Junagadh rock inscription

Also called: Girnar inscription, Girnar inscription of Rudradaman · Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"

Meaning

The Junagadh rock inscription (also called the Girnar inscription of Rudradaman) is a long Sanskrit record from 150 CE. The Shaka ruler Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman had it cut on a rock at Girnar, near Junagadh in Gujarat. It records how he repaired the Sudarshana lake [3].

It matters for two reasons. It is one of the earliest long royal inscriptions in Sanskrit. It also shows a ruler from outside India presenting himself as a caring Indian king. The same rock also carries Ashoka's rock edicts and a later Gupta inscription of Skandagupta [2].

Explanation

Background: the Sudarshana lake

• Sudarshana was an artificial lake: a dam held back water so that it could be used later.
• A local governor under the Mauryas built it.
• The inscription says the lake was made in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. It says its water channels (conduits) were added under Ashoka [2].
• The lake watered the fields around it. Keeping it in good repair was a duty of every ruler of the area.

What happened and what Rudradaman did

• The damage: a violent storm burst the dam. The inscription names the flood waters of the rivers Suvarna Sikta and Palasini [2].
• The repair: Rudradaman repaired the lake using his own resources.
• No new tax: he did not make his subjects pay any tax for the work.
• The record: he had the story cut in Sanskrit on a rock at Girnar, dated 150 CE [3].

Main features of the inscription

• Language: Sanskrit, not Prakrit, which was the usual language of earlier royal records such as Ashoka's.
• It is one of the earliest long royal inscriptions in Sanskrit.

• It is an early example of the ornate Sanskrit prose style (rich, decorated writing that praises the king) [3].

• Ruler's title: Mahakshatrapa (great satrap). "Satrap" (Sanskrit kshatrapa) was a Persian title for a provincial governor. The Shakas kept the title even when they ruled as independent kings [3][4].

• Picture of the king: the inscription shows Rudradaman as:
• a giver, not a taker, because he raised no fresh tax
• a protector of farming, because the lake watered the fields
• a foreign-origin ruler using Indian ideals of kingship. He was a Shaka, but he speaks the language of Indian royal duty.

One rock, three dynasties

• Maurya: Ashoka's rock edicts were cut on this rock first [2].
• Shaka: Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription of 150 CE came next [3].
• Gupta: a second inscription, from about the 5th century CE, records that Skandagupta repaired the lake again [2].
• Each later king wrote next to the older writing and did not erase it. In this way each one claimed the same land and the same duty.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Post-Mauryan India. The Shakas (Western Kshatrapas) ruled western India in the first centuries CE.
• Ruler: Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman, the greatest Shaka leader. He held Saurashtra, Kachchh and nearby Malwa [2][3].
• Who the Shakas were: a people from Central Asia who entered India from the northwest. Indian literature calls the Western Kshatrapas the Shakas [4].
• Place: a granite boulder on the slope of the hill called Girinagara / Urjayata, in the Girnar Hills, near Junagadh, Gujarat [2].
• Heritage status: the site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India as the Ashokan Rock Edicts, Junagadh [2].
• How we know:
• The inscription itself is direct evidence from the time, a primary source.
• Ashoka's edicts and Skandagupta's inscription on the same rock let historians link three dynasties at one site [2].
• Epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) lets us date and connect rulers that no single book covers.

• Western Kshatrapa coins survive in Indian museums. Silver coins are the standard type, and they support the picture of Shaka rule in this region [5][6].

• NCERT: Class 12 Part 1, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns" uses this inscription as key evidence for the period.

Don't confuse with

• Ashoka's rock edicts at Girnar: these are on the same rock but are older and written in Prakrit. They speak of dhamma (Ashoka's moral rules for everyone). Rudradaman's record is in Sanskrit and is about repairing a lake [2][3].
• Skandagupta's Girnar inscription: this is also on the same rock and also about repairing Sudarshana. But it is Gupta, from about the 5th century CE, not Shaka, 150 CE [2].
• Nahapana: he was also a Shaka ruler of western India, but from the Kshaharata family. 124 CE is a fixed year in his reign, and the Satavahana king Gautamiputra broke his power. He is not the author of the Junagadh inscription [4].
• Prayag Prashasti (Allahabad Pillar inscription) of Samudragupta: this is also a Sanskrit praise poem for a king. But it is cut on a pillar, it is Gupta, and it lists conquests. Rudradaman's record is on a rock and is about a public work.

Prelims Hooks

• Junagadh / Girnar inscription → Rudradaman (Shaka) → Sanskrit → 150 CE [3].
• Sudarshana lake → Girnar, Gujarat. It was built under Chandragupta Maurya, the conduits were added under Ashoka, Rudradaman repaired it, and Skandagupta repaired it again [2].
• Order of records on the rock: Ashoka's edicts → Rudradaman (150 CE) → Skandagupta (c. 5th century CE) [2][3].
• Rivers named in the inscription: Suvarna Sikta and Palasini [2].
• Trap: Rudradaman repaired the lake from his own resources with no new tax. He did not raise a special tax for it.
• Rudradaman's title and lands: Mahakshatrapa, ruling Saurashtra, Kachchh and Malwa [2][3].

Mains Points

• A new idea of kingship after the Mauryas.
• Rudradaman does not claim power only by conquest. He claims it by repairing a public irrigation work without taxing anyone.

• Compare him with Ashoka on the same rock. Both kings use stone writing to show that they care for their people. Ashoka speaks of moral duty (dhamma). Rudradaman speaks of money spent and water restored.

• Outsiders becoming Indian rulers.

• The Shakas came from Central Asia. Even so, Rudradaman uses Sanskrit, Indian royal titles and the Indian ideal of the caring king [3][4].

• This shows that post-Mauryan "foreign" dynasties did not stay apart. They took on Indian culture. The same pattern can be seen with the Indo-Greeks and the Kushanas.

• Inscriptions as history, and continuity of state duty.

• One rock records three dynasties across roughly 700 years: Maurya, Shaka and Gupta [2].
• It shows that irrigation works were a continuing state duty, passed from one dynasty to the next.
• It also shows how epigraphy fills gaps where literary texts are silent or vague.

Related concepts

• Shakas
• Western Kshatrapas
• Nahapana
• Rudradaman
• Sudarshana lake

Read more

• Shakas and the Western Satraps