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{{Short description|1st-century BCE Sanskrit inscriptions}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox artifact
|image = Hathibada Brahmi Inscription at Nagari, Hinduism Sanskrit India.jpg
|name = Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions
|image_caption = Fragment C of the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions, in [[Sanskrit]]. 2nd-1st century BCE.
|material = Stone
|size =
|writing = Sanskrit
|created = 2nd-1st Century BCE
|period =
|place = Nagari (Chittorgarh), Rajasthan
|discovered =
|discovered_coords ={{Coord|24.967|74.683}}
|location = Government Museum, Udaipur
| map =
{{Location map
| India
| float = center
| relief = yes
| label = [[Nagari, Rajasthan|Nagari]]
| lat_deg = 24.967
| lon_deg = 74.683
}}
|id =
|registration =
}}
The '''Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions''', sometimes referred simply as the '''Ghosundi Inscription''' or the '''Hathibada Inscription''', are the oldest [[Sanskrit]] inscriptions in the [[Brahmi script]], and dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE. The Hathibada inscription were found near [[Nagari, Rajasthan|Nagari village]], about {{convert|8|mi}} north of [[Chittorgarh]], [[Rajasthan]], [[India]], while the Ghosundi inscription was found in the village of Ghosundi, about {{convert|3|mi}} southwest of [[Chittorgarh]].

==Description==
Dated to the 2nd or 1st-century BCE, the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions ("HGI") are among the oldest known [[Sanskrit]] inscriptions in [[Brahmi script]] from an early [[Vaishnavism]] tradition of ancient India.<ref name=salomon239>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509984-3|pages=239–240|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161550/https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Damsteegt1978p209">{{cite book|author=Theo Damsteegt|title=Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf4UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA209|year=1978|publisher=Brill Academic|pages=209–211|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=28 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228141655/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf4UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA209|url-status=live |quote= p.205: "Three more Hinduist inscriptions in Sanskrit, with identical text, have been found at Ghosundf and Hathibada in Rajasthan, thus, outside the Aryavarta." p.210: "The three Sanskrit inscriptions from Ghosundf (Hathibada) refer to the erection of a stone wall in connection with puja (pujasilaprakara-) by a king; the gods Samkarsana and Vasudeva are mentioned."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|authorlink=Jan Gonda|title=Visnuism and Sivaism: A Comparison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khrmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|year=2016|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-4742-8082-2|pages=166 note 243|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=19 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819135041/https://books.google.com/books?id=khrmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James Hegarty|title=Religion, Narrative and Public Imagination in South Asia: Past and Place in the Sanskrit Mahabharata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMSoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-64589-1|pages=46 note 118|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=19 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819202602/https://books.google.com/books?id=qMSoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|url-status=live}}</ref>

The HGI were found as incomplete fragments in three different locations. One fragment was discovered inside an ancient water well in Ghosundi, another at the boundary wall between Ghosundi and Bassi, and the third on a stone slab in the inner wall of Hathibada. They may have been displaced during the Mughal emperor [[Akbar]]'s [[Siege of Chittorgarh (1567–1568)|siege of Chittorgarh]]. He camped at Nagari and built some facilities by breaking and reusing old structures, a legacy that gave the location its name "Hathi-bada" or "elephant stable". The fragment discovered in the Hathibada wall has the same style, [[Brahmi]] script and partly same text as the Ghosundi fragment, thereby suggesting a link. The three fragments are often studied together.<ref name= Bhandarkar>[[D. R. Bhandarkar]], [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13301/page/n255/mode/2up Hathi-bada Brahmi Inscription at Nagari], Epigraphia Indica Vol. XXII, Archaeological Survey of India, pages 198-205</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Dilip K. Chakrabarti|title=A History of Indian Archaeology from the Beginning to 1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iyJuAAAAMAAJ|year=1988|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-81-215-0079-1|pages=137–138|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161548/https://books.google.com/books?id=iyJuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Religious significance===
The HGI are significant not only for their antiquity but as a source of information about ancient Indian scripts, society, history and religious beliefs.<ref name= Bhandarkar/> The inscriptions seem to provide evidence for an early reverence of [[Vrishni]] hero-deities [[Samkarshana]] and [[Vāsudeva]] (later known as [[Balarama]] and [[Krishna]]), the existence of a stone temple dedicated to them in 1st-century BCE, the puja tradition, and a king who had completed the Vedic Asvamedha sacrifice.<ref name=salomon239/><ref name="Flood2008p230">{{cite book|author=Gerard Colas|editor=Gavin Flood|title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBxa-MNqA8C&pg=PA230|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-99868-7|pages=230–232|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161549/https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBxa-MNqA8C&pg=PA230|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rajendra Chandra Hazra|title=Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jar4V3piCeQC&pg=PA200|year=1987|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0422-7|pages=200–201|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161548/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jar4V3piCeQC&pg=PA200|url-status=live}}</ref> The inscription seems to associate Samkarshana and Vāsudeva with [[Narayana]] ([[Vishnu]]), possibly a step in their later incorporation as [[avatars]] into the Vaishnavite [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]].<ref name="DS51">{{cite journal |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Doris |title=Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1979 |volume=32 |pages=50–51 |issn=0066-6637|jstor=20111096 }}</ref>

