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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA deeply incised and well preserved, can be read without difficulty. The language is Sanskrit, the composition being in both verse and prose. This inscription gives some interesting information, even though mutilated. It was issued from the same capital, Vikramapura, from which Harivarman’s plate was issued. The stanza in lines 2-3 appears to speak of Jātavarman who is described as the leader (prāgrahara) among the Yādavas. The next stanza in line 4-5 speaks of Harivarman who is said to have devastated his enemies. The following verse in lines 5 ff. seems to speak of the Kalachuri family as the mātṛi-vaṁśa, or mother’s lineage, of Harivarman. This is followed by a verse describing a prince whose name is unfortunately lost, while the stanza beginning with the aksharas saṅgrā in line 9 seems to describe a fierce battle waged by a Varman king. The last stanza ending in line 14 might have contained a panegyric of Sāmalavarman. In this connection, we have take note of the Rewa stone inscription[1] of Karṇa, dated in the Kalachuri year 800 corresponding to 1048-49 A.D. Verse 23 of this record recounts one of the earliest exploits of Karṇa after his accession in 1041 A.D. It says that the ship of the king of the Eastern Country, being driven against the peaks of the mountains of his (Karṇa’s) elephants, by the force of the tempest of arrogance, cracked and sank into the sea of his (Karṇa’s) troops. Prof. Mirashi has rightly inferred[2] that this records the end of the Chandra line of kings of Vaṅga, where either Gōvindachandra or his successor came into violent conflict with the forces of Karṇa and lost his life. He conjectures that Vajravarman was put on the throne of Vikramapura and Karṇa’s daughter Vīraśrī was given in marriage to his son Jātavarman to cement the alliance. I am inclined to think that it was Jātavarman, who seems to have rendered useful service to Karṇa, that was put on the throne.[3] His marriage probably led to his elevation and not vice versa. As this is the first victory recorded for the reign of Karṇa, it would not be unreasonable to put it soon after Karṇa’s accession in 1041 A.D. The date of the fall of the Chandra dynasty and the installation of the Varman family in Vikramapura may thus be put about 1042 A.D. We have also to remember in this connection that Karṇa had at one time occupied part of Bengal south of the Ganges.[4]
It would appear from the Rāmacharita of Sandhyākaranandin (ch. II, verse 38) that, while Rāmapāla, having crossed the Ganges, invaded the Kaivarta kingdom from the west, Hari, his friend, invested it from the east. When Bhīma, the Kaivarta king, was defeated, Hari succeeded in capturing all his forces by his well-planned strategy. Rāmapāla gratefully appreciated the services of Hari and raised him to a position of great influence (cf. III, verse 32). This episode, has, in my opinion, been misunderstood by the editors of the V. R. S. edition of the Rāmacharita.[5] Hari has been taken to be a friend of Bhīma and the capture of Bhīma’s forces by Hari as a second contest with Rāmapāla. It has to be noted here that we have epigraphic evidence of the investment of Varēndrī by the Vaṅgāla army about this period[6] and Hari is very probably Harivarman of Vaṅga. It is rather strange that there is no reference to the ousting of the Varmans from Vaṅga i the inscriptions of the Sēna kings. This is an inexplicable gap in our knowledge of the history of East India of the period. Vijayasēṇa, in his Deopārā inscription, boasts of having conquered or _______________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XXIV, pp. 101 ff.
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