South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

sacrifices and went to heaven. The next verse introduces Balavaraman s son and successor Kalyāṇavarman who was born, according to verse 17, of the queen Ratnadēvī, called Ratnavatī in the legend on the seal. Verse 20 speaks of Gaṇēndravarman, son of Kalyāṇavarman from the queen Gāndharvavatī. On the seal and also elsewhere the names of the king and the queen-mother are given respectively as Gaṇapativarman, and Gandharvavatī. Verse 22 says that Gaṇēndravarman went to heaven after having installed his son as king.

The next verse introduces his son and successor Mahēndravarman (called simply Mahēndra in the legend on the seal), born of the queen Yajñadēvī (called Yajñavatī on the seal and in the Nidhanpur inscription). Verse 24 says that Mahēndravarman celebrated many sacrifices and that Suvratā was his queen. Verse 26 speaks of Mahēndravarman’s successor Nārāyaṇa (i.e. Nārāyaṇavarman) born of the queen Suvratā. The next verse refers to Dēvamati (elsewhere called Dēvavatī), queen of Nārāyaṇavarman. Verses 28-29 speak of Mahābhūtavarman as the son of Nārāyaṇavarman and Dēvamati. This king, otherwise called Bhūtivarman, is known not only from his Barganga inscription but also from verse 31 of our record to have performed the horse-sacrifice. It is interesting to note that the legend on Bhāskaravarman’s seal does not credit Bhūtivarman with the performance of the Aśvamēdha, but applies the epithet dvis-turaga-mēdh-āharttā (i.e. performer of two Aśvamēdhas) to Bhūtivarman’s father Nārāyaṇavarman. This coupled with the fact that verses 29-30 our record appear to speak o- the installation of Mahābhūtavarman (Bhūtivarman) to the throne before the death of his father Nārāyaṇavarman possibly gives us a clue. It seems that one of the two horse sacrifices, ascribed to Nārāyṇavarman in the legend on Bhāskaravarman’s seal, was performed early in his reign, while the second Aśvamēdha was celebrated when his son was either the de facto ruler of the country during his old age or probably the de jure ruler after his retirement.^[1]

Verse 31 says that Mahābhūtavarman died after having a son from queen Vijñānavatī and having celebrated the Vājimēdha, i.e. horse sacrifice, while the next stanza introduce his son and successor Chandramukhavarman. Verse 35 says that Chandramukhavarman got a son from queen Bhōgavatī, while verse 37 refers to some sacrifices performed by the king. Verses 39-48 describe the achievements of Chandramukhavaraman’s son without disclosing his name ; but verse 49 gives his name as Sthiravarman and says that, after having lived for some time in the pura, i.e. the city which was the old capital of his family, this king made a new city in the holy river (puṇyē nadē), i.e. on the banks apparently of the river Brahmaputra. The verse suggests that the old capital of the family was not exactly on the Brahmaputra. The capital city of these kings is usually identified with modern Gauhati on the Brahmaputra.^[2] This may have been the city built by king Sthiravarman but the older city may also have been situated not very far from Gauhati. Verse 50 refers to the beloved wife of the king who is represented as belonging to the Bhaum-ānvaya. The next stanza apparently speaks of Sthiravarman’s queen Nayanā, Nayanadēvī or Nayanaśōbhā, although its second half that apparently contained the name cannot be satisfactorily deciphered. We have seen that according to Bhāskaravarman’s seal, Sthiravarman was the performer of two Aśvamēdha sacrifices. Whether any reference to this achievement of the king was made in the concluding words of verse 51 cannot be determined.

Verses 52-53 describe the birth of Susthitavarman, son of Sthiravarman. Verses 55-58 are all partially damaged and cannot be completely deciphered. According to the Nidhanpur inscription, another name of Susthitavarman was Mṛigāṅka. It is not impossible that one of the damaged verses contained the same information. There is also no reference in the extant portion of his description to his struggles with Mahāsēnagupta of the so-called Later Gupta dynasty as

______________________________________________

^[1] See IHQ. Vol. XXI, pp. 144-45 ; above, Vol. XXX, pp. 65-66.
^[2] Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī, Introduction, pp. 8, 22.