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

Sanchi Sanchi Stupa is a Buddhist art, Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the States and territories of India, State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometers from Raisen ...

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

Vidisha Vidisha (विदिशा, formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar and Bhaddilpur in ancient times) is a city in Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Vidisha district. It is located 62.5 km north ...

was captured from the Satavahanas by the

Western Satraps The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi: , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India (extending from Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the east, covering moder ...

during the rule of Rudrasena II (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 Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

(

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 (

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

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

Samudragupta Samudragupta (Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', ( 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India. A military genius and a patron of arts, he is regarded among the greatest rulers in Indian history. As a son of th ...

(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 the Indian subcontinent as well a ...

, 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 (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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 when designating years in the Gregorian and Julian 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", tak ...

. 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

{{morecat, date=April 2025 Western Satraps