Arta (Kamuia)

Arta (or "Artas in Kharoshthi") was the elder brother of the well known Gandhara ruler Maues or Moga [Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - 1834, p 142, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Corpus Inscrioptionum Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, pp xxxvi, 36, S Konow; Early Inscriptions of Mathurā: A Study, 1980, p 27, Kalyani Das; Ancient India, 1956, p 220, Dr Radha Kumud Mukerjee; History of Indian Administration - 1968, p 94, Dr B. N Puri; These Kamboja People, 1979, p 142; The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p 168, Kirpaql Singh; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, pp 227/228, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī; Cf: Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen - 1931, p 12, Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Göttingische anzeigen von gelehrten sachen; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 306-09.] .

Kharahostes’s own coins attest that "Kshatrapa Kharaostes" was the son of Artas (Arta):

:Kshatrapasa pra Kharaostasa Artasa putrasa (i.e. "Kshatrapa Kharaosta, son of Arta").

Some of Kharaosta's known coins write "Ortas" instead of "Artas".

Here are few more references affirming that Kshatrapa Kharaosta was son Arta, and that Yuvaraja Kharaosta and Kshatrapa Kharaosta were one and same historical personage [Kshatrapasa pra Kharaostasa Artasa putrasa (i.e. Kshatrapa Kharaosta, son of Arta), Political History of ancient India, 1996, p 397/98, Dr Raychaudhury; See also: History and Culture of Indian People, The age of Imperial Unity, p 164, (Editors) Dr R. C. Majumdar, Dr A. D. Pusalkar; Malwa Through the Ages, p 166, ISBN 812080824X; Early Inscriptions of Mathurā: A Study, 1980, p 27, Kalyani Das; The Śakas in India, 1981, p 97, Satya Shrava; History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 1999, p 201, Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, János Harmatta, Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Unesco; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1905, p 795, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Provincial Administration in Ancient India, 600 B.C.-550 A.D., 1981, p 283, Arun Kumar Sinha; Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency ... -, 1896, p 23, Sir James MacNabb Campbell, Reginald Edward Enthoven; Ṛtam, p 46, Akhila Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad, Lucknow; See: Comprehensive History of India, 1957, Vol II, p 270, Dr K. A. Nilakanta Sastri etc.] .

The Inscriptions A and E on the Mathura Lion Capital style Kharaosta as "Yuvaraya" Kharaosta Kamuio [http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/etext.php?cki=CKI0048] .

Scholars state that Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio of the Lion Capital Inscriptions is same Kshatrapa Kharaosta whose coins have been studied by Dr Rapson and Dr Luders.

Based on the estimates of the relative ages of various personages portrayed in Lion Capital Inscriptions, Dr Stein Konow has determined that Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio (i.e. son of Artas) was the father of Aiyasi Kamuia, the chief queen ("Agra-Mahisi") of Saka Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula [Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, part I, p 36 & xxxvi, Dr Stein Konow; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1990, p 141, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.] . See also: [http://www.grifterrec.com/y/cribb/ekk_cribb_03.html] .

An older view was that Arta, the father of Kharaosta, was the first husband of Rajuvula's chief queen who had married Rajuvula after Arta's death. However, Dr S Konow does not accept this view. The fact that last name "Kamuia" has been used both by Yuvaraja Kharaosta as well as by princess Aiyasi clearly proves that Aiyasi Kamuia was the daughter and not mother of Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio, since it is the father's and not mother's lineage which is adopted by their off-springs [Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, part I, p 36 & xxxvi, Dr Stein Konow; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1990, p 141, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, p 227/228, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī.] .

It appears that Arta (Artas, Ortas) had died before the date of writing of the Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions.

Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio, therefore, was the legitimate inheritor to the position as "King of Kings" for the kingdom of Gandhara after king Moga [See: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, part I, p 36 & xxxvi, Dr Stein Konow; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1990, p 141, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, p 227/228, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 397, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury.] .

Saka governor Rajuvula had married princess Aiyasi Kamuia, daughter of Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio, probably to strengthen his political position and also his claim to the throne (of Taxila) [Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, p 36 & xxxvi; Ancient India, 1956, p 220, Dr Radha Kumud Mookerji; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, p 227/228, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī; The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p 168, Kirpal Singh; See quote in: Early Inscriptions of Mathurā: A Study, 1980, p 27, K. Das.] .

