EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
from Vallabha (i.e. the Rāshṭrakūṭa king). The next two verses dwell upon Dānārṇava’s virtues
as a ruler. In the middle of line 30 begins the prose passage dealing with the actual donation.
The charter records the gift, at the instance of a feudatory chief named Kākatya Guṇḍyana,
of the village of Māṅgallu in favour of a Brāhmaṇa named Dommana. It is addressed by king
Ammarāja II (Vijayāditya VI) to the householders headed by the Rāshṭrakūṭas of the Nātavāḍi
district and the Mantrin, Purōhati,Sēnāpati, Yuvarāja and other members of the eighteen tīrthas.[1]
Kākatya Guṇḍyana is described as born in the family of Sāmanta Voḍḍi. Judging from the
description, Sāmanta Voḍḍi appears to have been an eminent chief of an early generation. His
descendant, Guṇḍiya-rāshṭrakūṭa, seems to have rendered great service to a Chālukya king. His
son Ēriya- rāshṭrakūṭa was a fire to the forest of enemies and an expert in the management of
horse. His son by Vandyanāmbā was the above Guṇḍyana, at whose request the grant was
made
The grantee, Dommana, was the grandson of Chiddamayya of Kutsa gōtra, who is described
as the foremost of scholars and a resident of the village of Vēlāparru. He was the son, by Māchemāmbā, of Śrīdhara who proved true to his name by his devotion to the lotus-feet of the god
Śrīdhara (i.e. Vishṇu). Dommana pursued the path of the virtuous, enjoined in the Śruti and the
Purāṇas, and was loved by good people. For the merit of Kākatya Guṇḍyana and with a view to
secure his favour, Dommana observed the Karpaṭīvrata which included early bath, continence,
truthfulness and other vows.[2] In return for this, Dommana was rewarded with the village of
Māṅgallu, which was made a tax-free agrahāra, on the occasion of the Uttarāyaṇa of a particular
year which is not specified. The boundaries of the village are then specified. As the order was
addressed to the people of Nātavāḍi-vishaya (lines 31-32), it is obvious that the gift village was
situated in that vishaya.
The record throws some light on the civil wars between the main branch and the Yuddhamalla
line from the time of Vijayāditya V onwards. It is a known fact that this monarch ruled for only
a fortnight in 925 A.D.,[3] and that he was ejected by Tāḷapa, ( Tāḍapa, Tālapa Tārapa), the son of
Yuddhamalla I of the collateral line. According to some inscriptions, Bēta (Vijayāditya V) was
anointed as a mere child, being invested with a kaṇṭhikā.[4] The Maliyapūṇḍi[5], Vēmalūrpāḍu[6]
and Kaluchumbarru[7] grant clearly mention the tender age of Vijayāditya V when he was deposed
by Tāḷapa. Another version[8] records his being attacked and imprisoned by Tāḷapa. That Bēta
did not die young is, however, clear from the fact[9] that he was the progenitor of a line of chiefs who,
centuries later, ruled in the Vēṅgī country. We can explain these conflicting views by assuming
that Bēta came to the throne when he was a child, that advantage was taken of this by Tāḷapa to
depose and imprison him, and that he was a prisoner perhaps in the years which followed, and in
which Tāḷapa, Vikramāditya II (926 A.D.), Bhīma II (926-27 A.D.), Yuddhamalla II (927-34
A.D.) and Chālukya Bhīma III (usually called Bhīma II, 934-45 A.D.) struggled and ruled respectively for one month, one year or eleven months, eight months, seven years, and twelve years.
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[1] For the eighteen tīrthas, see the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, I. 12 ; cf. K. P. Jayaswal, Hindu Polity, Part II
pp. 133-34.
[2] The Śabdaratnāvalī describes a karpaṭin as a bhikshu and as malina-jīrṇu-vastra-khaṇḍa-dhārin.
[3] [The dates given in this article for the reigns of the Eastern Chālukya princes generally follow Fleet’s
chronological scheme.─ Ed.]
[4] For the significance of the kaṇṭhikā as a juvenile ornament, see above, Vol. V, p. 138, n. 2.
[5] Above, Vol. IX, pp. 47 ff.
[6] Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 226 ff.
[7] Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 186, text line 28.
[8] Cf. the Gundalagolanu grant (Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 248).
[9] Above, Vol. VI, pp. 226-42. It is a record of Mallappa III from Pithapuram. According to Kielhorn, it is
dated the 16th June, 1202 A.D.
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