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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 6.-TWO INSCRIPTIONS OF GOVINDACHANDRA, KING OF VANGA (2 Plates) The late Dr. N. K. BHATTASALI, DACCA The Vaṅgāla king Gōvindachandra was so long known to us from the Tirumalai rock inscription of Rājēndra Chōḷa.1 Tirumalai is a hill in the North Arcot District, about 96 miles south-west of Madras. “ The inscription is engraved on a smooth piece of rock near a rock-cut Jaina figure on the top of the hill” and it is in the Tamil language. It is dated in the 13th regnal year of the king, which extended from the middle of A.D. 1024 to the middle of A.D. 1025. In this inscription the conquests of Rājēndra Chōḷa are recorded. Among these conquests, we are concerned here with his conquest of East India. As another inscription, of the 9th regnal year, of the king is silent about his expedition to East India, it is generally assumed that this expedition should be dated between his 9th and 13th years, probably immediately before his 13th year. As expeditions are generally undertaken after the cessation of the rains, in October, this expedition is likely to have been undertaken towards the end of A.D. 1023 and extended into A.D. 1024.
The Tirumalai inscription of Rājēndra Chōḷa throws interesting light on the political condition of Bengal during the period of the invasion by the Chōḷa emperor. The invader found one Dharmapāla ruling over Daṇḍabhukti, roughly the present district of Midnapur. Dakshiṇa-Rādhā, i.e., the district of Howrah and Hooghly, was then ruled by a king of the Śūra family, named Raṇaśūra. After having destroyed the first and defeated the second, the invader appears to have crossed the Bhāgīrathī and entered the Vaṅgāla dēśa ruled over by king Gōvindachandra. The Vaṅgāla king boldly met the invader. The weather appears to have fought in his favour by some heavy showers, as they find particular mention in the Tirumalai inscription. But nothing availed, and Gōvindachandra had ultimately to get down from his royal elephant and flee, when the day went against him. The invader then appears to have turned his arms against Mahīpāla I, lord of Varēndrī, north of the Ganges. The Pāla army, led by Mahīpāla in person, met the Chōḷa army, and a hot engagement ensued. The Pāla king had slippers on and was bedecked with earrings and bracelets, and as these are specifically mentioned, they must have caught the eyes of the southerners. Mahīpāla also shared the same fate as the Vaṅgāla king Gōvindachandra, and the invader captured a number of women and elephants. He then recrossed the Padmā (Ganges) and entered Uttara-Rāḍhā, present Murshidābād and Bīrbhūm Districts2, and again reached the banks of the Bhāgīrthī and returned home by the very route through which he had advanced. This was so long our main3 source of information regarding the existence of a king of Vaṅga, called Gōvindachandra. Fortunately, two inscribed images came to light in 1941, one of the 12th year and the other of the 23rd year of Gōvindachandra. These two inscriptions, discovered from within the limits of ancient Vaṅga, have at last lent welcome confirmation to the Tirumalai inscription and definitely located the region where Gōvindachandra reigned at least for twenty-three years. A. Kulkuḍi sun-god image inscription of the 12th year of the reign of Govindachandra On the 2nd May, 1941, Sj. Mukundabihari Das, Travelling Agent to the Committee for collection of manuscripts, University of Dacca, sent me information about the existence of an inscribed image of the sun-god at the village of Kulkuḍi, P. S. Gosānīhāṭ, Dt. Faridpur. The image was ___________________________
[1] Above, Vol. IX, pp. 229 ff. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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