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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA CHEVURU PLATES OF EASTERN CHALUKYA AMMA I loyalty : he is described as the Śūdraka[1] of the Kali age, and is said to have served Amma I’s father Vijayāditya IV loyally and obediently. It was, in fact, this devotion on the part of Vēmarāja that particularly pleased Amma I, who consequently rewarded him with the gift of a village.[2] The special occasion, on which the conferment was made, is stated to be the Annaprāśana ceremony of prince Vijayāditya, i.e., Amma I’s son Vijayāditya V. This accords well with the already known fact that Vijayāditya V was a mere child at the time when he succeeded his father to the throne. Since the abovenamed ceremony usually comes off during the sixth month[3] from the time of the birth of the child concerned, it may be inferred that Vijayāditya V was an infant of about six months at the time of the grant recorded in the present charter. Had the regnal year of king Amma I been mentioned in it, it would have been possible to determine more or less precisely as to how old Vijayāditya V was at the time of his accession. However, we know that Amma I reigned for seven years, and thus even granting that Vijayāditya V was born to him during the very first year of his reign, he (Vijayāditya V) could not have been older than seven years when he was anointed king. There are, on the other hand, indications that he was much younger, as will presently be shown.
We know of three other records, besides the present one, pertaining to Amma I. They are the Masulipatam,[4] Ēḍēru[5] and Tenāli6 plates. The first two of these inscriptions have been edited, while of the last one only the contents have been briefly noticed. It is remarkable that none of the four known charters of Amma I records a donation to a Brāhmaṇa, but that in every one of them a person of a military rank is so honoured. This, so far as we know, has been the case even on the occasion of the Annaprāśana ceremony of the new-born prince, when a Brāhmaṇa’s claim to a munificent royal gift could hardly be ignored.[7] All this in reality may mean nothing, but, considering that Amma I was all along at war either with his own kinsmen or with external enemies such as the Rāshṭrakūṭas, one may be justified in assuming that he deliberately pursued a policy of encouraging men of the military profession by showing favours to them, so that they might remain loyal to him and, in case of need, might fight for him. This far-sighted policy may have contributed to his successes. There is one point on which the present grant differs from the other three. To wit, its preamble, unlike that of the others, does not contain the usual genealogical list, giving the names and the duration of reign in each case of the Eastern Chālukya kings, starting from Vishṇuvardhana I, the founder of the dynasty, downwards, However, it mentions the names of the two immediate predecessors of Amma I, namely those of his father and grand-father, Vijayāditya (IV) and Chālukya-Bhīma (I) respectively. Vijayāditya IV is given the epithet Samastabhuvanāśraya. In connection with Amma I himself, the inscription mentions his known _________________________________
[1] This Śūdraka, represented here as a pattern of daring, is plainly a legendary character, and ‘like Vikramāditya is the hero of a vast cycle of stories’. See pp. i-ii of the Preface to H. M. Sarma’s edition of Śūdraka’s Mṛichchhakaṭika (2nd edition, Nirnaya-Sāgar Press, Bombay, 1910). Other instances of a valiant person likened to
Śūdraka may be found above, Vol. V, p. 123, text l. 31 ; Vol. XXIV, p. 193, text l. 7 ; etc. [Cf. the title Jagadēka-Śūdraka applied to one Pallavamalla, S. I. I., Vol. IV, No. 925.─C. R. K.]
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