Chastana
Chastana (चस्टान) was a ruler of the Saka Western Satraps in northwestern India around 130 CE. He was satrap of Ujjain during that period. Chaṣṭan (चष्टान) is of Iranian origin. It may be related to Pusto word "Chastan" meaning "Master". [1]
Variants of name
History
Bhim Singh Dahiya [2]writes quoting a footnote from Buddha Prakash's Studies in Ancient Indian History and Civilisation.
- "That the Kusanas in India considered themselves related to the Sakas is manifest from the fact that in the ancestral gallery (devakula) of the Kusana kings found at Mat, near Mathura, the statues of Vima Kadphises and Kanishka have been found along with that of Caṣṭana, the son of Ysomotika, one of the Western Satraps of Saurashtra and Malwa.[3] This shows that Castana, a Saka by birth, was treated as a member of their own clan by the Kusana Emperors. It is also significant that in the same gallery, a head wearing a high Scythian cap with the tip tilted forward, reminds us of Saka tigrakhuda. "[4]
The costumes and armaments of the Indian Sakas and the Kushanas were identical with those found in the graves of the Sarmatians, i.e., the Alains. In fact this word Alains (Alans) is formed from the original 'Aila' which is the same as the Ailavat Jats. The high boots, pant, long coat and headgear of all these people are common. It is this very dress which is found on the coins of the so-called early Gupta Emperors of India who belonged to the Dharan clan of the Jats. The Sakas under Castana, Rudradaman, up to Rudrasimha-were all the same as the Kushanas, the Kangs, etc.[5]
Bhim Singh Dahiya writes that The great Satraps, Chaṣṭan and Rudradaman belonged to the Sahrawat clan of the Jats. [6]
A statue found in Mathura together with statues of the Kushan king Kanishka and Vima Kadphises, and bearing the name "Shastana" is often attributed to Castana himself. Chastana is called Tisman by the bards.
Chastana was mentioned by Ptolemy as "Tiasthenes" or "Testenes", ruling a large area of Western India into the 2nd century CE, especially the area of Ujjain ("Ozene"), during the reign of the Satavahana king Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamavi.[7] Ptolemy in his "Geographia", where he qualifies the Western Satraps as "Indo-Scythians", describes Chastana's territory as starting from Patalene in the West, to his capital Ujjain in the east ("Ozena-Regia Tiastani", "Ozene, capital of king Chastana"), and beyond Barigaza in the south:
Moreover the region which is next to the western part of India, is called Indoscythia. A part of this region around the (Indus) river mouth is Patalena, above which is Abiria. That which is about the mouth of the Indus and the Canthicolpus bay is called Syrastrena. (...) In the island formed by this river are the cities Pantala, Barbaria. (...) The Larica region of Indoscythia is located eastward from the swamp near the sea, in which on the west of the Narmada river is the interior city of Barygaza emporium. On the east side of the river (...) Ozena-Regia Tiastani (...) Minagara". [8]
Chastana was the grandfather of the great Western Satrap conqueror Rudradaman I.
