|
The Indian Analyst
|
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA indicate that the record probably belongs to the middle of the eighth century A. D.[1] The language is Sanskrit and the record is in prose throughout. The orthography does not call for any special notice. The inscription opens with an obeisance to Śiva. It refers itself to the reign of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Śaṅkaragaṇadēva who meditated on the feet of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Vāmarājadēva.[2] The object of the inscription is to record some meritorious work (kīrti) done by a lady named Kṛishṇadēvī for the religious merit of her mother and father. This appears to have been a temple which, as the opening words show, was probably dedicated to Śiva. If this conjecture is correct, the panel with the present inscription at the top may have been originally put up at the temple. The male and female figures in it are evidently intended to represent the father and the mother of the donor who herself is represented by a small female figure between them. She calls herself the wife of the illustrious Dēuka who was the son of a king whose name I have doubtfully read as Rāvārya. The latter was born in the family of Kalāirēya and was the Emperor of Kaśapura (Kāśīpura ?).[3]
The inscription contains no date, but as stated above, it may be assigned on palæographic grounds to the middle of the eighth century A. D. It is thus one of the earliest Kalachuri records in C. P. and Berar and is of the same age as the Chhoṭi Deori inscription which also belongs to the reign of the same Śaṅkaragaṇa. But apart from its age, the chief interest of the present inscription lies in this that it offers for the first time a satisfactory explanation of the expression Vāmadēvapād-ānudhyāta which has till now baffled the attempts of scholars. As stated above, Śaṅkaragaṇa during whose reign it was put up meditated on the feet of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Vāmarājadēva. A similar statement occurs in several later Kalachuri inscriptions in connection with five Kalachuri kings, viz., Karṇa, Yaśaḥkaṛṇa, Narasiṁha, Jayasiṁha and Vijayasiṁha,[4] with only this difference that the name of Vāmarājādēva is shortened into Vāmadēva. Again, in the records of some feudatory princes of Karkarēḍi (modern Kakreri in the Rewah State) the same statement occurs in the description of the contemporary Kalachuri Emperor,[5] with the addition of one more epithet, viz., Paramamāhēśvara, which is prefixed to Vāmadēva. The statement is again repeated in connection with the Chandēlla king Trailōkyavarman in the Rewah plates of his feudatory Kumārapālavarman.[6] Judging from other records, the expression pād-ānudhyāta should ordinarily indicate immediate succession such as that of a son to his father or of one brother to another. But Vāmadēva could not plainly have been the immediate predecessor of all these kings. A similar difficulty had presented itself in connection with some Valabhī records which mentioned that certain kings meditated on the feet of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Bappa, but Dr. Fleet who noticed an analogous expression in the records of some other dynasties also, solved it satisfactorily by taking the statement to mean that these kings meditated on the feet of their father.[7] Such an _____________________________________
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|
