01The lake at Girnar
On the same boulder at Junagadh where Ashoka’s fourteen rock edicts are cut, Rudradaman had a long Sanskrit prose inscription carved in year 72 of the Shaka era, 150 CE. It says the Sudarshana lake had been made by Pushyagupta, the Vaishya governor of Chandragupta Maurya, and given conduits by the Yavana Tushaspha for Ashoka. A storm burst the dam. Rudradaman’s ministers judged the repair too costly, but the king had it rebuilt by his Pahlava governor Suvishakha from his own treasury, and the inscription stresses that this was done without new taxes, forced labour or levies on the people.
02His own claims
The inscription is Rudradaman’s own praise of himself, and should be read as such. It claims he twice defeated Satakarni, lord of the Dakshinapatha, and spared him because they were closely related; a Kanheri inscription confirms that a Satavahana queen was the daughter of a Mahakshatrapa Rudra. It claims victory over the Yaudheyas, proud of their name as heroes among the Kshatriyas, and a vow from youth never to kill except in battle. It praises his learning in grammar, music and logic. A king of foreign descent chose Sanskrit and the duties of a dharmic ruler to speak to his subjects. Skandagupta’s governor repaired the same lake again in 456 CE and recorded it on the same rock.