Taken together with evidence such as the Besnagar inscription found on the [[Heliodorus pillar]], the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions suggest that devotional [[Bhagavatism]] was developing in ancient India between the 2nd and 1st century BCE.<ref name="Flood2008p230"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Lavanya Vemsani|title=Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-211-3|pages=37–38|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161548/https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> The HGI are not the oldest known inscriptions; others such as the [[Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana|Ayodhya Inscription]] and [[Naneghat|Nanaghat Cave Inscription]] are generally accepted as old or older.<ref name="Damsteegt1978p209"/><ref name="Shaw2013p264">{{cite book|author=Julia Shaw|title=Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA264|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-61132-344-3|pages=264 note 14|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161547/https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA264|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Inscriptions==
The inscriptions are incomplete, though an attempt at restoration (see below) has been based on [[Sanskrit prosody]] rules. The fragments read:<ref name= Bhandarkar/>

<blockquote style="background-color:none;margin-right:5em;margin-left:0em;border-left:solid 6px #FFE0BB;padding:1.0em">
<poem>
Fragment A [[File:Ghosundi stone inscription.jpg|thumb|Fragment A (Ghosundi stone inscription).]]
1 .....𑀢𑀸𑀦 𑀕𑀚𑀬𑀦𑁂𑀦 𑀧𑀭𑀰𑀸𑀭𑀺𑀧𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀭𑁂𑀡 𑀲..
2.....𑀚𑀺𑀦𑀸 𑀪𑀕𑀯𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁 [[Saṃkarṣaṇa|𑀲𑀁𑀓𑀭𑁆𑀱𑀡]] [[Vāsudeva|𑀯𑀸𑀲𑀼𑀤𑁂𑀯𑀸𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁]]
3.....𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁 𑀧𑀽𑀚𑀰𑀺𑀮𑀸 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀓𑀸𑀭𑁄 [[Narayana|𑀦𑀸𑀭𑀸𑀬𑀡]] 𑀯𑀸𑀝𑀺𑀓𑀸

1 ..... tēna Gājāyanēna P(ā)rāśarlputrāṇa Sa-
2 ..... [j]i[nā] bhagavabhyāṁ Saṁkarshaṇa-V[ā]sudēvābhyā(ṁ)
3 ......bhyāṁ pūjāśilā-prākārō Nārāyaṇa-vāṭ(i)kā.

Fragment B

1 .....𑀢𑁆𑀭𑁂𑀡 [[Sarvatata|𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑀢𑀸𑀢𑁂𑀦]] [[Ashvamedha|𑀅𑀰𑁆𑀯𑀫𑁂𑀥𑀸]]...
2.... 𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑁂𑀲𑁆𑀯𑀸𑀭𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁

1. ....[tr](ē)(ṇa) Sarvatātēna As[v]amēdha....
2 .....sarvēśvarābh(yāṁ).

