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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the Parikud and the present charter, have been quoted from the records of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II Śrīnivāsa, father of Ayaśōbhīta II Madhyamarāja. The earliest inscription of the Śailōdbhava family is the Ganjam plates[1] issued by Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II circa 610-65 A.C.) in the Gupta year 300 (619 A.C.) when he was a feudatory of the Gauḍa king Śaśāṅka. The other charters of this Śailōdbhava king, so far discovered, were issued without any reference to his overlord apparently after the defeat of the Gauḍa king, either Śaśāṅka himself or his successor, by king Harshavardhana of Kanauj, allied with king Bhāskaravarman of Kāmarūpa, sometime before 638 A.C.[2] Of the charters issued by the Śailōdbhava king during this period of his independent rule, the Khurda plates,[3] the introduction of which is couched in prose as in the Ganjam plates, appear to be the earliest. The Khurda plates as well as the Buguda plates,[4] the latter having an introduction in verses composed for the first time by the court poet of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II, are not dated. Most of these verses are quoted not only in the later dated charters of the same king (the Puri plates[5]─regnal year 13, doubtfully read as 23 by Basak─and the Cuttack Museum plates[6] ─regnal year 50), but also in all later records of the family. Later Śailōdbhava kings developed the habit of quoting the introductory verses from the documents of their predecessors and of adding a few stanzas composed about themselves by their own court poets. This custom can also be traced in many other royal families of ancient India, such as the imperial Gaṅgas of Orissa and the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar. It will be seen from what has been said above that all the twenty verses quoted in the inscription under discussion are already known from the published records of the Śailōdbhavas. Nevertheless, the present inscription is of considerable importance, as it helps us in correcting the faulty text of the Parikud plates.
The first verse, which is found at the beginning of the later charters of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II as well as of all the grants of his successors, is an adoration to Śambhu (Śiva). Verse 2, which is the same as the second verse of the Parikud plates, introduces a king named Mādhavēndra. Thereafter we have the history of the Śailōdbhava family from the very beginning. This style of the introduction, which is found also in the Aihoḷe inscription,[7] would suggest that this Mādhavēndra (i.e., Mādhavarāja or Mādhavavarman) was another name of the reigning monarch, Ayaśōbhīta II Madhyamarāja. It should, however, be pointed out that the same verse is also found in the Buguda plates of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II as well as in the Nivinā grant of Dharmarāja Mānabhīta who was the grandson of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II and the son of Ayaśōbhīta II Madhyamarāja. It therefore seems that all the above three Śailōdbhava kings bore Mādhavavarman as a secondary name. Or better the verse in question referring to Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II is out of place and carelessly quoted in the records of Ayaśōbhīta II Madhya- _________________________________________________
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