Vasishka
Vashishka (वासिष्क) was a Kushan emperor around 232-246 AD.
Variants
History
Vasishka was elder son of Huvishka. Huvishka founded 'Hushkpur' town in Kashmir in his name, the town is known as Uskpur at present. When Xuanzang came to India he stayed at a vihara in Hushkpur. He ruled from 120 - 140 AD. Kabul, Kashmir and Mathura were part of his state.
Jat Gotras from Vasishka
Translation of Wardak Brass Vessel Inscription
In the year 51, on the day 15 [of the first half ?] of the month Artemisios. By means of this vase Vagra Marega's son Kamagulya, who has fixed his residence in this place Khavata, inters a relic of the Lord Sakya-muni inside a -vault within the Vagra Mariga monastery.
By means of this meritorious foundation may it (the relic) tend to the pre-eminent lot of the great king, the suzerain of kings, Hoveshka ! May it tend to the veneration of my parents ! May it tend to the veneration of my brother's son Hashṭana Marega ! May there be purity for me ! May it tend to the veneration of my grandsons, friends and associates ! And may there be a share of a pre-eminent lot for the territorial lord Vagra Marega ! May it tend to the bestowal of perfect health on all beings ! May it tend to the veneration of all these, namely, the saintly king,4 him who has obtained the condition of having mastered the doctrine, the creature which is born from, moisture, from a womb (?) or 'from an egg, the creature whose life is in water, the graminivorous animal and the incorporeal soul! And may there be a share of a pre-eminent lot for the territorial lord Rohaṇa, all his and his dependents together -with his retinue ! And may there be a supreme lot for Miṭyaga. This monastery is (or was) a gilt to the Mahasanghikas, who are teachers (or who had no habitation ?).
Source - Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XI,p.211
Note - In this Wardak Inscription of year 51 of Havishka, the Kushana ruler, we find links to four Jat clans namely, Gulya, Burdak, Rahan and Mitya.
History
ठाकुर देशराज लिखते हैं कि कनिष्क के मरने के बाद शासन-सूत्र वासिष्क के हाथ आया। यह पिता की अनुपस्थिति में भी राज्य कार्य संभालता रहता था। मथुरा के पास ईसापुर में इसका एक लेख मिला था जो कि आजकल मथुरा के अजायबघर में है। यह पत्थर के एक यज्ञ-स्तम्भ पर है। उस पर विशुद्ध संस्कृत में लेख खुदा हुआ है। जिस पर इसे “महाराज राजतिराज देव पुत्रशाहि वासिष्क” लिखा हुआ है। कुछ लोगों का कहना है कि इसका राज्यकाल कनिष्क के राज्यकाल के अर्न्तगत था।
जाट इतिहास:ठाकुर देशराज,पृष्ठान्त-206
Isapur Yupa Inscription of Vasishka
The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912 [1] mentions....[p.118]: From an historical point of view the most important discovery made during the year was no doubt that of the inscribed sacrificial post (yūpa) at 'Isapur, near Mathura (Muttra), on which a preliminary note has already appeared in the pages of this Journal (pp. 1311 ff.). It will, therefore, suffice to recall that the inscription in question, which was discovered by Pandit Radha Krishna in the bed of the Jamna, near the suburb of 'Isapur, is dated in the reign of a king called Shahi Vāsishka, and in the year 24 (expressed both in words and figures). It consequently proves the correctness of Dr. Fleet’s assumption that between Kanishka and Huvishka there reigned (at Muttra at least) a ruler of the name of Vāsishka.
This prince is also mentioned in a Sanchi inscription,1 apparently dated in the year 28. The figure expressing 20 is unfortunately damaged and therefore uncertain. It was read 70 by Cunningham and also by Dr. Buhler, who first felt inclined to read 20. The latter reading, adopted by Dr. Fleet, is most likely correct and would well agree with the testimony of the Isapur inscription.
Another interesting point to be noted in connexion with this record is that it is Brahmanical, and is the earliest
1. Cf. H, Luders’ "List of Brahmi Inscriptions”, Ep. Ind,, vol. x, appendix, p. 26, No. 161.
[p.119]: inscription in pure Sanskrit which has hitherto come to light.
The yupa of Isapur was by no means the only discovery made by Pandit Radha Krishna during the year 1910-11. Among the many sculptures acquired by him for the Mathura Museum I wish particularly to note a Bodhisattva statuette which bears the following inscription :—
L. 1. [Saṁ 10 + ] 7 va . . . ētasa purvāyā Dharmakasa sōvaṇikasa kuṭuhiniye1
L. 2. up[āsi]kā Nagapiyā (Skr.Nāgapriyā) Bodhisvatva2 pratiṭhāpeti svakāyā chitā-
L. 3. yā kaṭi ye achāryana Dharmagutakāna pratigrahe.
"In the year 1(?) 7 . . . on that date Nagapiya, a lay-member and the wife of the goldsmith Dharmaka erected a Bodhisattva [image] in her own sanctuary.3 This work4 is for the acceptance of the teachers of the Dharmagupta sect.”
Of the image unfortunately the whole upper portion above the waist is missing. The remaining part shows that the Bodhisattva was seated cross-legged, his left hand resting on the knee. We may assume that the right was raised to the shoulder in the attitude of protection (Sanskrit abhayamudrā). The style of the image is similar to that of the Any or and Khaṭrā statuettes in the Mathura Museum. On the base are figures of human worshippers, two men, two women, and two children ; all, except the children, carrying lotus-flowers as offerings.
On either end is a lion sejant in the typical conventional style of the Kushan period.
1. Read kutumbini
2. The anusvāra has been omitted over the final aksharas of Bodhisvattva, svakāyā, chitāyā, achāryana (read āchāryānām), and Dharmagutakān (read gutakānām). The curious akshara sva in Bodhisvatva, evidently a clerical error for sa, has been found elsewhere in Mathura inscriptions.
3. The word chitā (or chetā ?) is apparently synonymous here with Sanskrit chaitya.
4. The reading kuṭi ye is doubtful. I suppose that it corresponds to Sanskrit kṛtir yam, and have translated accordingly.
See also
Reference
- Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992.
- ↑ The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912,p.120-123
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