Note 80 — INDEX (continued 2)

Maitraka is a Sanskritised form of Mihira and this again is perhaps an adaptation of the widespread and well-known Western Indian tribal name Mer or Med. Compare Fleet’s Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 326–327. It is to be remembered that the name of the emperor then (a.d. 450–500) ruling the White Huns was Khushnáwaz, a Persian name, the Happy Cherisher …. The emperor’s Persian name, Mihirakula’s reported (Darmsteter Jl. Asiatique, X. 70 n. 3) introduction of Magi into Kashmir, and the inaptness of Mihirakula as a personal name give weight to Mr. Fleet’s suggestion (Ind. Ant. XV. 245–252) that Mihirakula is pure Persian. The true form may then be Mihiragula, that is Sun Rose, a name which the personal beauty of the prince may have gained him. ‘I have heard of my son’s wisdom and beauty and wish once to see his face’ said the fate-reading mother of king Báláditya (Beal’s Buddhist Records, I. 169) when the captive Mihirakula was led before her his young head for very shame shrouded in his cloak. ↑