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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
REYURU GRANT OF PALLAVA NARASIMHAVARMAN ; records of this king are also silent about it. Furthermore, it is seen that with the exception of the present charter and the Śivanvāyal inscription[1] of Siṁhavarman, no records of the Pallava rulers of the Siṁhavishṇu line, including Nandivarman II and his successors, attribute the performance of horse sacrifice to any of them. If this great achievement were a fact, the ruler himself or his descendants would have legitimately taken credit for it and certainly mentioned the same in their records. We may note in this connection the performance of horse sacrifice by Pulakēśin I of the Western Chālukya family, which is often alluded to in their records.[2] So the truth appears to be like this. In the Hirahaḍagalli plates,[3] Śivaskandavarman is stated to have celebrated the horse sacrifice. Here we are at the source. The later descendants of his family took pride over this and duly incorporated the event in their praśasti in general terms as a praiseworthy qualification of the Pallava family. The claim was also exaggerated by multiplying the number of horse sacrifices performed. Thus we find that in the Chendalūr plates[4] of Kumāravishṇu II, Uruvupalli grant and other charters, the Pallavas in general are referred to as the performers of horse sacrifices. In view of these finds we are justified in making the following observation. The drafter of the Rēyūru grant, who, as shown before, was influenced by the texts of the copper plate charters of the earlier period, simply borrowed this expression from them and foisted it on the father of the ruling king, his patron, for his glorification. It would be on similar lines that we shall have to account for the characteristic attribute, ‘performer of ten horse sacrifices,’ ascribed to the Pallava king Siṁhavarman,[5] as noticed for the first time in the Śivanvāyal inscription. The royal order announcing the gift was addressed to the inhabitants of Rēyūru ; and it was enjoined on pain of corporal punishment upon all the ministers along with their subordinate officials (karaṇayuktāḥ), all the officers of the state (sarvaniyōgakāḥ) and the courtiers (rājavallabhāḥ), that they should collect no dues whatsoever from the village, particularly while on tour (sañcharantaḥ). The executor of the order was Īśvara, the chief of Nandakurra, and son of Sōmāditya, who equalled Rājāditya in valour.[6]
The donee Kumāramaṇḍaśarman was a resident of Kuravaśrī and he is referred to as a Sōmayājin. He came from a learned family. Both his father Kumāraśarman and grandfather Kūḷaśarman were proficient in two Vēdas. The latter is said to have known the essence of the Vēdas, Vēdāṅgas, Itihāsa and Purāṇa. He belonged to the Rāthitara gōtra and was a student of Āpastaṁba sūtra. We may note here the occurrence of the expression dvēdapāraga qualifying all the three members of the family. Evidently it is an abbreviation of dvi-vēda-pāraga and may be taken to be equivalent of dvēdin, i.e., dvi-vēdin. Lastly we may consider the geographical information contained in the epigraph. The gift village Rēyūru is stated to have been situated in the Mēl-Muṇḍarāshṭra. The prefix mēl in this expression is Tamil, meaning ‘west’. This territorial name occurs for the first time in the present record, though Muṇḍarāshṭra is already familiar to us through other inscriptions. Judging from its connotation, Mēl-Muṇḍarāshṭra must have been situated to the west of _________________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XXVII, p. 62. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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