|
The Indian Analyst
|
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA reign ended about 567 A.D. With an approximate margin of a few years before the last date, i t may be suggested that the present charter was issued by Pūgavarman about 560 A.D. From his description as Raṇasthātṛi, i.e. ‘firm in battle’, it may be gathered that Pūgavarman assisted his father in the wars which the latter had to wage for the establishment of the Chālukya kingdom. The name of the deity Vārāhīdēva which means ‘ lord of Vārāhī,’ i.e. god Varāha, is interesting.[1] The roundabout way of naming the god may possibly be explained on the ground that the goddess Vārāhī, who was one of the Seven Mothers, was held in high reverence and enjoyed an independent status, not being considered merely a female counterpart of Varāha. It is well known that the Chālukyas considered themselves specially favoured by the Seven Mothers and their partiality to Varāha or the Boar-incarnation of Vishṇu is evidenced by their acceptance of the figure of this god for their family emblem. This affords the earliest instance of the devotion to the god Varāha in the Chālukya family.
There is only one place-name mentioned in the record and it is Maḷakēṭaka. This village seems to be identical with the present Maḷkhēḍ in the Gulbarga District, Mysore State. Maḷkhēḍ became the renowned capital of the Rāshṭrakūṭas of the Dekkan during later centuries and it is mentioned in their records in the Sanskritised form Mānyakhēṭa. It is referred to as Mānyakhēḍa in a records[2] of 993 A.D. In the inscriptions of the locality as well as of the villages near about Maḷkhēḍ, ranging from the 11th to the 16th centuries, the place is spoken of as Maḷikēḍa and Maḷeyakhēḍa.[3] If the above identification is correct, this would be the earliest allusion to the place, indicating its existences at least from the sixth century. It would be interesting to review here the contents of an early stone inscription which may similarly be attributed to the Chālukya house of Bādāmi. The epigraph[4] is incised on a boulder to the left of the images of Durgā and Gaṇēśa near the fourth gate of the fort at Gooty in the Anantapur District, Andhra State. The characters are archaic Kannada of about the sixth or seventh century, the language being an admixture of faulty Sanskrit and old Kannaḍa. It reads as follows :
1 Śrī-[sa]kala-gara-saḷya
________________________________________________
[1] This reminds us of such names of the gods as Lakshmīdēva, Umānātha, etc.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
