Notes on the Ghosundi Stone Inscription

Summary

The article discusses three fragments of the Ghosuṇḍi stone inscription housed in the Rajputana Museum and previously published with a brief note by G. H. Johnston. The author reviews earlier transcriptions by Śyāmal Dās and D. R. Bhandarkar and offers new suggestions regarding readings and interpretations. He argues that the inscription refers to a king of the Kanva dynasty who performed an Aśvamedha sacrifice and dedicated a structure to Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva, indicating the early spread of the Bhāgavata religion. By analysing the paleography, he notes that the script resembles eastern varieties and proposes a date later than some scholars have suggested. The paper also points out that the inscription provides one of the earliest epigraphic records of the worship of the Śāligrāma stone and suggests that Kanva rulers, like the Śuṅgas, patronised Vedic rituals and Vaishnava deities. The author contends that the differences in expert dating—ranging from the 3rd to the 1st century BCE—arise from comparing scripts from different regions and that it may be reasonable to place the inscription closer to the end of the first century BCE. The article thus underscores the inscription’s importance for understanding religious and political developments in central India.