This prospect was obviously not liked by other Saka chiefs. This appears to be the reason as to why the title of "Shahanshahi" was discontinued and only the titles of "Kshatrapa" and "Mahakshtarpa" obtained among the Sakas from that time onwards [Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, p 227/228, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī.] . These Sakas later organized a Samgha under Rajuvula and Patika when Rajuvula assumed the title of Maha-Ksatrapa for the first time.

It appears, for some reasons, that Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuio did not avail the position of "King of Kings" after Moga's death.

Many scholars including Sten Konow, H. W. Bailey, R. K. Mukerjee, K. P. Jaiswal, J. L. Kamboj, Buddha Prakash and others recognise that the names Kamuia and Kamuio (q.v) of the Mathura Lion Capital Inscriptions are the Kharoshthi/Prakritic forms of Sanskrit/Pali Kambojika or Kamboja [Khroshthi Inscriptions, No 15, A3; Notes on Indo-Scythian chronology, Journal of Indian History, xii, 21; Corpus Inscrioptionum Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, pp xxxvi, 36, Dr. S. Konow e.g: "If we bear in mind that 'mb' becomes 'm', i.e mm in the dialect of the Kharoshthi Dhammapada and that common 'o' becomes 'u' as in Sudasa, then Kamuia may very well represent Sanskrit Kambojika" (Dr Konow); cf: "The Kamuiyas, who are associated with the familiy of the Saka Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula of the Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions, are in fact, the Kambojas, Kamuias being just the form we would expect in the dialect for an old Kambojika" (Indian Culture, 1934, p 193, Indian Research Institute); Cf: "Dr Stein Konow’s recognition of Kamuia, occurring in the Lion Capital Inscription of Mathura, as = Kambojika is convincing”…See: Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol XVI, 1930, part III and IV, p 229, Dr K. P. Jayswal; For more refs on Aiyasi Kamuia = Aiyasi Kamboja, see: Ancient Kamboja in Iran and Islam, p 69, Dr H. W. Bailey; Five Phases of Indian Art, 1991, p 17, K. D. Bajpai; Indological Studies: Prof. D.C. Sircar Commemoration Volume, 1987, p 106, Prof. D.C. Sircar Commemoration Volume, Upendra Thakur, Sachindra Kumar Maity - Social Science; Female Images in the Museums of Uttar Pradesh and Their Social Background, 1978, p 162, Padma Upadhyaya; Ṛtam, p 46, Akhila Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad, Lucknow; Literary History of Ancient Indiain Relation to its Racial, and Linguistic Affiliations, 1952, pp 46,165, Chandra Chakravarty; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - 1834, p 141, by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; "Ancient Kamboja", in Iran and Islam, ed. by C. E. Bosworth, Edinburgh, 1971, pp. 66, Dr H. W. Bailey; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, pp 41, 227/228, Dr J. L. Kamboj; Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p90, Kirpal Singh Dardi.] .

Hence according to one school of scholars, king Maues, his brother Arta, Kharaosta Kamuio and Kharaosta's daughter Aiyasi Kamuia --- all belonged to the Kambojika or Kamboja clan or lineage [Refs: Corpus Inscrioptionum Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, pp xxxvi, 36, S Konow: "I shall only add that if Kharoshtha and his father Arta were Kambojas, the same may have been the case with Moga, and we understand why the Kambojas are sometimes mentioned with the Sakas and Yavanas" ( Dr S Konow); Ancient India, pp 320-21, Dr R. K. Mukerjee; Journal of Indian History - 1921, p viii, University of Kerala, University of Allahabad Department of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 41, 306-09, Dr J. L. Kamboj; These Kamboj People, 1979, p 141; Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, pp 168-69, Kirpal Singh Dardi; India and the World, 1964, p 154, Dr Buddha Prakash; Balocistān: Siyāsī Kashmakash, Muz̤mirāt Va Rujḥānāt, 1989, p 2, Munīr Aḥmad Marrīتاريخ قوم كمبوه: جديد تحقيق كى روشنى ميں, 1996, p 221, Yusuf Husain. For Arta being considered brother of king Maues (See also: The Seleucid, Partha and Sassasina Periods, 1983, p 195, E Y Shater).] .

