record says he made a vow to abstain from slaying men, except in battles. It says he gave protection of life to people who came to him of their own accord.

The record claims the Yaudheyas as victims. It says he destroyed them by force. They were loath to submit. They were proud of their title of heroes among all Kshatriyas.

Why did Satakarni survive?

The record says Rudradaman twice defeated Satakarni, the lord of Dakshinapatha. He did not destroy him. The reason given is the nearness of their connection.

The record names only Satakarni. It does not say which Satakarni. One view says he was Vasisthiputra Pulumavi. A queen’s inscription at Kanheri suggests a marriage tie. Another view says he may have been Gautamiputra Satakarni. So the identity is debated.

Which lands does it list?

Rudradaman says he won, by his own valour, eastern and western Akaravanti, Anupa, Anarta and Surashtra. The list also has Svabhra, Maru, Kachchha, Sindhu-Sauvira, Kukura, Aparanta and Nishada.

Scholars call it the earliest Sanskrit inscription of importance. That is careful wording. It does not mean the first Sanskrit inscription of any kind.

Was it the first Sanskrit inscription?

No. The words “of importance” leave room for earlier, lesser Sanskrit records. The Andhra inscriptions of the same time are mostly in Prakrit.

How good is the Sanskrit?

The text departs from the sandhi rules in several places. It also has some unusual forms and phrases. It uses many long compounds.

• Place. A rock near Junagadh, at the start of the gorge to Girnar.
• Script and language. Brahmi script, Sanskrit language.
• Date. Saka year 72, which is 150 CE. This is the storm date.
• Subject. The repair of the Sudarshana Lake dam.
• Lake builders. Pushyagupta under Chandragupta Maurya. Tushaspha added conduits under Ashoka.
• Repair. Done by the minister Suvishakha, with the king’s own money.
• Titles. Chashtana was Mahakshatrapa. Jayadaman was Kshatrapa. Rudradaman won the title himself.
• Same rock. Ashoka’s edicts, Rudradaman’s record and Skandagupta’s record.

What are the traps?

1. Script and language. The script is Brahmi, not Kharosthi. The language is Sanskrit, not Prakrit.
2. The date. It is dated, in Saka year 72.
3. The subject. It records the repair of Sudarshana Lake.
4. The site. The answer is Girnar or Junagadh. The ruler is Rudradaman I.

Has this come up in the exam?

The answer is (b). Statement 1 fails because the script is Brahmi and the language is Sanskrit. Statement 3 fails because the record carries the date Saka year 72.

The answer is (b) Girnar. The Girnar record is the Junagadh inscription.

The answer is (b) Rudradaman I. Chashtana was his grandfather.