Sudarshana lake

Also called: Sudarshana reservoir · 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 Sudarshana lake (also called the Sudarshana reservoir) was a man-made lake near Girnar, close to Junagadh in Gujarat. A dam held back its water. A local governor built it under the Mauryas, and later kings repaired it [2].

It matters because one rock beside it carries the records of three dynasties: Maurya, Shaka and Gupta. Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription of 150 CE on this rock shows a new idea of kingship: a good king pays for public works and does not load new taxes on his people [3].

Explanation

Background: why the lake was built

• The lake was an artificial lake, made by building a dam to store water.
• It watered the fields around it, so it supported farming in the region.
• The inscription says the lake was made in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya [2].
• Water channels (conduits) were added to it under Ashoka. These channels carried water from the lake to the fields [2].
• The work was done by a local governor under the Mauryas. This shows that the Maurya state looked after irrigation even in far-off provinces like Saurashtra.

The storm and Rudradaman's repair

• The disaster: a violent storm burst the dam. Flood waters from the rivers Suvarna Sikta and Palasini broke it [2].
• The repairer: the Shaka ruler Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman (Mahakshatrapa means "great satrap", a Persian-origin title for a ruler of a province) [2][3].
• How he paid for it:
• He used his own resources.

• He imposed no new tax on his subjects for the work.

• How it was recorded: in a long Sanskrit rock inscription, dated 150 CE, cut at Girnar [3].

What the inscription tells us about kingship

• The king as a giver, not a taker. He spends his own wealth and takes nothing extra from the people.
• The king as a protector of farming. Mending the lake brought water back to the fields.
• The king as a user of Sanskrit. Royal records before this were mostly in Prakrit. This is one of the earliest long royal inscriptions in Sanskrit, and an early example of ornate Sanskrit prose [3].
• A foreign-origin ruler taking up Indian ideals.
• The Shakas came from Central Asia.
• Still, Rudradaman presents himself in the language of Indian royal duty.

Later history: the Gupta repair

• A second inscription on the same rock, from about the 5th century CE, records that the lake was repaired again [2].
• The Gupta ruler who did this was Skandagupta [2].
• So the lake was kept in use, and repaired, across roughly 700 years and three dynasties [2].
• Each later king wrote next to the older writing instead of wiping it out. In this way each one claimed the same land and the same duty.

Time, place and evidence

• Period:
• Built under the Mauryas (reign of Chandragupta Maurya; conduits under Ashoka) [2].
• Repaired by Rudradaman (Shaka / Western Kshatrapa), inscription dated 150 CE [3].

• Repaired again by Skandagupta (Gupta), c. 5th century CE [2].

• Place:

• Girnar Hills, near Junagadh, Gujarat (in the region of Saurashtra).

• The inscriptions are cut on a granite boulder on the slope of the hill called Girinagara / Urjayata [2].

• Rudradaman's territory: Saurashtra, Kachchh and neighbouring Malwa [2][3].

• Evidence:
• Rudradaman's Junagadh (Girnar) inscription, in Sanskrit, 150 CE [3].
• Skandagupta's inscription on the same rock, c. 5th century CE [2].

• Ashoka's rock edicts on the same boulder [2].

• Heritage status: the site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India as the Ashokan Rock Edicts, Junagadh [2].

• NCERT: the lake and Rudradaman's inscription are taught in Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns".
• Why we know so much: this is a case of epigraphy (the study of inscriptions). Here, writing on stone links dynasties that no single book covers.

Don't confuse with

• Ashoka's rock edicts at Girnar: these are on the same rock, but they are in Prakrit and speak of moral duty (dhamma, a set of moral rules for everyone). They do not record repairing the lake. The lake's story comes from the Sanskrit inscription of Rudradaman [2][3].
• Builder vs repairers: the lake was built under the Mauryas (Chandragupta, with conduits under Ashoka). Rudradaman and Skandagupta only repaired it. "Rudradaman built the Sudarshana lake" is a common wrong option [2].
• Nahapana: also a Western Kshatrapa (Shaka) ruler, but of the Kshaharata family. His known year is 124 CE, and he was defeated by Gautamiputra Satavahana. He has nothing to do with the Sudarshana repair [4].
• Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela: also a royal inscription that mentions water works, but it is in Prakrit and comes from Odisha. Rudradaman's is in Sanskrit and comes from Gujarat.

Prelims Hooks

• Sudarshana lake – Girnar / Junagadh – Gujarat. Built under the Mauryas, repaired by Rudradaman, repaired again by Skandagupta [2].
• Order of the records on the Girnar rock: Ashoka (Maurya) → Rudradaman (Shaka) → Skandagupta (Gupta) [2].
• Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription: Sanskrit, dated 150 CE [3]. It is one of the earliest long royal inscriptions in Sanskrit.
• Rudradaman repaired the lake from his own resources, with no new tax on his subjects.
• The inscription credits the lake to the reign of Chandragupta Maurya and its conduits to Ashoka [2].
• Rivers named in the inscription: Suvarna Sikta and Palasini [2]. Rudradaman's title: Mahakshatrapa [3].

Mains Points

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

• Compare him with Ashoka on the same rock. Both use stone writing to say "I care for my people". Ashoka speaks of moral duty (dhamma). Rudradaman speaks of his own money spent and water brought back to the fields.

• Foreign rulers becoming Indian kings.

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

• This goes against the view that "foreign" dynasties after the Mauryas stayed apart from Indian society. The Kushanas and Indo-Greeks show the same pattern.

• Continuity of state duty, shown through epigraphy.

• One rock records three dynasties across roughly 700 years [2].
• It shows that looking after irrigation was a continuing duty of the state, passed from Maurya to Shaka to Gupta.
• It also shows how inscriptions fill gaps where literary texts are silent or vague.

Related concepts

• Shakas
• Western Kshatrapas
• Nahapana
• Rudradaman
• Junagadh rock inscription

Read more

• Shakas and the Western Satraps