South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

known from the Aphasad inscription.^[1] Verse 55 speaks of the king as highly learned in the various branches of learning, while verse 59 seems to refer to the king’s guru (named Nṛiśaṅkara ?) who is compared to the god Śaṅkara (Śiva). Verses 60-61 describe Susthitavarman’s queen Dhruvalakshmī. The next verse says how queen Dhruvalakshmī gave birth to two sons. Verse 63 refers to the two sons of Druvalakshmī, who were both endowed with signs of royalty, and singles out one of the two brothers (apparently the elder of them) who is called Aridamanēndra. Verse 64 deals with the good qualities of the same Aridamanēndra. The following stanza says that the first of the two brothers was named Supratishṭhitavarman and the second Bhāskaravarman and both of them are said to have been dear to all in the family of the Varmans.

Verse 66 probably begins with a description of the elder brother Supratisṭhitavarman, who, as we have seen, seems to have been also called Aridamanēndra in verses 63-64. The concluding portion of the stanza, possibly referring to Supratishṭhitavarman’s accession to the throne after Susthitavarman’s death, cannot be completely deciphered. Verse 67 seems also to continue the description of king Supratishṭhitavarman. But the king’s name cannot be traced in the extant portions of verses 66-67. The next verse again speaks of the activities of the two brothers jointly.^[2] The first half of this stanza appears to suggest that king Susthitavarman died when his sons Supratishṭhitavarman and Bhāskaravarman were still young in age. The second half of the stanza says that when, apparently not long after Susthitavarman’s death, the Gauḍa army, strong in the waters (i.e. in naval warfare), reached (i.e. invaded the country of the two young brothers), Supratishṭhitavarman and Bhāskaravarman were not afraid to advance against them with a small force. The two brothers have been compared here with Bala (i.e. Balarāma-Saṅkarshaṇa) and Achyuta (i.e. Kṛishṇa-Vāsudēva) who are often represented in epic and Puranic literature as fighting with success against heavy odds.

Verse 69 describes the battle between Supratishṭhitavarman and Bhāskaravarman on the one hand and the Gauḍas on the other. The first half of the stanza speaks of the two brothers fighting with their piercing arrows and of their becoming as full of arrogance as the two heroic brothers Bala and Achyuta when the latter stood unconquered in their fight with the demon chief Bāṇa. The Vishṇu Purāṇa^[3] describes the victory of Balarāma and Kṛishṇa over Bāṇ-āsura. It may be pointed out that Balarāma’s contribution in this battle is not regarded as conspicuous and is hardly emphasised in the account of the battle found in various sources.

It is thus rather strange that the battle with Bāṇa was singled out by the poet from the numerous stories of the joint victories of Balarāma and Kṛishṇa over their enemies. The poet may have been inspired to refer to Bāṇa’s battle with Balarāma and Kṛishṇa by the fact that the main battle between the Gauḍa elephant force (indirectly compared with Bāṇa’s hosts) and the two brothers Supratisthṭhitavarman and Bhāskaravarman (compared with Balarāma and Kṛishṇa) was actually fought near Tezpur on the Brahmaputra in Assam, which is traditionally identified with Bāṇa’s capital Śōṇitapura where the battle described in the epic and Puranic literature is said to have taken place. The second half of verse 69 describes how Supratishṭhitavarman and Bhāskaravarman, as they had done in the cases of other enemies previously defeated and killed by them, dispersed, in this case also, the huge elephant force of the Gauḍas by means of their arrows. It is interesting to note that the elephant force of the Gauḍas has been compared here with the Krauñcha mountain range which is specially associated in literature with the demon chief Bāṇa.^[4]

_________________________________________________

^[1] Corp. Ina. Ind., Vol. III, pp. 202 ff.
^[2] The joint mention of the exploits of the two brothers may suggest that the Gauḍa invasion had taken place before the installation of Susthitavarman’s successor.
^[3] Vaṅgavāsī ed., Section V, Chapter 33.
^[4] Cf. Mahābhārata, Vaṅgavāsī ed., Śalya-parvan, chapter 46, verse 80 : Bāṇō nān=ātha Daitēyō Balēḥ purrō mahā-balaḥ | Kṛauñchaparvatam=āśritya dēva-saṅghān=adhāvata || The piercing of the Krauñcha is, however, ascribed to Skanda-Kārttikēya and not to Balarāma and Kṛishṇa.