Dhanabhuti

Dhanabhūti (Brahmi: 𑀥𑀦𑀪𑀽𑀢𑀺) or Vatsiputra Dhanabhūti was a 2nd or 1st-century BCE Buddhist king in Central India, and the most prominent donor for the Bharhut stupa. Dhanabhuti may have been a feudatory of the Sunga Empire, or a ruler in a neighbouring territory, such as Kosala or Panchala, or he may have also been part of the Mitra dynasty of Kosambi.

Bharhut inscriptions Many portions of the stupa at Bharhut bear inscriptions with the names of Buddhist donors. Dhanabhuti is known from two, or possibly three, of these dedications, and he crucially dedicated the largest and most prestigious portion of the monument, the Eastern Gateway, now displayed in the Indian Museum, in Calcutta. The Bharhut eastern gateway is the only remaining of four original gateways. The flat linear style of sculptures at Bharhut is dated to circa 150 BCE, with the possibility that the more elaborate gateways were made slightly later in 100-75 BCE (most probably 75 BCE based on artistic analysis). The inscription is written in a classical form of the Brahmi script, highly similar with the script known from the time of Ashoka. The beginning of the inscription uses the expression "Suganam Raje", which is thought to mean "during the rule of the Sungas", although not without ambiguity.

In this inscription Dhanabhuti mentions that his grandfather was named "King Visvadeva", and his mother was named "Vāchhī". His mention of "in the reign of the Sungas" also suggests that he was not himself a Sunga ruler.

Northern affiliation

It has also been proposed that the term "Sugana" refers to the Buddhist kingdom of Srughna or Sughana in Haryana, modern Sugh, and that Dhanabhuti was one of its important kings, who, besides building magnificent stupas in his capital city, also made some of the most important donations for the building of the toranas and railings at Bharhut. Alexander Cunningham, the discoverer of Bharhut, was the initial proponent of this view. In his opinion, this explained why the eastern gateway was exclusively inscribed with mason's marks in Kharoshthi, a typical script of the northwest of the subcontinent, by opposition to the local Brahmi script, as Dhanabhuti would have sent some of his artists from the northwest to work on the sculpting of the gateways.

Railing There is another inscription on a railing of the southwest quadrant. This inscription confirms that Dhanabhuti was a king, although probably not a king of the Sunga dynasty.

A last inscription seems to mention Dhanabhuti at Bharhut, but the inscription is defaced.

Compared paleography

For Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, this implies that Dhanabhuti belonged to the period circa 150 BCE, when he probably made both dedicatory inscriptions in Bharhut and Mathura. On the contrary, historian Ajit Kumar, by equalling the timing of both inscriptions of Dhanabhuti with the inscriptions of Sodasa, claims that Dhanabuthi lived in the 1st century CE, and that the monuments of Bharhut or Sanchi are also from this rather late period, long after the Sungas had declined.