Abstract:

The stone inscription found in the Kevala Narasiṃha Temple on top of the Rāmagiri (Ramtek, Maharashtra) is an unusual personal document telling the story of a Vākāṭaka princess (Atibhāvatī) who was married to her maternal uncle (Ghaṭotkacagupta), viceroy in Vidiśā (first half of the fifth century ce). This Ghaṭotkaca lost the succession war against Skandagupta, after which the princess’s brother, the Vākāṭaka king Pravarasena II, brought the widowed princess back home to Vidarbha. The inscription is incomplete; only one third of the original text is readable. A step-by-step analysis and reconstruction of the praśasti part of the inscription reveals the dynastic interrelation of the Gupta and Vākāṭaka dynasties, the construction of which was motivated by political considerations Rrather than by considerations of lawfulness (dharma).

Part 1 of this study appeared in 2010. See Bakker 2010a.

Author: Hans Bakker