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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 7 ─BHUBANESWAR INSCRIPTIONS OF ANANTAVARMAN CHODAGANGA (1 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND The mighty Gaṅga monarch Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga (1078-1147 A. C.) of Kaliṅganagara near modern Śrīkākuḷam (Chicacole) was successively followed on the Gaṅga throne by no less tha four of his sons, viz., (1) Kāmārṇava (circa 1147-56 A. C.), (2) Rāghava (circa 1156-70 A. C.), Rājarāja II (circa 1170-90 A. C.) and Anaṅgabhīma II (circa 1190-96 A. C.). Although Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga is stated to have conquered Utkala, founded the great temple of the god Purushōttama-Jagannātha at Purī and levied tribute from the whole east coast land up to the Bhāgīrathī (Ganges),[1] no record of himself or his immediate successors was formerly known to have come from any place in Orissa. For a long time therefore three Bhubaneswar (Puri District, Orissa) inscriptions of the time of Anaṅgabhīma II were regarded as the earliest Gaṅga inscriptions in Orissa, although they would necessarily belong to an age nearly a century after the conquest of coastal Orissa by Chōḍagaṅga about the beginning of the twelfth century. One of the three records is the Ananta-Vāsudēva temple (Bhubaneswar) inscription [2] of Svapnēśvara, husband of a sister of Anaṅgabhīma II, while the remaining two[3] were stated to be incised on the south jamb of the great Liṅgarāja temple at Bhubaneswar. But, as we have shown elsewhere[4], the said two Liṅgarāja temple inscriptions belong not to the reign of Anaṅgabhīma II but to that of his grandson Anaṅgabhīma III whose accession is usually assigned to 1211 A. C.
As, in the Vizagapatam plates, Chōḍagaṅga is stated to have “placed the fallen lord of Utkala in his kingdom in the eastern region”, R. D. Banerji observes, “It is interesting to note that no inscriptions of this king have yet been discovered in the Puri, Cuttack and Balasore Districts of Northern Orissa. This perhaps proves that some local king was still ruling over Northern Orissa, who had been reinstated by Anantavarman, as stated in his inscriptions.”[5] But he ignores the fact that, according to the Kendupatna plates, Gaṅgēśvara (Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga) by “ defeating the king of Utkala … obtained a Lakshmī-like kingdom ” and that this undoubtedly points to the subsequent annexation of Utkala by the Gaṅga king.[6] Recently we had reports of the existence of a few inscriptions of Chōḍagaṅga’s reign in the Puri-Cuttack region. One of these was traced at Alagum near Puri and has already been published in the pages of this journal.[7] It is a matter of regret that the numerous inscriptions in the great Liṅgarāja temple at Bhubaneswar have not been properly studied so far. Recently, I had an opportunity of examining the impressions of a large number of the Liṅgarāja temple inscriptions, which are lying in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India at Ootacamund. Among them I was very glad to find several records belonging to the reign of Anantavarman Chōḍagaṅga together with a few bearing ______________________________________________
[1] Cf. above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 241 f.
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