South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

in a later record of the family. We have referred above to his Dhauli inscription dated in the year 93 and to his queen Tribhuvanamahādēvī who is described as a paramavaishṇavī and as the daughter of a Nāga chief of the southern country, named Rājamalla. Verse 4 of our record mentions a king named Lōṇabhāra as born in the family of Śāntikara I. It is known, however, from other records that Lōṇabhāra (or Lavaṇaº) was actually the grandson of Śāntikara I. The son of Śāntikara I, surnamed Gayāḍa and Lalitahāra (or ºbhāra), was Śubhākara III otherwise called Kusumahāra (or ºbhāra) and Siṁhadhvaja (or ºkētu).^[1] This king is known to have granted lands in both northern and southern Tōsalī in the year 103.^[2] The grant of land in Uttara-Tōsalī was made at the request of his feudatory, Pulindarāja (either indicating a personal name or less probably signifying ‘the king of the Pulindas’) in favour of the god Vaidyanātha-bhaṭṭāraka (Śiva) enshrined in the Pulindēśvara temple. The land granted in Dakshiṇa-Tōsalī was actually situated in the Kōṅgōdamaṇḍala vishaya. This king was probably succeeded first by his mother Tribhuvanamahādēvī I alias Sindagaurī I and then by his young son Śāntikara II.^[3] Tribhuvanamahādēvī is said to have been requested by the feudatories to assume the reins of government in the same way as an ancient queen named Gōsvāminī had done.^[4] As noticed above, a date in Tribhuvanamahādēvī’s reign probably falls in the year 120. Śāntikara II, who succeeded his grandmother, was also known as Lōṇabhāra (or Lavaṇaº) I and Gayāḍa II. We know that Śāntikara II (alias Lavaṇabhāra alias Gayāḍa) married Hīrāmahādēvī, daughter of Siṁhamāna, and begot on her two sons, viz., Śubhākara IV (surnamed Kusumahāra or ºbhāra II) and Śivakara III (surnamed Lalitahāra or ºbhāra II) both of whom became kings and are mentioned in our record in verses 5 and 6. By this time the Bhauma-Karas were no longer adherents of the Buddhist religion. Mahārājādhirāja Śubhākara IV (Kusumabhāra II) is called a paramamāhēśvara in his Talcher plate^[5] of the year 145. His younger brother and successor Śivakara III is known from his records dated in the year 149.^[6] The sons of Śivakara III (Lalitabhāra II) were kings Śāntikara III (surnamed Lavaṇabhāra or Lōṇaº II) and Śubhākara V, both of whom are mentioned in our record in verses 7 and 8.^[7] Śāntikara III married Dharmamahādēvī, while Śubhākara V had two queens, viz., Gaurī and Vakulamahādēvī. Both of these kings apparently died without leaving any male issue and, after the death of Śubhākara V, the throne passed to his queen Gaurī who is mentioned in our record in verse 9. Queen Gaurī was succeeded by her daughter, the paramamāhēśvarī Paramabhaṭṭārikā Mahārjādhirāja-Paramēśvarī Daṇḍimahādēvī who issued the charter under discussion in the year 180. One of the two Gañjām plates was issued by the same queen in the same year, but the Bāṇpur plate was issued by her in the year 187. We know that this queen was succeeded by her step-mother Vakulamahādēvī who was the daughter of a Bhañja king.8 The throne next passed to Dharmamahādēvī, queen of Daṇḍimahādēvī’s paternal uncle Śāntikara III (Lavaṇabhāra II). We offer below the genealogy of the Bhauma-Karas in a tabular form for easy reference.

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^[1] We have now the Teruṇḍiā plate of Śubhākara II, son of Śivakara II, who ruled between Śāntikara I and his son Śubhākara III in the year 100.
^[2] JBORS, Vol. XVI, pp. 77 ff. ; B. Misra, Orissa under the Bhauma Kings, pp. 14 ff., 22, and line 25 of plate F.
^[3] According to the recently discovered Baud plates of Pṛithvīmahādēvī alias Tribhuvanamahādēvī II alias Sindagaurī II, Gōsvāminī (i.e., Tribhuvanamahādēvī I) ascended the throne because her son Śubhākara III had died without leaving a son. This fact suggests that Śāntikara II was adopted as son by the chief queen of Śubhākara III some time after the death of her husband. The Baud plates have been registered as C. P. Nos. 20-21 of the A. R. I. E. for 1950-51.
^[4] The Baud plates of Pṛithvīmahādēvī alias Tribhuvanamahādēvī II suggest that Tribhuvanamahādēvī I called herself Gōsvāminī II.
^[5] B. Misra, op. cit., Plate H, line 42. Misra reads the date as 141.
^[6] Ibid., Plate I, line 30, and Plate J (reverse), line 6. The figure read here as 9 has a rather peculiar form.
^[7] The Band plates of Pṛithvīmahādēvī alias Tribhuvanamahādevī II, dated in the year 158, say that her husband, Śubhākara IV, and the latter’s younger brother and successor, Śivakara III, both died without leaving sons and therefore the herself ascended the throne. This shows that this queen and her supporters did not recognise Śāntikara III and Śubhākara V as sons of Śivakara III. It seems that there was a struggle for the throne after the death of Śivakara III between his sons and the queen of his elder brother and that queen Pṛithvīmahādēvī alias Tribhuvanamahādēvī II was ultimately overthrown in favour of Sāntikara III.
^[8] IHQ. Vol. XXI, pp. 217-20.