Ancient Town of Eran
Introduction
Eran is an ancient town on the banks of river Bina, “16 miles above its junction with the
Betwa, about 50 miles to the north-east of Bhilsa” (Cunnigham,1871, p.76). A town which
often escapes the attention of even the most enthusiastic travellers. However, in this town is embedded rich historical and cultural heritage of our country. “Eran was indeed a historic city site protected on three sides by the river and on the fourth side by a mud rampant and a moat” (Chakrabarti, 2005, p.97). Eran, which was an important town on the route to Ujjaini from the east and linked Mathura to Vidisha from the north (Agrawala, 1977, p.8 ). It was Chnadragupta II who is credited for making towns like Eran, Ujjayini, Vidisha and Mathura into thriving cultural centres (Bajpai, 1973, p.28). The town was an important centre during the Gupta Period and also when the Huns came and established their authority in the region. It houses some inscriptions of great eminence as well as typical Gupta Stye Temples. In this article I will talk about the lesser-known town of Eran in Madhya Pradesh, which during the Gupta period was of paramount importance.
Name
Fleet mentions something rather quite interesting about Eran. He says, “The name is not unique; for the maps show another 1 Eran ’ seven miles almost due west of Bhilsa, and another thirteen mites to the north-east of Bhilsa” (Fleet, 1960, p.18), signifying that at a time, there were at least three towns of the same name around Sagar. Its ancient names were Erakina and Airikina, which come from two very different and interesting sources- Erakina comes from a donative inscription at Sanchi, which reads, Erakina Satilasa danam, translated as ‘The gift of Satila from Erakina’ (Marshall, 1982, p. 314). The name Eirikina is also mentioned in a stone inscription of Saka king Sridharmavarman, where the town of Eran is referred to as an adhisthana. (Bandyopadhyay, 1986, p.289). The other name Airikina comes from a Brahmi inscription on a seal excavated from Eran, upper part of which depicts Gajalakshmi flanked by elephants on each side, while the lower part reads: Airikina Gomika vishayadhikaranasya, which translates as- “the seal of the officer of the Gomika Vishaya of Airikina” (Bajpai, 1988, p.183). Here Gomika refers to a visaya (administrative district). According to K.D. Bajpai, gomika was “included in the bhukti (territorial unit) of Airikina.” In the Gupta Imperial system, a group of visyas together made a bhukti. He further says that probably the ancient town of Airikina, for some time, was a bhukti during the Gupta reign. He also states that Airikina was both a territorial unit (bhukti, pradesa, or Visaya) and a town (nagar or adhishthana) (Bajpai, 2003, p.272). Some coins also mention the name erakanya for the ancient town. Cunningham in his Report suggests that the name comes from eraka, a type of grass, prevalent in this area (Cunnigham,1871, p.77). However, K.P. Jayaswal suggests another theory. According to him, as there is a serpent represented in one of the coins excavated, the name Eraka or Airaka, which also means a serpent. It further goes back to the story of the Mahabharata, where a Naga of the same name existed. He also talks about a Buddhist monk named Maha-Airaka, from the Nasik inscription of Pulumavi. He suggests that the Eran coins derived their name from a person called Airaka, who was the founder of the aforementioned state. The Naga Dynasty of Malwa, contemporary to the Guptas could have had connection with Airikinas (Jayaswal, 1932, p.159).
Inscriptions of Significance
The importance of the site can be understood by the presence of some major inscriptions of Samudragupta, Buddhagupta and Toramana. The inscription of Samudragupta becomes very important while talking about this ancient town. The line 25 of Samudragupta’s inscription uses the word Svabhognagararairikinapradesa, which is translated by Fleet as “In a place in Airikina, the city of his enjoyment.” Bajpai while talking about this inscription interprets bhoga as a territorial unit and explains that words like Bhoga, bhukti, bhogbhaga, bhogika find their mention repeatedly in the Gupta official records, however, Fleet translated it as a territorial unit, rather than enjoyment (Bajpai, 2003, p.271). Interestingly, the earliest epigraphical reference to Maharashtra also comes from Eran. The Eran inscription of Saka king Sridharmavarman, erected by his Senapati Satyanaga, who hailed from Maharashtra, stands as a memorial to those Naga soldiers who had laid down their lives while defending the Adhishthana of Erikina. This inscription is written on a pillar called yasti. Through the inscription Satyanaga expresses his wish that the yasti raised by the Nagas would inspire the future generations the show the same kind of valour during the times of war (Maharashtra State Gazetteers, 1971, p.106).