राजकीय संग्रहालय मथुरा में कुषाण प्रतिमाएं
राजकीय संग्रहालय मथुरा[9] भारतीय कला को मथुरा की एक विशेष देन है। भारतीय कला के इतिहास में यहीं पर सर्वप्रथम हमें शासकों की लेखों से अंकित मानवीय आकारों में बनी प्रतिमाएं दिखलाई पड़ती हैं।[10] कुषाण सम्राट वेमकटफिश, कनिष्क एवं पूर्ववर्ती शासक चष्टन की मूर्तियां माँट नामक स्थान से पहले ही मिल चुकी हैं। एक और मूर्ति जो संभवत: हुविष्क की हो सकती है, इस समय गोकर्णेश्वर के नाम से मथुरा मे पूजी जाती है। ऐसा लगता है कि कुषाण राजाओं को अपने और पूर्वजों के प्रतिमा-मन्दिर या देवकुल बनवाने की विशेष रूचि थी। इस प्रकार का एक देवकुल तो माँट में था और दूसरा संभवत: गोकर्णेश्वर में। इन स्थानों से उपरोक्त लेखांकित मूर्तियों के अतिरिक्त अन्य राजपुरुषों की मूर्तियां भी मिली हैं, पर उन पर लेख नहीं है[11]। इस संदर्भ में यह बतलाना आवश्यक है कि कुषाणों का एक और देवकुल, जिसे वहां बागोलांगो (bagolango) कहा गया है, अफ़ग़ानिस्तान के सुर्ख कोतल नामक स्थान पर था। हाल में ही यहाँ की खुदाई से इस देवकुल की सारी रूपरेखा स्पष्ट हुयी है।
शकस्थान
विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[12] ने लेख किया है कि....शकस्थान शकों का मूल निवास स्थान था जो ईरान के उत्तर-पश्चिमी भाग तथा परिवर्ती प्रदेश में स्थित था. इसे सीस्तान कहा जाता है. शकस्थान का उल्लेख महा-मायूरि 95, मथुरा सिंहस्तंभ-लेख कदंम्बनरेश मयूरशर्मन् के चंद्रवल्ली प्रस्ताव लेख में है. मथुरा-अभिलेख के शब्द हैं-- 'सर्वस सकस्तनस पुयेइ' जिसका अर्थ, कनिंघम के अनुसार 'शकस्तान निवासियों के पुण्यार्थ' है. राय चौधरी (पॉलीटिकल हिस्ट्री ऑफ अनसियन्ट इंडिया, पृ. 526) के मत में शकस्तान ईरान में स्थित था और शकवंशीय चष्टन और रुद्रदामन के पूर्व पुरुष गुजरात-काठियावाड़ में इसी स्थान से आकर बसे थे.
शकों का उल्लेख रामायण ('तैरासीत् संवृताभूमि: शकैर्यवनमिश्रितै:' बालकांड 54,21; 'कांबोजययवनां श्चैव-शकानांपत्तनानिच' किष्किंधा 23,12 महाभारत ('पहलवान् बर्बरांश्चैव किरातान् यवनाञ्छकान्' सभापर्व 32,17); मनुस्मृति (पौण्ड्रकाश्चौड्रद्रविड़ा:कांबोजा यवना: शका:"' 10,44 तथा महाभाष्य (देखें इंडियन एंटिक्ववेरी 1857,पृ.244) आदि ग्रंथों में है.
Further reading
- "The dynastic art of the Kushans", Rosenfield
References
- ↑ Jats the Ancient Rulers (A clan study), p.75
- ↑ Jats the Ancient Rulers (A clan study),p.54
- ↑ J, Ph. Vogel in ASIAR, 1911·12 p. 126.
- ↑ SIH & C, p. 251 (footnote).
- ↑ Bhim Singh Dahiya: Jats the Ancient Rulers (A clan study),p.54
- ↑ Bhim Singh Dahiya: Jats the Ancient Rulers (A clan study),p.74
- ↑ "According to Ptolemy, Siristolemaios (Sri Pulumayi), son of Gautamiputra Satakarni, continued to reign at Paithan (Pratisthana), while Ozene (Ujjain) fell into the hands of Tiasthenes (Chastana)." Alain Danielou, A Brief History of India (Inner Traditions, 2003), mentioned here
- ↑ Ptolemy Geographia, Book Seven, Chapter
- ↑ राजकीय संग्रहालय मथुरा
- ↑ व्यक्ति प्रतिमाओं के विशेष अध्ययन के लिए देखिये: T.G.Aravamuthan, Portrait Sculpture in South India ,London, 1931
- ↑ C.M.Keiffer, Kushana Art and the Historical Effigies of Mat and Surkh Kotal, Marg, Vol 15, Number 2, March 1962, p.43-48
- ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.886
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