Kakanadabota

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Kakanadabota (काकनादबोट) was the old name of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh.

Variants

• Kakanadabota (काकनादबोट) (AS, p.161)
• Kâkanâdabôta (काकनादबोट)
• Kakanada (काकनाद)

Jat clans

• Kak
• Potaka
• Poti
• Potya
• Potaliya

History

Tejram Sharma writes that ....The word Kakanadabota (काकनादबोट) has been mentioned in two Gupta inscriptions - (No. 5, L. 1): Sanchi Stone Inscription of Chandragupta II Gupta Year 93 (A.D. 412); (No.23, L.2) : Sanchi Stone Inscription of the time of Kumaragupta I Gupta Year 131 (=A.D. 450)

2. Kakanadabota (काकनादबोट) (No. 5, L. 1; No.23, L.2) : In both the inscriptions, we find reference to a grant to the Arya Samgha or the Community of the faithful, at the great Vihara, or Buddhist convent of Kakanadabota, ⁷⁰⁰ for the purpose of feeding mendicants and maintaining lamps.

D.C. Sircar takes 'Kakanadabota' to be the old name of Sanchi. ⁷⁰¹ Fleet is of the view that the Kakanadabota convent is the Great Stupa itself. According to him the word Bota is another form of Pota (पोट) which means 'the foundation of a house'. ⁷⁰² Fleet further writes that the name 'Kakanada' lit. 'the noise of the crow' was the ancient name of Sanchi it self which is proved by its occurrence in two inscriptions in Mauryan characters found at Sanchi. ⁷⁰³

Thus, it is clear that Kakanada was the ancient name of Sanci in the Bhopal State, now Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, well-known for its Buddhist topes. ⁷⁰⁴ The word 'bota' is thus a surplus and joined by 'Kakanada' will refer to the great stupa itself. Its form Pota meaning the foundation of a house is untenable bacause the word 'vihara' in that very sense appears in the inscriptions. The word 'bota' has been used here in the sense of an ascetic cult. ⁷⁰⁵ It is a Prakrit word which has been used here to refer to 'the Buddhist cult'. Thus the relevant expression means 'in the holy great vihara of the Buddhist cult (assembly) at Kakanada'.

Fleet is wrong in translating the word Kakanada to mean 'the noise of the crow'. ⁷⁰⁶ K.P. Jayaswal's rendering 'the praise of the Kakas' ⁷⁰⁷ is more to the point. We know of the Kakas, an autonomous community mentioned in the Allahabad Inscription of Samudragupta. ⁷⁰⁸ In Eastern Malwa we have two ancient place-names connected with the Kakas. One is the hill now called Sanchi hill (the ancient) Kakanada. The other is an ancient village called Kakapura, some 20 miles north of Bhilsa, and full of ancient monuments. ⁷⁰⁹

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700. No. 5, L. 1 : No. 2, L. 2 : काकनादबोट-श्री-महाविहारे...।

701. Select Inscriptions by D. C. Sircar, p. 281, f.n.3.

702. Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet, p. 31 also see f.n.I.

703. Ibid., p. 31 : (i) काकणाये भगवतो पमण लठि "the measuring staff of (Buddha), the Divine one, at Kakanada". (ii) "सपुरिसस गोतिपुतस काकनाद - पभासनस कोडिन गोतस " : "(the relics) of the virtuous Prabhasana of Kakanada, the Gotiputra, of the Kaundinya gotra".

704. Cf. Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India by N. L. Dey, p. 83 : Select Inscriptions by D. C. Sircar. p. 280.

705. Cf. Paia-Sadda-Mahannavo (ed.) V. S. Agrawala and Malvania. p. 639 : बोटिय (बोटिक) : दिगम्बर जैन सम्प्रदाय, वि. दिगम्बर जैन सम्प्रदाय का अनुयायी .... "बिडियसिव भूईयो बोडियलिंगस्स होइ उप्पत्ती ...

706. Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet. p. 31

707. Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Patna. Vol. XVIII, 1952, Pt. II, p. 212.

708. No. I, L. 22 : Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet , pp. 8,14.

709. Jayaswal, 'The Kakas... their location" Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Patna, Vol. XV1IT, 1932, Pt. II, pp. 212-13. P. 212 'Kakapura is situated on a river and a hill opposite the village by the road has two square temples and a few Gupta Sculptures. A large number of pillars and Sati memorials cover the plain in front of the temple hill. Medieval inscriptions are also in evidence. They with the temples testify to the continued importance of the place, from the Gupta to the medieval period.

काकनादबोट

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...काकनादबोट (AS, p.161): सांची (मध्य प्रदेश) का प्राचीन नाम जो यहाँ से प्राप्त अभिलेखों से ज्ञात होता है (देखें गुप्ता-संवत 93=412-413 ई. का प्रस्तर लेख - फ्लीट गुप्त इन्स्क्रिप्शंस)