Vaishnava Faith
Eran being an important seat of the Vaishnava faith (Willis, p.109), has several significant temples which are dedicated to Varaha, Vishnu, Narsimha. The Gupta Temples discovered by Cunningham at Eran have “ground plan of a square or rectangular Garbhgriha, proceeded by a pillared portico” It is believed that the Narsimha temple is the earliest of this group. The colossal Varaha houses the inscription of Toramana, which has helped us to determine its date as 500 A.D. The entire body of this huge Varaha sculpture is covered with figures of sages, divinities etc. While writing about the Varaha, Fleet mentions, “The Boar is covered all over with elaborate sculptures chiefly of Rishis or saints clinging to its mane and bristles. It has
the earth represented as a woman, hanging on in accordance with the legend, to its right hand tusk and over its shoulders there is a small four sided shrine, with a sitting figure in each face of it” (Fleet, 1960, p.159) The colossal Varaha tenderly depicts its relationship with the earth goddess. The face of Earth goddess is composed and her hair are tied up in a neat bun under an ornated turban, while hanging from the Varaha’s right tusk. Catherine Becker believes,“Eran Varaha wears its narrative like a costume” (Becker, 2010, p. 129). According to Huntington, looking at the Eran Varaha one can clearly see the “sculptural ties in the artistic developments” in the 5th early 5th century C.E with Udaygiri at Vidisha (Huntington, 1985, p. 197). However, with the passage of time the temples of Eran endured damages and destruction. The 1920-21 Annual Report of Director General of Archaeology in India also talks about restoring the fractured legs of the Varaha of Eran (Marshall, 1923, p.9). Vishnu Temple- According to Percy Brown the characteristic features of Early Gupta buildings from 4th to 6th Century C.E were- Flat roof, pillared portico, shape of pillars and columns, inter-columnation, the doorway’s design, around the building architrave being continued as a string- course. The Temples at Eran are a perfect embodiment of these features (Brown, 1959, p.109). It has a flat roof, which according to Cunningham is similar to that of Tigowa and Sanchi temples respectively. He also asserts that the original portico of the temple was made in the early Gupta style, as he found a true Gupta pillar near the pilastered capital during his excavations. He also mentions in his report the name Iskta-hara-rahi of a pilgrim from 5th or 6 Century C.E inscribed over there (Cunnigham,1871, p.76). Narsimha Temple- It’s a single room with a front portico consisting of four pillars. The pillars are “pure Gupta type” having a shaft with square abacus of double its breadth, on top of which two lions are placed with only a tree between them (Cunnigham,1871, p.76).
Sati Monuments- Eran has several Sati inscriptions, however the oldest one comes from the time of King Bhanugupta, when his chieftain Gopraja was martyred, his wife self-immolated herself. “This is one of the earliest recorded instances of the practice of Sati” (Shelat, B Adalbert, Gail, Salomon, R, 2005, P. 194) This inscription was not mentioned by Cunningham in his Report and the pillar was later turned into a Shivalinga. The language of the inscription being Sanskrit, it was written in a prose (Fleet, 1960, p.18). Apart from this several other Sati pillars from Early Medieval Period to the Modern Period were discovered from Eran. Unfortunately, some of these were destroyed while at least 10 of these are still preserved and in good condition. (Chadhar, 2005, p.11)
Coins
Eran became an important archaeological site due to several interesting finds including those of “four different classes of old Indian money” i.e. Punch-marked coins, die-struck coins, cast coins and inscribed coins. The earliest Indian inscribed coin bearing the name of its issuer was found at Eran, on which the name of the issuer was mentioned as Dharmapala (Lahiri, 1974 p.81). This is a tribal coin which dates back to pre-Gupta period (Chakrabarti, 2005, p. 97). The famous Dharmapala coin was discovered by Cunningham who believed that Eastern Malwa was under the rule of Dharmapala at the close of 3rd Century B.C.E. This coin is currently housed in the British Museum. Along with Dharmapala’s coin another coin that dates back to 200 B.C.E was excavated which belonged to a ruler named Indragupta. The legend on the coin is in Mauryan Brahmi and reads as Indagutasa (Bajpai, 1988, p.181).
Huns
When the Gupta power diminished over Central India by the end of the 5th Century C.E, the Huns from Central Ais took over, under the leadership of their ruler Toramana. The Huns captured Eran in 510 A.D, and in a fierce battle Goparaja, a valorous chief of the Gupta king Bhanugupta was martyred. However, the Huna King Mihirkula, son of Toramana, was eventually defeated in 528 C.E and the Huns were pushed away from Madhya Pradesh by
Yashodharman, the king of Dasapura (Bajpai, 1973, p.29).
Conclusion
Eran a bustling Gupta town, stand a testimony of the Vaishnava faith prevalent in Central India and also a reminder of the extent of Huna power in ancient India. This town saw the rule of the Guptas, then was subjugated by the Huns and later lost to Yahodharman, reminds us that even the mightiest of kings fall and as beautifully said by Henry Rider Haggard, “The great wheel of fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes us all in turn, some soon some later- it does not matter when, in the end, it crushes us all.”
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Mrinalini Pandey is a Consulting Editor at Manjul Publishing House. A Postgraduate in History, Mrinalini has presented one of her research paper at the prestigious Cambridge University. She did a short course on Anglo-Saxon History from Oxford University. She has translated Erich Segal’s Love Story into Hindi and her recent translation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda is in Press now. Recently one of her article was published in Oxford Middle East Review.