Odirajas
The Oḍirājas (Gandhārī: oḍiraya) were a local Gandhāran Buddhist dynasty of Swat Valley attested in several reliquary inscriptions dating from the first century CE.[1][2] Their capital was probably located at modern Oḍigram.[3]
Oḍirājas are chiefly known from their three inscriptions, dated to the rule of Ajidaseṇa (year 4), Varmaseṇa (year 5) and Seṇavarma (year 14), respectively.[3] The later two were brothers, and sons of Ajidaseṇa. Stefan Baums dates the inscriptions of the three rulers to 9, 30 and 39 CE, respectively.[4] They were closely related to the neighbouring Buddhist dynasty of Apracharajas and possibly had matrimonial alliances with them.[3]
The Oḍirājas claimed ancestry from Ikṣvāku lineage of Buddha's Śākya clan, through one Utaraseṇa who was said by Xuanzang to have descended from Śākyan exiles to Oḍḍiyāna.[3]
Inscriptions
[edit]The latest, and longest, Oḍi inscription is that of Seṇavarma's gold leaf inscription, which details his genealogy and his establishment of Buddhist relics. The inscription mentions that the stupa of Ekaüḍa had been originally established by "Vasuseṇa, son of Utaraseṇa, king of Oḍi from the Ikṣvāku family", and as it had been destroyed after being stuck by lightning, Seṇavarma, son of Ajidaseṇa, being heir of Utaraseṇa, rebuilt it. The inscription then honours parents of Seṇavarma, members of his court, his deceased brother Varmaseṇa, his ancestors, and the Kushan suzerain Kujula Kadphises and his son Sadaṣkaṇa. It also mentions the names of the officials who wrote and placed the inscription:[5]
Mother and father, who undertake a difficult practice – Uzaṃda, who has a living son and who is still alive, and (my) father who passed on, Ajidaseṇa, king of Oḍi – are honored. Sadaṣkaṇa, son of the Great King, King of Kings, Kujula Kadphises, the Devaputra, together with the anankaios Suhasoma, the aṣmaṇakara, with his yoke animals and with his army and carriages, together with the guśurakas and the sturakas, is honored. The brother who passed on, Varmaseṇa, King of Oḍi, and the princes Ajidavarma and Ayaseṇa, who are still alive, are honored. Beginning with King Bhadaseṇa and up to my great-grandfather Diśaseṇa, all kings of Oḍi, born in the royal family of Ikṣvāku, are honored.
— Gold Scroll of Seṇavarma, Translated by Stefan Baums, 2012
References
[edit]- ↑ Lakshminarayanan, Ashwini (2024). "A Prolegomenon to the Visual Language of Dance in Gandhāra". Religions. 15 (8): 895. doi:10.3390/rel15080895. ISSN 2077-1444.
Its foundations may have been associated with the Dharmarājikā stūpas built by the Mauryan King Aśoka (c. 304–232 BCE), and its later enlargement may be related to the Oḍirājas, a group of local Gandhāran potentates who controlled the Swāt Valley in the first century CE.
- ↑ Iori, Elisa (2023). "Releasing Urban Religion beyond the City Wall: The Spatial Capital of Early Buddhist Monasticism in NW South Asia". Numen. 70 (2–3): 184–219. doi:10.1163/15685276-20231691. hdl:10278/5079362. ISSN 0029-5973.
- 1 2 3 4 Albery, Henry (2020). Buddhism and Society in the Indic North and Northwest: 2nd Century BCE – 3rd Century CE. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. pp. 225–243.
- ↑ Baums, Stefan (2018). "A framework for Gandhāran chronology based on relic inscriptions". In Rienjang, Wannaporn; Stewart, Peter (eds.). Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd–24th March, 2017. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. pp. 53–70. doi:10.2307/jj.15135994.9. ISBN 978-1-78491-856-9.
- ↑ Christopher, Skinner, Michael (2017). "Marks of Empire: Extracting a Narrative from the Corpus of Kuṣāṇa Inscriptions". University of Washington: 249–252.
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Further reading
[edit]- Skinner, Michael C. (2021). "Oḍis". In Potts, D. T.; Harkness, Ethan; Neelis, Jason; McIntosh, Roderick James (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00558. ISBN 978-1-119-39991-9.