Dhanabhūti (
Brahmi
Brahmi (; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such ...
: 𑀥𑀦𑀪𑀽𑀢𑀺) or Vatsiputra Dhanabhūti was a 2nd or 1st-century BCE Buddhist king in
Central India
Central India is a loosely defined geographical region of India. There is no clear official definition and various ones may be used. One common definition consists of the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are included in alm ...
, and the most prominent donor for the
Bharhut stupa.
He appears in two or three major dedicatory inscriptions at the stupa of
Bharhut
Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
, and possibly in another inscription at
Mathura
Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...
.
Dhanabhuti may have been a feudatory of the
Sunga Empire
The Shunga Empire (IAST: ') was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled areas of the most of the northern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 73 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra, after taking the throne of the M ...
, or a ruler in a neighbouring territory, such as
Kosala
The Kingdom of Kosala (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian kingdom with a rich culture, corresponding to the area within the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha. It emerged as a janapada, small state during the late Ve ...
or
Panchala,
or possibly a northern king from
Sughana in
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
.
He may have also been part of the
Mitra dynasty of
Kosambi
Kosambi (Pali) or Kaushambi (Sanskrit) was an important city in ancient India. It was the capital of the Vatsa kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was located on the Yamuna River about southwest of its confluence with the Ganges at ...
.
Bharhut inscriptions
Many portions of the stupa at Bharhut bear inscriptions with the names of Buddhist donors. Dhanabhuti is known from two, or possibly three, of these dedications, and he crucially dedicated the largest and most prestigious portion of the monument, the Eastern Gateway, now displayed in the
Indian Museum
The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...
, in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
.
Eastern Gateway pillar
An epigraph on a pillar of the eastern gateway of the stupa of
Bharhut
Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...
mentions its erection "by Vatsiputra Dhanabhuti".
The Bharhut eastern gateway is the only remaining of four original gateways. The flat linear style of sculptures at Bharhut is dated to circa 150 BCE, with the possibility that the more elaborate gateways were made slightly later in 100-75 BCE (most probably 75 BCE based on artistic analysis).
[Buddhist Architecture, Huu Phuoc Le, Grafikol, 201]
p.149ff
/ref> The inscription is written in a classical form of the Brahmi script
Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...
, highly similar with the script known from the time of Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
. The beginning of the inscription uses the expression "''Suganam Raje''", which is thought to mean "during the rule of the Sungas", although not without ambiguity.
In this inscription Dhanabhuti mentions that his grandfather was named "King Visvadeva", and his mother was named "Vāchhī".
Since Dhanabhuti was making a dedication to a Buddhist monument, and since the Sungas are known to have been Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
monarchs, it seems that Dhanabhuti himself was not a member of the Sunga dynasty. His mention of "in the reign of the Sungas" also suggests that he was not himself a Sunga ruler.
The inscription, which can also be seen in a rubbing, reads:
Northern affiliation
It has also been proposed that the term "Sugana" refers to the Buddhist kingdom of Srughna
Srughna, also spelt Shrughna in Sanskrit, or Sughna, Sughana or Sugh in the spoken form, was an ancient city or kingdom of India frequently referred to in early and medieval texts. It was visited by Chinese traveller, Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) in ...
or Sughana in Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, modern Sugh
Sugh Ancient Mound, also known as the Ancient Site of Sugh, is located in the village of Amadalpur Dayalgarh, in the Yamunanagar district of Haryana, India. Suryamandir-Tirth in Amadalpur is nearby. Buddhist stupa here is identified with the ...
, and that Dhanabhuti was one of its important kings, who, besides building magnificent stupas in his capital city, also made some of the most important donations for the building of the torana
''Torana'' ( sa, तोरण; '' awr-uh-nuh') is a free-standing ornamental or arched gateway for ceremonial purposes in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain architecture of the Indian subcontinent. Toranas can also be widely seen in Southeast Asia and ...
s and railings at Bharhut.["A local Buddhist kingdom in Punjab with Srughna, modern Sugh, near Jagadhri in the district of Ambala, as its capital city, and covering an area of about 1000 miles in circuit. Raja Dhanabhuti, the pre-eminent king of this royal family ruled from 240 B.C. to 210 B.C. This pious Buddhist king apart from building magnificent stupas in his capital city, also made munificent donations to the world famous Stupa of Bharhut" in ] Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...
, the discoverer of Bharhut, was the initial proponent of this view. In his opinion, this explained why the eastern gateway was exclusively inscribed with mason's mark
A mason's mark is an engraved symbol often found on dressed stone in buildings and other public structures.
In stonemasonry
Regulations issued in Scotland in 1598 by James VI's Master of Works, William Schaw, stated that on admission to the guild ...
s in Kharoshthi
The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and ...
, a typical script of the northwest of the subcontinent, by opposition to the local Brahmi script
Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...
, as Dhanabhuti would have sent some of his artists from the northwest to work on the sculpting of the gateways. Cunningham further suggested that king Amoghabhuti
Amogh was a king of the Kuninda Kingdom in northern India, during the late 2nd century BCE to early 1st century BCE.
He is well known for his beautiful silver and copper coinage where his name is mentioned, along with his title, ''Maharaja''. His ...
, from the same general period and location, and who shares a similar name ending with Dhanabhuti, was from the same regnal line.
