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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA KALIDINDI GRANT OF EASTERN CHALUKYA RAJARAJA I extend the reign of Vimalāditya up to the date of the coronation of Rājarāja, taking it for granted that Rājarāja’s accession to the throne did not take place earlier than the actual date of his coronation as recorded in his grants. However, there is good reason to believe that the reign of Rājarāja I began a few years earlier than the date of his coronation in 1022 A. C. Śaktivarman II, the nephew and immediate successor of Rājarāja I, ascended the throne of Vēṅgī on Thursday, 18th October 1061 A. C.[1] Rājarāja is said to have ruled, according to the charters of his descendants, for a period of 41 years and this is corroborated by an inscription dated in his 41st regnal year.[2] This yields 18th October, 1020 as the starting point of his reign. The following inscriptions of Rājarāja I, which give both the regnal and the Śaka years, point to the same date. 
These records seem to suggest two different starting points for the reign of Rājarāja. The apparent discrepancy has perhaps to be attributed to the practice of quoting the Śaka dates, either in the expired or in the current year, rather than to any fault in the chronological data given in these records. Of the three, the last one is surely dated in Śaka 983 expired, as shown by the cyclic year Plava corresponding to it. The dates of the other two are not capable of verification, as the corresponding cyclic years are not given. If, however, the Śaka year cited in them be taken to be current, all these three dates would yield Śaka 942 (expired) as the starting point of the reign of Rājarāja I and this is in agreement with the evidence of the Telugu Academy plates of Śaktivarman II which terminate Rājarāja reign with Śaka 983.[3] There is, however, one inscription which gives a different and an earlier date as the starting point. In the Pāmulavāka plates of Vijayāditya VII, it is said that after Mummaḍi-Bhīma (i.e., Vimalāditya), his son Rājarāja ruled for a period of twelve years ; then, Vijayāditya, Mummaḍi-Bhīma’s second son by a different mother, expelled Rājarāja, and having seized the kingdom crowned himself king on Aditisutadina, śu. di. 5, Karkaṭaka, Kanyā, Sūryyabha(Uttara-Phalgunī or Pūrva-Phalgunī) in the Śaka year 952, corresponding to Sunday, 27th June 1031 A. C.[4] If Rājarāja I, as stated in this inscrip- _________________________________________________
[1] JAHRS, Vol. V, p. 40.
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