Fragment C
[[File:Fragment C of Hathibada Brahmi Inscription at Nagari.jpg|thumb|300px|Fragment C (Hathibada stone inscription)]]
1....𑀯𑀸𑀢𑀸𑀦 𑀕𑀚𑀬𑀦𑁂𑀦 𑀧𑀭𑀰𑀸𑀭𑀺𑀧𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀭𑁂𑀡 [[Sarvatata|𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑀢𑀸𑀢𑁂𑀦]] [[Ashvamedha|𑀅𑀰𑁆𑀯𑀫𑁂𑀥𑀸]] 𑀬𑀚𑀺𑀦
2....𑀡 [[Vāsudeva|𑀯𑀸𑀲𑀼𑀤𑁂𑀯𑀸𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁]] 𑀅𑀦𑀺𑀳𑀸𑀢𑁂𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁 𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑁂𑀲𑁆𑀯𑀸𑀭𑀪𑁆𑀬𑀁 𑀧𑀽𑀚𑀰𑀺𑀮𑀸 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀓𑀸𑀭𑁄 [[Narayana|𑀦𑀸𑀭𑀸𑀬𑀡]] 𑀯𑀸𑀝𑀺𑀓𑀸

1 ....vat(ēna) [Gā]j(ā)yan[ē]na P(ā)r(āśarīpu)t(rē)ṇa [Sa](r)[vatā]tēna Aś(vamē)[dha](yā)- [j](inā)
2 ....(ṇa)-V(ā)sudēvābh[y]ā(ṁ) anihatā(bhyāṁ) sa(r)v(ē)[ś]va[r](ā)bh(yāṁ) p(ū)[j](ā)- [ś](i)l(ā)-p[r]ā[k]ārō Nār[ā]yaṇa-vāṭ(i)[k](ā).<ref name= Bhandarkar/>
</poem></blockquote>

'''Restoration'''
[[File:Hathiwada enclosure.jpg|thumb|350px|The Hathibada/Hathiwada enclosure in which was found one of the inscriptions.<ref>ASI Jaipur circle [http://asijaipurcircle.nic.in/hathiwada%20enclo.html Hathiwada enclosure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161549/http://asijaipurcircle.nic.in/hathiwada%20enclo.html |date=15 April 2021 }}</ref>]]

[[Bhandarkar]] proposed that the three fragments suggest what the complete reading of fragment A might have been. His proposal was:
<blockquote style="background-color:none;margin-right:5em;margin-left:0em;border-left:solid 6px #FFE0BB;padding:1.0em">
<poem> Fragment A (extrapolated)
1. '''(Karito=yam rajna Bhagava)'''tena Gajayanena Parasariputrena Sa-
2. '''(rvatatena Asvamedha-ya)'''jina bhagava[d*]bhyaih Samkarshana-Vasudevabhyam
3. '''(anihatabhyarh sarvesvara)'''bhyam pujasila-prakaro Narayana-vatika.
</poem>
– [[D. R. Bhandarkar]]<ref name= Bhandarkar/>
</blockquote>

===Translations===
Bhandarkar – an archaeologist, translates Fragment A as,
{{quote|
<poem>
(This) enclosing wall round the stone (object) of worship, called [[Narayana]]-vatika (Compound) for the divinities [[Samkarshana]]-[[Vāsudeva-Krishna|Vāsudeva]] who are unconquered and are lords of all (has been caused to be made) by (the king) [[Sarvatata]], a Gajayana and son of (a lady) of the Parasaragotra, who is a devotee of Bhagavat ([[Vishnu]] or [[Samkarshana]]/[[Vāsudeva]]) and has performed an Asvamedha sacrifice.
</poem>
– Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions, 1st-century BCE<ref name= Bhandarkar/>
}}

Harry Falk – an Indologist, states that the king does not mention his father by name, only his mother, and in his dedicatory verse does not call himself ''raja'' (king).<ref name="Olivelle2006p149">{{cite book|author=Harry Falk|editor=Patrick Olivelle|title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-977507-1|pages=149–150|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927000257/https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC|url-status=live |quote=The dynasty after the Śuṅgas is believed to be the Kaṇvas, to which the first inscription in real Sanskrit is attributed. It was found in Ghosūṇdī, Rajasthan, and near to it in three exemplars on a stone wall. The king calls himself: bhāgavatena gājāyanena pārāśarīputreṇa sarvatātena aśvamedhayājinā, adherent of the Lord (bhagavat), belonging to the gotra of the Gājāyanas, son of a mother from the Pārāśara gotra, performer of an Aśvamedha. He does not mention his father by name; his mother occurs with reference to her brahmanical (Vasiṣṭha) gotra; even as a performer of the most-praised royal ritual he does not use the title rājā.}}</ref> The king belonged to a Brahmin dynasty of Kanvas, that followed the Sungas dynasty. He translates one of the fragments as:
{{quote|
adherent of the Lord (''bhagavat''), belonging to the gotra of the Gajayanas, son of a mother from the Parasara gotra, performer of an Asvamedha.<ref name="Olivelle2006p149"/>
}}

