The Kanakerha inscription, also spelled Kanakherha inscription, is an inscription found on the side of the hill of

Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bho ...

, dating to the 3rd or 4th century CE. The region of

Vidisha Vidisha (विदिशा, formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar in ancient times) is a city in central Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located 62.5 km northeast of the state capital, Bhopal. The name "Vidisha" is derived from th ...

was captured from the

Satavahanas The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the late ...

by the

Western Satraps The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi:, ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central part of India ( Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ...

during the rule of

Rudrasena II Rudrasena II () was a ruler of the Pravarapura-Nandivardhana branch of the Vakataka dynasty. While his reign was short, he notably married Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II. His early death led to Prabhavatigup ...

(255-278 CE), as shown by finds of his coinage in the area. The Western Satraps are then known to have remained in the area well into the 4th century, as shown by the Kanakherha inscription,Marshall, The Monuments of Sanch
p. 392
(Public Domain text) on the hill of

. The inscription mentions the construction of a well by the

Saka The Saka (Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae ( Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

(

Gupta script The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script)Sharma, Ram. '' 'Brahmi Script' ''. Delhi: BR Publishing Corp, 2002 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcon ...

, ''Śaka'') chief and "righteous conqueror" (''dharmaviyagi mahadandanayaka'')

Sridharavarman Sridharavarman (Gupta script: , ''Shri-dha-ra-va-rmma-na'', ruled CE)Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, c. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, Julia Shaw, Routledge, 201p58-59/ref> ...

(

, ''Sridharavarmmana'').Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, c. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, Julia Shaw, Routledge, 201
pp. 58–59
/ref> Another inscription of the same Sridhavarman with his Naga military commander is known from

Eran Eran is an ancient town and archaeological site in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was one of the ancient mints for Indian dynasties as evidenced by the diverse coins excavated here. The site has 5th and 6th-century Gupta era ...

. At Eran, it seems that his inscription is succeeded by a monument and an inscription by

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gol ...

Samudragupta Samudragupta (Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', (c. 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the L ...

(r.336-380 CE), established "for the sake of augmenting his fame", who may therefore have ousted Sridharavarman in his campaigns to the West. The inscription is in 6 lines, and bears a date of year 241 of the

Saka era The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of India as well as in SE Asia. Hist ...

, the date of the record thus corresponding to 319 CE. Salomon gives an earlier date of 279 CE. It is written in mostly standard

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...

The object of the inscription is to record the excavation of a well by the Mahadandanayaka

Sridharavarmman, son of

Nanda. It refers itself to the 13th regnal year of Sridharavarmman, which shows that although styled as the general, he was enjoying the powers and privileges of an independent ruler. Evidently he belongs to one of those

families that settled in Western India in the early centuries of the

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

. He calls himself a dharma-vijayi, i.e. "the righteous conqueror" in line 2, and in line 3 there is reference to dharm-asi, i.e. "the sword of righteousness". In all likelihood Sridharavarmman originally served under some royal family, and later, throwing off the yoke, assumed the position of an independent ruler. The inscription is currently in the Sanchi Museum, where it has the number A98.Sanchi Museum Catalogu
p. 33
/ref>

References

{{reflist Western Satraps