South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Harjaravarman’s queen, who was the mother of Vanamālavarman, is given as Śrīmattarā in verse 15 of the published text of the lost plates, while the Hayungthal plate of Harjaravarman (line 24) has it as Maṅgalaśrī. The correct reading of the name in Vanamālavarman’s inscription is now found to be śrī-Maṅgalā. The real name of the queen thus seems to have been Maṅgalā or Maṅgalaśrī. Fourthly, the name of Harjaravarman’s mother was read in the lost plates as Jīvadā (verse 10), although the Hayungthal plate gives it as Jīvadēvī (line 13). The present record shows that Jīvad=ēti suggesting the name Jīvadā is a wrong reading for Jīvadēvī. Fifthly, verse 24 of the present record as well as of the lost plates refers to the rebuilding of a fallen temple of Hētuka-Śūlin (Śiva) by Vanamālavarman. Whatever may be the real significance of the word hētuka in this context, Bhattacharya’s emendation Hāṭapa-Śūlin to indicate the god installed at the city of Hāṭapēśvara seems to be entirely beside the mark. Sixthly, it is usually believed that the name of the capital city of the second dynasty of Prāgjyōtisha kings was Hārūppēśvara. This is no doubt the reading of the name preferred by R. Hoernle in line 29 of the Nowgong plates of Balavarman. It must however, be pointed out that Hoernle did not forget to note that “the first two aksharas of the name are not quite distinct ; Possibly sarūº”.^[1] In line 21 of the Hayungthal plate of Harjaravarman, Bhattacharya reads the name as Haṭappēśvara (although not the slightest trace of ā sign on h is found in the photograph of the plate published by him) and corrects it to Hārūppēśvara.^[2] In line 1 of the Tezpur stone inscription^[3] of the same king, the reading seems to be Haṭappēśvara, although Bhattacharya suggests Hārūppēśvara.

>

The late Mahāmahōpādhyāya H. P. Sastri reads the name in this record as Hārūppēśvara.^[4] As regards the first akshara, however, he says, “The ā stroke has been obliterated by a fissure in the rock ; but we know from other inscriptions of this dynasty that the name of the capital was Hārūppēśvara.” In regard to the second akshara of the name, he says, “There is a slight peeling off of the stone close to the left-hand limb of ra. Hence the Government Epigraphist (H. Krishna Sastri) read it as kka”. In a note5 on the reading of this damaged inscription, that master epigraphist, F. Kielhorn, read the name as Ha..ppēśvara and observed as follows : “Of the name which follows upon svasti, the initial consonant (h) is clear, but it is uncertain whether the first syllable of the name is simply ha, or hā or hu ; and the second syllable, which I have omitted, is quite doubtful. The same name we apparently have in line ^[5] of Plate IIb of the Nowgong District plates of Balavarmadēva of Prāgjyōtisha where by Dr. Hoernle it has been read Hārūppēśvara, with the note that the first two syllables might possible be sarū. But in the published photograph of the plates the second syllable hardly looks to me like rū, and in the impressions of our stone inscription to read rū seems impossible.”^[6] It will thus be seen that the reading of the first two aksharas of the name Hārūppēśvara is doubtful in all these cases, though the first of them is probably ha and not hā. As to the lost Tezpur plates of Vanamālavarman, the name is found in the rough transcript published in the JASB as Harayēsana, although, it may be pointed out, the letter ḍ has always been read by the transcriber as r as a result of the

_________________________________________________

^[1] JASB, 1897, p. 291, note 29. See also Kielhorn’s remarks on the reading of the name, quoted below.
^[2] Vide Kāmarūpa-śāsan-āvalī, p. 50 and plates facing p. 47. Cf. Journ. As. Res. Soc., Vol. I, No. 4, p. 111, note 9.
^[3] Vide ibid., plate facing p. 187.
^[4] JBORS, 1917, p. 512, notes 1-2.
^[5] Nachrichten von der Kōnigl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gōtingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse aus dem Jahre 1905, pp. 465-71.
^[6] Ibid., p. 468.