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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA TALANGERE INSCRIPTION OF JAYASIMHA him an Āḷupa. Since Taḷaṅgere, where the record under publication is found, is within a distance of thirty miles, as the crow flies, from Kariaṅgaḷa, the findspot of Āḷupa Jayasiṅgarasa’s record, it is not unlikely that the Jayasiṁha of our record belonged to the same family as Jayasiṅgarasa of the Kariaṅgaḷa record did. But, on account of the fact that the Kariaṅgaḷa record, which is also undated, is palaeographically about a century later than the Taḷaṅgere inscription, the two chiefs cannot be regarded as identical. It is very well known that from the time of king Vinayāditya[1] of the family of the Western Chālukyas of Bādāmi the Āḷupas were feudatories of the Chālukyas. From a record recently discovered[2] it would appear that the Āḷupas were even matrimonially connected with the Chālukyas. The Āḷupa chief Chitravāhana seems to have marries Kuṁkuma-Mahādēvī, the sister of the Chālukya monarch Vijayāditya. The inscription states that king Vijayāditya made a grant at the request of Chitravāhana to the Jinabhavana at Purigere constructed by this lady who seems to be described as causing delight to the heart of the Āḷupa ruler. The request was made when Vijayāditya had come to Banavāsi to visit the Āḷupa prince. From an inscription of the reign of Rāshṭrakūṭa Gōvinda III[3] it is known that a Chitravāhana was administering the Āḷuvakhēḍa division under him. This Chitravāhana has been rightly taken to be an Āḷupa ruler on account of his name and the territory which he was governing.[4] This was about 800 A.C. Subsequent to this date hardly anything is known regarding the activities of this family. If, however, our Jayasiṁha is, as suggested above, an Āḷupa ruler, the fact that no paramount titles are borne by him would indicate that about the end of the 10th century, the period to which he has been assigned, the Āḷupas continued to be vassals either of the Rāshṭrakūṭas whose power was declining or the later Chālukyas who were beginning to lay the foundations of their power after overthrowing the Rāshṭrakūṭas. However, by the time of Jayasiṅgarasa of the Kariaṅgaḷa inscription, i.e., 11th century A. C., the Āḷupas seem to have been independent as this ruler is given all the paramount titles.[5]
Besides Jayasiṁha, our inscription mentions two other royal personages, viz., Mōchabbarasi and Jōgavve. The exact relationship which existed between Jayasiṁha and these two ladies is neither stated in the record nor can it be ascertained from the nature of the reference to them made in the record. Nor do we know how Mōchabbarasi and Jōgavve were related to each other. Since at the end of the inscription it is specified that the hereditary rights regarding the possession of the land should devolve on female issues it may be gathered that Mōchabbarasi was either the sister or the niece of Jayasiṁha. If she is to be considered the niece, Jōgavve might have been the king’s sister. It may thus be inferred that this practice of the family property passing from mother to daughter obtained in this part of the country at least as early as the 10th century. This law of inheritance which goes by the name of aḷiya-santāna is in vogue even today in that area. The only place mentioned in the record is Puttūr. This may be identified with the village of the same name, a few miles to the north of Taḷaṅgere, the findspot of the inscription. _________________________________________________
[1] Ep. Carn., Vol. VIII, Sb. 571, Ep. Carn., Vol. XI, Dg. 66. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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