Sanakanika

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Sanakanikas (सनकानिक) were people subjugated by Samudragupta along with other clans.

Variants

• Sanakanika सनकानिक (AS, p.932)
• Sanakānīka (सनकानीक)
• Sanakānika (सनकानिक)

Jat clans

• Salkalan

History

Allahabad Stone Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta (A.D. 335-76): mentions (L. 22.)-Whose imperious commands were fully gratified, by giving all (kinds of) taxes and obeying (his) orders and coming to perform obeisance, by the frontier-kings of Samatata, Davaka, Kamarupa, Nepala, Kartripura, and other (countries), and by the Mālavas, Arjunāyanas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas, Abhiras, Prārjunas, Sanakanikas Kākas, Kharaparikas, and other (tribes);-....

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Tej Ram Sharma writes that Sanakānīka (सनकानीक) is mentioned in Gupta Inscriptions (No. 1, L.22; No.3, L.2) :

In Inscription No.3 it occurs with the short i in the fourth syllable, i.e. as Sanakānika (सनकानिक)516

The Sanakanikas were also subjugated by Samudragupta along with other tribes who payed him all kinds of taxes, obeyed his orders and were coming to perform obeisance. ⁵¹⁷ In the Udayagiri Cave Inscription of Chandragupta II, of the Year 82 (A.D. 401) (No. 3), we know of a Maharaja of the 'Sanakanika' tribe or family, who was a feudatory of Chandragupta II and who is stated to have recorded his gift on a Vaisnava Cave temple at Udayagiri. ⁵¹⁸ Udayagiri is a well-known hill about two miles to the north-west of Bhilsa, ancient Vidisa. ⁵¹⁹ Thus we can say that the Sanakanikas lived in the neighbourhood of Bhilsa. ⁵²⁰ D.R. Bhandarkar mentions them to have held the province of Vidisa but he also locates Ganapatinaga's kingdom (one of the kings subjugated by Samudragupta) in Vidisa. ⁵²¹ So his view seems to be inconsistent.

It may be noted that the Sanakanika feudatory chief of Chandragupta II, as well as his father and grandfather, bore the title Maharaja. This may suggest that the Sanakanikas, and probably other tribes mentioned along with them in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription were not tribal republics, as is generally supposed, but were ruled by hereditary chiefs. ⁵²²

The name of the grandfather of this Sanakanika feudatory chief of Chandragupta II, is given as Chagalaga 'which looks like a foreign name'; ⁵²³ but his father bears a purely Hindu name : 'Visnudasa'. Of course the present chief's name is illegible in the inscription (No. 3). ⁵²⁴ But considering the trend

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Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions 167

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it may be surmised that his name also was a Sanskrit name. ⁵²⁵ It seems that the tribe which originally consisted of aboriginal people was gradually coming under the influence of Sanskrit culture.

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516. Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet . p.24, note I; p. 25.

517. No. I, LL. 22-23. मलवार्जुनायन-यौधेय-माद्रकाभीर-प्रार्जुन-सनकानीक-काक-खरपरिकादिभिश्चसर्व्व कर -दानाज्ञाकरण-प्रणामागमन-परितोषित-प्रचंड-शासनस्य ।

518. Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet . pp.22-24.

519. Tribes in Ancient India by B. C Law . p, 356.

520.The Vakatka-Gupta Age by R. C. Majumdar and A.S. Altekar . p. 143.

521. Indian Historical Quarterly, Calcutta . Vol. I, pp. 251-258; see also Majumdar, Pg. p. 141, f.n.2; p.132 f.n. 1.

522. The Vakatka-Gupta Age by R. C. Majumdar and A.S. Altekar. p. 144; See Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet , p. 25.

523. D.R. Bhandarkar, Indian Historical Quarterly, Calcutta. Vol. I, p.258.

524. See the Inscription, Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum, Vol. III by John Faithful Fleet . pp. 24-25.

525. For Chagalaga, see p. 46.

Jat History

Bhim Singh Dahiya provides Clan Identification Chart.

Sl	West Asian/Iranian	Greek	Chinese	Central Asian	Indian	Present name
129.	-	Salakenoi	-	-	Sanakanika	Salkal(an)

सनकानिक

सनकानिक (AS, p.932) गुप्तकालीन गणराज्य था, जिसकी स्थिति संभवतः मध्य भारत में थी। सनकानिकों का उल्लेख समुद्रगुप्त की प्रयागप्रशस्ति में है- 'मालवानुर्जनायनयौधेय मद्रकआभीरअर्जुन सनकानिककाक (खाक) खरपरिक...।'