Railing
There is another inscription on a railing of the southwest quadrant. This inscription confirms that Dhanabhuti was a king, although probably not a king of the Sunga dynasty. He was probably either a tributary of the Sungas, or a ruler in a neighbouring territory, such as Kosala
The Kingdom of Kosala (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian kingdom with a rich culture, corresponding to the area within the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha. It emerged as a janapada, small state during the late Ve ...
or Panchala.
A last inscription seems to mention Dhanabhuti at Bharhut, but the inscription is defaced.
Mathura inscription
The inscription at Mathura records the donation of railings and a gateway to the Buddhists samgha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
. It is now lost. The Dhanabhuti in the Mathura inscription could be the same person as King Dhanabhuti in the Bharhut inscription, about 322 kilometers away, and this could suggest some cultural, religious and artistic connection between the two areas.
Again, this inscription suggests that Dhanabhuti was probably not a Sunga king, as the Indo-Greeks
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent (p ...
were likely ruling Mathura at the time the inscription was made: they are thought to have ruled the area of Mathura between 185 BCE-85 BCE, as suggested by literary, numismatic and epigraphical evidence such as the Yavanarajya inscription
The Yavanarajya inscription, also called the Maghera Well Stone Inscription, was discovered in the village of Maghera, 17 kilometers north of Mathura, India in 1988. The Sanskrit inscription, carved on a block of red sandstone, is dated to the 1 ...
.
The paleography of the Danabhuti Mathura inscription is considered as similar to that of inscriptions in the name of Sodasa
Sodasa (Kharosthi: , ; Middle Brahmi script: , , also , ) was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap and ruler of Mathura during the later part of the 1st century BCE or the early part of 1st century CE. He was the son of Rajuvula, the Great Satrap ...
, dating to circa 15 CE, such as the Amohini tablet.
Compared paleography
The paleography of the Dhanabhuti inscriptions, when inscriptions from Bharhut and Mathura are compared, raises a few issues. The Brahmi
Brahmi (; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such ...
script used in Bharhut is of a rounded type rather similar to the shapes of the script used at the time of Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
. The Brahmi script used in the Mathura inscription is more angular and typical of the Northern Satraps
The Northern Satraps (Brahmi: , ''Kṣatrapa'', "Satraps" or , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps"), or sometimes Satraps of Mathura, or Northern Sakas, are a dynasty of Indo-Scythian rulers who held sway over the area of Eastern Punjab and Math ...
period in the 1st century CE. In particular, the script of the Mathura inscription is considered as virtually identical with the script used by the Northern Satrap
The Northern Satraps (Brahmi: , ''Kṣatrapa'', "Satraps" or , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps"), or sometimes Satraps of Mathura, or Northern Sakas, are a dynasty of Indo-Scythian rulers who held sway over the area of Eastern Punjab and Math ...
Sodasa
Sodasa (Kharosthi: , ; Middle Brahmi script: , , also , ) was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap and ruler of Mathura during the later part of the 1st century BCE or the early part of 1st century CE. He was the son of Rajuvula, the Great Satrap ...
in Mathura
Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...
circa 15 CE. According to Cunningham, because of these paleographical differences, the Dhanabhuti of Bharhut and the Dhanabhuti of Mathura were at least separated by 50 years, and the latter may have been the grandson of the former. This remains a stumbling block in securely identifying the Dhanabhutis of Mathura and Bharhut as the same person.
According to several authors, the difference is attributable not to a distance in time, but to the geographical distance and the possibly more conservative context of Bharhut, which would have preserved older forms of writing, while Mathura may have adopted new forms earlier.["There is a marked difference in the palaeography of the Bharhut torana inscription of Dhanabhuti I and the Mathura inscription of Dhanabhuti II.2 According to Cunnigham3 Dhanabhuti II was the grandson of Dhanabhuti I. The vast difference in the characters of these two inscriptions Is not due to a long"... in ] Although the writing style remains traditional, some of the shapes of the Bharhut torana inscription have some modern features, such as the shapes of the letters ''va'', ''ha'', ''pa'', ''ra'', and the long flourish of the ''i'', which suggest a closer temporal proximity with the Mathura inscription.
For Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, this implies that Dhanabhuti belonged to the period circa 150 BCE, when he probably made both dedicatory inscriptions in Bharhut and Mathura. She considers that the Brahmi script in Mathura was thus virtually identical between circa 150 BCE, her dating for the Mathura Dhanabhuti inscription, and circa 15 CE, the widely acknowledged dating for the Sodasa inscriptions. On the contrary, historian Ajit Kumar, by equalling the timing of both inscriptions of Dhanabhuti with the inscriptions of Sodasa
Sodasa (Kharosthi: , ; Middle Brahmi script: , , also , ) was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap and ruler of Mathura during the later part of the 1st century BCE or the early part of 1st century CE. He was the son of Rajuvula, the Great Satrap ...
, claims that Dhanabuthi lived in the 1st century CE, and that the monuments of Bharhut or Sanchi
Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the States and territories of India, State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen, Raisen town, dist ...
are also from this rather late period, long after the Sungas
The Shunga Empire (IAST: ') was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled areas of the most of the northern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 73 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra, after taking the throne of the ...
had declined.
References
{{reflist
2nd-century BC Indian monarchs