Benjamín Preciado-Solís – an Indologist, translates it as:
{{quote|
[This] stone enclosure, called the Narayana Vatika, for the worship of Bhagavan Samkarsana and Bhagavan Vāsudeva, the invincible lords of all, [was erected] by [the Bhaga]vata king of the line of Gaja, Sarvatata, the victorious, who has performed an asvamedha, son of a Parasari.<ref>{{cite book|author=Benjamín Preciado-Solís|title=The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvCaWvjGDVEC&pg=PA23|year=1984|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-0-89581-226-1|page=23|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161548/https://books.google.com/books?id=JvCaWvjGDVEC&pg=PA23|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

==Sarvatata==
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Sarvatata
| image =
| caption =
| succession = [[Nagari, Rajasthan|King of Madhyamika]]
| reign = 3rd century BC
| regnal name = 𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑀢𑀸𑀢𑁂𑀦
| mother =
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
}}
Within the inscriptions, a local king of Madhyamika (modern day [[Nagari, Rajasthan]]) named Sarvatata is mentioned.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5V_7_zUQ80C&q=king+Sarvatata|title=Epigraphia Indica|date=1984|publisher=Manager of Publications|language=en|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=27 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827195713/https://books.google.com/books?id=l5V_7_zUQ80C&q=king+Sarvatata|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riUmBAAAQBAJ&q=king+Sarvatata|title=Indian History|year=1960|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica (India)|isbn=978-0-07-132923-1|language=en|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=27 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827195713/https://books.google.com/books?id=riUmBAAAQBAJ&q=king+Sarvatata|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ranade|first=P. V.|date=1964|title=THE ORIGIN OF THE SATAVAHANAS—A NEW INTERPRETATION|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44133087|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=26|pages=60–68|jstor=44133087|issn=2249-1937|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717195730/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44133087|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sant |first=Urmila |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nT_WAAAAMAAJ&q=seals+were+found+at+sambhar |title=Terracotta Art of Rajasthan: From Pre-Harappan and Harappan Times to the Gupta Period |date=1997 |publisher=Aryan Books International |isbn=978-81-7305-115-9 |language=en |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827195713/https://books.google.com/books?id=nT_WAAAAMAAJ&q=seals+were+found+at+sambhar |url-status=live }}</ref> According to inscriptions, he performed the [[Ashvamedha]] ''[[yajna]]'' and also constructed a Narayana-vatika (''vatika'' may mean "garden") compound dedicated to [[Saṃkarṣaṇa]] and [[Vāsudeva]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ph.D|first=Lavanya Vemsani|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ&dq=king+Sarvatata&pg=PA37|title=Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names|date=2016-06-13|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-211-3|language=en|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=27 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827195714/https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ&dq=king+Sarvatata&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> The inscription also names ''Gajayana'' as Sarvatata's ''[[gotra]]'' or dynasty name, though this also is unclear. The same inscription names his mother's ''[[gotra]]'' as ''Parasari'' or ''[[Parāśara#Genealogy|Parāśara]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC |title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE |date=2006-07-13 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977507-1 |language=en |access-date=13 December 2017 |archive-date=27 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927000257/https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Chandramani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-jVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Sarvatata%22+-wikipedia |title=Protected Monuments of Rajasthan |date=2002 |publisher=Jawahar Kala Kendra |isbn=978-81-86782-60-6 |language=en |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827195714/https://books.google.com/books?id=i-jVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Sarvatata%22+-wikipedia |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Hindu inscriptions and arts|state=autocollapse}}
{{Hindudharma}}

[[Category:2nd-century BC inscriptions]]
[[Category:1st-century BC inscriptions]]
[[Category:Sanskrit inscriptions in India]]
[[Category:Indian inscriptions]]
[[Category:Chittorgarh district]]
[[Category:History of Rajasthan]]

Hathibada Ghosundi inscriptions - Revision history

JennyRoyster668 at 14:00, 26 February 2026