South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

not specified in the present grant, were in all probability Aśvamēdhas.^[1] The conclusion is therefore irresistible that these two Mādhavavarmans were identical. The present grant was thus made by the Vishṇukuṇḍin Emperor Mādhavavarman I.

This Mādhavavarman was a very powerful king. He married a Vākāṭaka princess^[2] who was probably a daughter or some near relative of the last known Vākāṭaka Emperor Harishēṇa (circa A.D. 475-500).^[3] The eighth chapter of the Daśakumāracharita, which probably contains a reflex of the events in the last period of the Vākāṭaka rule shows that the Vākāṭaka Empire crumbled soon after the death of Harishēṇa owing to the imbecility of his successor and the treacherous defection of his feudatories.^[4] Mādhavavarman I who rose to power about this time took advantage of the opportunity that had thus presented itself and extended his dominion far and wide. He performed no less than eleven Aśvamēdhas and thus attained a position of unquestioned supremacy in the Deccan. He is known to have overrun Dakshiṇa Kōsala or Chhattisgarh and occupied for a time the capital (Śrīpura) of Trivara or Tīvaradēva of the Sōmavaṁśī dynasty.^[5] That he had annexed Mahārāshṭra also can be conjectured from the description in the Īpūr plates of his grandson Mādhavavarman II as the lord of Trikūṭa and Malaya.^[6] Trikūṭa is the well known name of the hill which borders the Nasik District on the west.^[7] Malaya is the equally well known name of the southern portion of the Western Ghats.^[8] In the absence of corroborative evidence this description of Mādhavavarman II was believed to be an empty boast. Prof Hultzsch, for instance, remarked while editing the Īpūr plates that both Trikūṭa and Malaya were at a safe distance from the dominions of Mādhavavarman II although he claims to have ruled over them.^[9] The discovery of the present plates which, as shown below, record the grant of a village in the Sātārā District, proves that Mahārāshṭra was included in the empire of Mādhavavarman I.^[10] It

^[1] The number ēkādaśa (eleven) in line 3 of the present plates can not be connected with Bahusuvarṇa, for, firstly, ēkādaśa is an adjective, not a noun like sahasra, and must therefore precede, not follow, Bahusuvarṇa ; secondly, Bahusuvarṇa which is identical with Bahuhiraṇya (also called Dūnāśa) is a minor ēkāha (one-day) sacrifice. See Āśvalāyana-śranta-sūtra, XXII, 8, 26. There is no special point in mentioning that Mādhavavarman I performed eleven Bahusuvarṇas. On the other hand, we get several references to the performance of eleven Āśvamēdha : by the Vishṇukuṇḍin king Mādhavavarman I as shown above. [See below p. 316, n8─Ed.]
^[2] See the expression Vishṇukuṇḍi-Vākāṭa-vaṁśa-dvay-ālaṁkṛita-janmanaḥ in the description of Mādhavavarman I’s son Vikramēndravarman in the Chikkulla plates, above, Vol. IV, p. 196, text line 10.
^[3] Mirashi : Vākāṭaka Inscription in Cave XVI at Ajaṇṭa (Hyderabad Archaeological Series : No. 14), p. 9.
^[4] Mirashi : Historical Data in Daṇḍin’s Daśakumāracharita, ABORI, Vol. XXVI, pp. 20 f.
^[5] Both his Īpūr and Pulōmbūru plates refer to his dalliance with young ladies in the city of Trivara. For the identification of Trivara, see Mirashi’s article on the Thakurdiyā plates of Mahā-Pravararāja, above, Vol. XXII, p. 19. For the location of the capital of Trivara or Tīvaradēva, see Mirashi’s article on the three ancient dynasties of Mahākōsala in the Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. VIII, pp. 47 f.
^[6] Cf. Trikāṭa-Malay-ādhipatir in the description of Mādhavavarman II.
^[7] The recently discovered plates of Bhōgaśakti found at Anjanēri near Nasik mention Pūrva-Trikūṭa-vishaya (Eastern Trikūṭa District) in connection with certain taxes levied in favour of a temple situated in the Nasik District. This shows that Trikūṭa was the name of hill which bordered the Nasik District on the west. See above, Vol. XXV, p. 232.
^[8] Ind. Hist. Quart., Vol. XXII, p. 315.
^[9] Above. Vol. XVII, p. 338.

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