Mahaksatrapa Arta of the Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary

A recently discovered "Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary", found from Shinkot in Bajaur (Pakistan), and edited and published for the first time by Richard Saloman, in "Journal of the American Oriental Society" (Jully- September, 1996), refers to a king named "Kharayosta", believed to belong to the later quarter of first century BCE. According to its editor Dr Richard Salomon (University of Washington), king Kharayosta of the "Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary", in all probability, is the same Kharaosta who finds reference as "Yuvaraja Kharosta" in the Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions as well as, as "Kharaostasa or Kharahostes" in the coins [An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1996), pp. 418-452, Richard Salomon.] . If this view is correct, and also, if Dr Konow's recognition of Kamuia and Kamuio of Lion Capital with Sanskrit Kambojaka or Kamboja is correct, then it can be confidently believed that the Apraca kings of Bajaur were connected with Kharaosta Kamuio, Aiyasia Kamuio and Arta Kamuio etc and, therefore, were also probably from a Kamboja lineage. Interestingly, Arta (Kamuio) of the coins also finds a reference in the "Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary" and is addressed as Mahaksatrapa. This is the second important reference on Arta, besides the coins of Kharaosta [ Op cit, Richard Salomon, p 440.] [COMMENT: King Ashoka's Rock Edict no XIII, written around 250-60 BCE, mentions the Kambojas with the Yonas as very prominent political people of the frontiers. In Rock Edict no V, they are again mentioned prominently along with other important nations of the western borders of India (Ref: Indian Historical Quarterly, 1931, p 631, Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 256, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukerjee). Furthermore, Arthashastra of Kautiliya (XI.1.1-4), written around third/fourth century BCE, also singles out the Kambojas (and only the Kambojas) as very important martial nation on the extreme north-west frontiers i.e north-eastern Afghanistan. And last but not the least, we have Mudra-rakshasa evidence which testifies that the Kambojas along with Parasikas, Sakas, Kiratas etc had formed an important part of the composite army which had helped Ashoka's grand father found the Mauryans dynasty in India. It is therefore, quite reasonable to conclude that, the Kambojas had not all of sudden, evanished from the political scenes in the north-west within a short span of less than 200 years. We get very important clues from the Mathura Lion Capital, the coins and the "Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary" found from Bajaur that the Kambojas were still holding supereme around the start of Christian era and, were still exactly posited at the same location which had always been the stronghold of the Kambojas and their sub-sections, the Ashvakas. Due to prolonged close contacts between the Sakas, Kambojas and Pahlavas etc of Central Asia, there had understandably occurred an extensive political and social intercourse and admixture among them which had also resulted in blood mixing through matrimonial alliance etc. Their social customs and mannerism, political institutions and religious observances had become almost similar. It is, therefore, not very easy to differentiate apart the various ancient historical personages of these allied nations. To put it succinctly, the Kambojas had become somewhat scythianized due to their extensive exposure to and intimate socail admixture with the Sakas, Pahlavas and the Yavanas and thus, it is neigh impossible to differentiate the members of the Kamboja lineage from that of the other nations. The identity of Kamboja family of Arta (Kamuio), Kharosata Kamuio, Aiyasi Kamuia and king Maues (all Kamuias or Kambojas) has been wrongly confused with the Scythians by the earlier scholars simply due to the above reasons. It seems therefore, highly probable, as Richard Salomon has suggested, that the Aparaca rulers of Bajaur and the Kamuia (Kamboja) family of yuvaraja Kharaosta (Kamuio), Arta, princess Aiyasi Kamuia and for that matter king Maues-- all belonged to the same family-tree and all came from the Kamboja background, located in eastern Afghanistan.]

Notes

External links

*Mathura Lion Capital Inscriptions [http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/etext.php?cki=CKI0048]
*The Early Kushan Kings: New Evidence for Chronology: Para (63) [http://www.grifterrec.com/y/cribb/ekk_cribb_03.html]

ee also

*Kamuia
*Aiyasi Kamuia
*Kharaosta Kamuio
*Maues
*Kambojas
*Kamboja
*Parama-Kambojas
*Rishikas

References

*Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, part I, Dr Stein Konow
*Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research society, Vol XVI, 1930, parts III, IV, Dr K. P. Jayswal
*Ancient India, 1956, Dr R. K. Mukerjee
*Comprehensive History of India, 1957, Vol II, Dr K. A. Nilkantha Shastri
*Ancient Kamboja People & Country, 1981, Dr J. L. Kamboj
*Political History of ancient India, 1996, Dr H. C. raychaudhury
*India and the World, 1964, Dr Buddha Parkash
*India and Central Asia, 1929, Dr P.C. Bagchi
*Sculptures of Mathura and Sarnath, 2002, Usha Rani Tiwari (br)
*The Sakas in India, Dr S. Chattopadhyaya
*The development of Kharoshthi Script, Dr C. C. Dasgupta
*Hellenism in Ancient India, G. N. Bannerjee
*Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol Xvi Parts III, IV, 1930
.
*An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman,Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1996), Richard Salomon