Rudradaman

Also called: Rudradaman I · 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

Rudradaman (also called Rudradaman I) was the greatest ruler of the Shakas, also called the Western Kshatrapas. He held the title Mahakshatrapa and ruled Saurashtra, Kachchh and Malwa in about the 2nd century CE [2][3]. He matters because his Junagadh (Girnar) inscription, dated 150 CE, is one of the earliest long royal inscriptions in Sanskrit [3]. It shows a ruler of foreign origin presenting himself through Indian ideas of what a good king should be.

Explanation

Background: who the Shakas were

• The Shakas came from Central Asia. They entered India from the northwest and ruled there from the late 2nd century BCE.
• Indian literature calls the Western Kshatrapas, the satraps who ruled western India, the Shakas [4].
• Kshatrapa (satrap) was a Persian title meaning a provincial governor.
• The Shakas kept this title even after they became independent kings.

• The senior ruler called himself Mahakshatrapa ("great satrap") [3][4].

• Brahmana texts called the Shakas mlechchhas, meaning barbarians or outsiders. This is why Rudradaman's use of Indian royal ideals stands out.

His rule and his wars

• Rudradaman held Saurashtra, Kachchh and nearby Malwa [2][3].
• He came after Chashtana in the line of great Shaka leaders. The Shakas fought the kingdoms of the northern Deccan and the Ganges valley mainly under Nahapana, Chashtana and Rudradaman [4].
• Shaka power had already been hit hard once:
• Gautamiputra, a Satavahana king, defeated Nahapana of the Kshaharata family in Shaka year 46, which is 124–125 CE [4].

• Rudradaman's line rebuilt Shaka power in western India after this defeat.

• Marriage ties with the Satavahanas: according to his inscription, Rudradaman twice defeated the Satavahana king of the south (Satakarni) but did not destroy him because they were close relatives by marriage. So the "outsider" Shakas married into an Indian royal family.

The Sudarshana lake repair: what his inscription says

• Sudarshana was an artificial lake, made by building a dam to hold back water.
• It was built by a local governor in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.

• Its water channels (conduits) were added under Ashoka [2].

• A violent storm broke the dam. The inscription names the flood waters of the rivers Suvarna Sikta and Palasini [2].

• Rudradaman repaired the lake with his own money and put no new tax on his people.
• What the inscription shows about kingship:
• The king gives and does not take, because there was no fresh tax.
• The king protects farming, because the lake watered the fields.
• The king uses Sanskrit and not Prakrit. It is an early example of ornate Sanskrit prose (writing full of decoration and praise) [3].

Results and legacy

• Rudradaman shows that a foreign-origin ruler could adopt Indian ideals of kingship completely.
• The same lake was repaired again about 300 years later by the Gupta ruler Skandagupta (c. 5th century CE), whose inscription is on the same rock [2].
• Shaka rule over Gujarat and Malwa lay on the routes to the western ports. Western Kshatrapa silver coins still survive in Indian museums [5][6].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 2nd century CE. The inscription is dated 150 CE [3].
• Dynasty: Shakas / Western Kshatrapas. His title was Mahakshatrapa [3][4].
• Region: Saurashtra, Kachchh and Malwa in western India [2][3].
• Key site: 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].
• Main evidence:
• Rudradaman's Junagadh / Girnar Sanskrit rock inscription (150 CE) [3].
• Ashoka's rock edicts on the same boulder [2].
• Skandagupta's later inscription on the same boulder, from about the 5th century CE [2].

• Western Kshatrapa coins, mostly silver [5][6].

• One rock, three dynasties: Maurya → Shaka → Gupta, spread over roughly 700 years [2]. Epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) lets us link these rulers.

Don't confuse with

• Nahapana: a Shaka ruler of the Kshaharata family who ruled around the Gulf of Khambhat, with 124 CE as a fixed year of his reign. He was defeated by Gautamiputra Satavahana [4]. Rudradaman came later and was more successful.
• Skandagupta: the Gupta ruler who repaired the Sudarshana lake a second time, in about the 5th century CE [2]. Rudradaman's repair came first, in the 2nd century CE.
• Ashoka's Girnar edicts: these are on the same rock, but they are Ashoka's moral messages (dhamma), written in Prakrit. Rudradaman's record is in Sanskrit and is about repairing the lake [2][3].
• Shaka Samvat (78 CE): the era carries the Shaka name, but Rudradaman did not found it. Scholars debate who started it. It runs 78 years behind the Gregorian calendar (79 in January–March) and was adopted as the Indian National Calendar in 1957.

Prelims Hooks

• Rudradaman belonged to the Shaka / Western Kshatrapa dynasty, with the title Mahakshatrapa. He ruled Saurashtra, Kachchh and Malwa [2][3].
• His Junagadh (Girnar) inscription is in Sanskrit and dated 150 CE [3].
• He repaired the Sudarshana lake from his own treasury, with no new tax.
• Sudarshana lake was built under Chandragupta Maurya, its conduits were added under Ashoka, it was repaired by Rudradaman, and repaired again by Skandagupta [2].
• Rivers named in the inscription: Suvarna Sikta and Palasini [2].
• Trap: the Girnar rock carries inscriptions of Ashoka, Rudradaman and Skandagupta, in that order (Maurya → Shaka → Gupta) [2].

Mains Points

• A new idea of kingship after the Mauryas.
• Rudradaman claims power through a public irrigation work done without taxing anyone, not only through conquest.

• Ashoka's dhamma on the same rock also says "the king cares for you". But Ashoka speaks of moral duty, while Rudradaman speaks of money spent and water restored.

• Outsiders becoming Indian rulers.

• Brahmana texts called the Shakas mlechchhas. Yet Rudradaman used Sanskrit, Indian royal titles and the ideal of the caring king, and his family married into the Satavahana royal house [3][4].

• This goes against the view that "foreign" post-Mauryan dynasties stayed apart from Indian society. The same pattern appears with the Indo-Greeks and the Kushanas.

• Inscriptions as history and as a sign of continuity.

• One Girnar boulder records three dynasties across about 700 years [2].
• It shows that irrigation was a lasting duty of the state, handed down from Maurya to Shaka to Gupta.
• It also shows how epigraphy fills gaps where literary texts are silent.

Related concepts

• Shakas
• Western Kshatrapas
• Nahapana
• Junagadh rock inscription
• Sudarshana lake

Read more

• Shakas and the Western Satraps