Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions/Appendix V :The Rivers of Junagarh
Concept Publishing Company Delhi, 1978
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The Rivers of Junagarh
Appendix V: The Rivers of Junagarh
The names of the rivers, mentioned in the Junagarh Inscription of Skandagupta, as issuing from the mountain Raivataka 1 or Urjayat 2 have been disputed. Fleet explains 'Palasiniyam Sikatavilasini' as 'Palasini, beautiful with (its) sandy stretches'. 3 D.C. Sircar takes Sikata to be Suvarnasikata which is the same as modern Sonarekha. 4 R.B. Pandey regards Sikata to be the same Suvarnasikata mentioned in the Junagarh Inscription of Rudradaman and as identical with Suvarnarekha which flows at the foot of Girnar hill. 5 H.D. Sankalia while discussing the names of mountains Girinagara, Urjayat and Raivataka, and the rivers at Junagarh does not consider these disputed lines of the Junagarh Inscription of Skandagupta. He only discusses Suvarnasikata and Palasini on the basis of the Junagarh Inscription of Rudradaman I. 6
Those who disagree with Fleet's interpretation that 'Sikata-vilasini' is an adjective of Palasini and take Sikata to refer to Suvarnasikata, neglect the word Vilasini. Evidently Vilasini is the name of a third river. The construction is also in plural. The composer of the inscription is naming all the rivers of the area which had gone to meet their husband, the ocean,, in due accordance with the scriptures. 7 The Gujarati Sanskrit poet Magha in describing the Raivataka mountain gives a similar account of these rivers in the rainy season. 8
In the accompanying map besides the two rivers Ojat and Uben on the sides of Junagarh, we find the river Fuljar and a number of streams, viz., Nonpuria, Sonrakhi, Lotus and Fuljar. Sonrakhi is evidently Suvarnarekha, Fuljar may be the river Palasinl and the Lotus may be equated with Vilasini. The river Ojat has some resemblance with the mountain Urjayat.
The rivers due to the flood caused by excessive rains had
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combined into one; with the flowers fallen from trees growing on the banks of these rivers, it looked as if a hand decorated with flowers was stretched by the mountain Raivataka desirous of appropriating the wives of the mighty ocean, having noticed the great bewilderment of the Sea caused by the excess of rain. 9 Fleet's rendering of the passage 10 does not seem to be appropriate. The line 'aneka-tirantaja-puspa-sobhito nadimayo hasta iva prasaritah' shows that here is a reference to a group of many rivers and not to one river alone.
References
1. Sircar, Hz. p. 313. L. 16
- इमाश्च या रैवतकाद्विनिर्गता:
- पलाशिनियं सिकता-विलासिनी
2. Ibid., p. 176. LL. 5-6 :गिरेरुर्जयतः सुवर्णसिकता-पलासिनी- प्रभृतीनां नदीनाम ....।
3. (Dx) 1 , p. 64.
4. Sircar, Hz. p. 313, f.n.l.
5. Pandey, Wx. p. 97, f.n.l.
6. Sankalia, Pz. pp. 50-51.
7. Sircar, Hz. L. 16 :
- इमाश्च या रैवतकाद्विनिर्गता:
- पलाशिनियं सिकता-विलासिनी ।
- समुद्रकान्ता: चिरबंधनोषिता:
- पुनः पतिं शास्त्र-यथोचितं ययु: ।
8. Sisupalavadha, W. 47.
9. Sircar, Hz. p. 313. v. 29 :
- अवेक्ष्य वर्षागमजं महोदभ्रमं,
- महोदधेरुर्जयता प्रियेप्सुना ।
- अनेकतिरान्तज-पुष्पशोभितो,
- नादीमयहस्त इव प्रसारितः ।।
10. (Dx) 1 , p. 64. "(and) having noticed the great bewilderment caused by the excess of rain, (the mountain) Urjayat, desirous of appropriating the wives of the mighty ocean, stretched forth as it were a hand, consis- ting of the river (Palasini), decorated with the numerous flowers that grew on the edges of (its) banks."
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