The kushanas
Panjtar Stone Inscription of a Kushana King
Year 122 (65 AD)
Provenance: Salimpur near Panjtar (72° 31′ E 34°4′ N)
Below the Mananan Range between the Swat and the indus, near the borders of Peshāwar and Hazara districts, Pakistan.
Script Kharoshthi
Language Prakrit
References:
Cunningham, J.A.S.B, XXIII, 1854
page 705, Plate 4; XXXII, 1863. pp.141, 145. 150 AS.I. V, Page 616 f, Plate XVI, 4 Senart. J.A. VIII,
1880, p-130 No i, IX, Xiii, 1899, page.535; Buhlar academy 1896, no 1252,
page 368: W.Z.K.M. X,
Page 173, R.D Banerji, I.A. XXXVII, 1908, pp.31,44, Fleet J.R.A.S, 1913, Pp 1010, f 1914, pp 81n; 758
NG Majumdar list no 47, Konow, S.B.A.W, 1916, pp 802 f, Ep Ind XIV, p 134, (For remarks only) C.I.I, II, pp 67-70, D C Sircar, Sel.Inss, I, pp 130 ff
Sircar, Sel.Inss, I, p 230 n.l, suggests identification with some semi-imdependent governor of the indian possession of Wema Kadphises.
Reference may actually be to Wema Kadphises himself. This is not official record. The private individual Moyika, out of ignorance or carelessness fails to record royal titles and even the ruling Prince.
Text
1. सं 1(X) 100(+) 20(+) 1(+) 1 श्रवणस मसस दि प्रढ़मे महरयस गुयणस रज (मि )
2. केसुअस प्रच देशो मोहके उरू मुर ज – पुत्रे करविदे शिव-धने तत्र दे मे
3. दनामि तरक १ (+) १ ( 1 ) पत्रकरे ण व अमत शिव – थल
रम ( ण ) म
संस्कृत छाया
सं ( वत्सरे द्वाविशंत्वधिक – शत – तमे 122 श्रावणस्य मासस्य दिवसे ) प्रथमे १० महाराणस्य कुषाणस्य राज्ये केसुवस्य प्राच्यनदेशः (पूर्व भाज:) ( तत्र ) मोयिकेन ऊरूभुज-पुत्रेण कारितं शिव-स्थळे ( शिवालय 🙂 तत्र द्वो मे ( मोयिकस्य यद्धा कस्यचिद् अन्यस्य दानपते: दाने तसकौ (वृक्षकौ)
पुण्यकरं नवम अमृतं चिर स्थितिकं शिवस्थतम् रमणम्
Footnote
1. From C.I.I. IIC Plate XIII.4, facing, p. 64 (two, different prints a & b of presumably the original copy. The stone bearing the inscription had however disappeared before 1853 from the Lahore residency, where Cunningham had deposited it. Reading of line 3 is doubtful.
2. Konow suggests कसुअस or केसुअस
possibly the old name of Salimpur or Panjtar. Sircar. Sel.Inss, I, p130: स्वसुअस
3. Konow Cunningam had read the whole phrase as
“कत्र विदेशि वथल खत्र दमे”
4. Cunningham: हमुख
English Translation of the inscription
In the Year 122 of the first day of the month sravana, in the reign of the great King Gushana, these were the eastern region of kesuva, where there is a Siva temple, got constructed by Moyika, the son of Urmuja. Therein my gift are two trees, conferer of merit, new immortal (Everlasting) and pleasing temple of Siva.
As per many historians, Kushanas were among one of the five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. and the Kushan Empire had linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road, via the Indus Valley, while providing security that encouraged travel across the Khunjerab Pass and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China. But with the translation of this Panjtar stone Inscripiton it is now evident that the Kushana had not only built Buddhist temples but had also constructed Shiva temples in Bactria region..
The Kushan Empire in South Asia originally formed in the early 1st century CE, in the territories of ancient Bactria, around the Oxus River in Central Asia
