|
The Indian Analyst
|
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Vinayāditya, dated in A.D. 692, that he made a grant at the request of Guṇasāgara-Āḷupēndra’s son Chitravāhana who was in the possession of Eḍevoḷal district in Banavāsi province. Further a stone inscription from Kigga in the Koppa Taluk of the Kadur District in Mysore State[1] states that when Āḷuarasa Guṇasāgara was ruling Kadamba-maṇḍala i.e. Banavasi province, he, (his) queen and (his son) Chitravāhana made some grant. On the assumption that the Chitravāhana mentioned in the Sorab plates and the Kigga inscription was one and the same person, Hultzsch suggested that Guṇasāgara was the governor of the Banavāsi province in or immediately before the time of Vinayāditya and that his son Chitravāhana succeeded to the governorship of Banavāsi.[2] This view is supported by our inscription in which it is stated that Vijayaditya had gone to Banavāsi to meet Chitravāhana which shows that Chitravāhana was un possession of the Banavāsi province. There is no doubt that this Chitravāhana was the same as his namesake mentioned in the Sorab plates referred to above.[3] The grant under consideration discloses, for the first time, that this Ālupa ruler Chitravāhana continued in his office during the time of Vijayāditya also till A.D. 707 at least, the date of the present grant. We also learn, for the first time, that this Chitravāhana belonged to the Pāṇḍya lineage.[4]
It is stated that Vijayāditya made the grant, at the request of Chitravāhana, to the Jaina monastery which was caused to be constructed by Kuṁkumadēvī at Purigere. The relation that existed between Kuṁkumadēvï on the one hand and Vijayāditya or Chitravāhana on the other is not specified in the record. This Kuṁkumadēvï is mentioned in another contemporary record of Vijayāditya[5] dated A.D. 705, which likewise does not specify the relationship between them. But we know from a late record[6] found at Guḍgēri in the Dharwar District and dated in A.D. 1076 that Vijayāditya had a sister named Kuṁkumamahādēvï and that she caused to be constructed a Jaina monastery called Ānesejjeyabasadi at Purigere. Since Vijayāditya was her brother and since the grant to the Jaina monastery caused to be erected by her was made at the request of Chitravāhana, it is tempting to suggest that she might have been the wife of the Ālupa ruler Chitravāhana. The expression sva-hṛidaya-pralhādana-kāriṇyā applied to Kuṁkumadēvī in lines 36-37 might refer to Chitravāhana. Thus he might have been related to the king as brother-in-law. And the way in which Vijayāditya’s visit to Banavāsi is described might lend further support to this view ; cf. Ālupēndraṁ drashṭuṁ Vanavāsīm=āyātavati Vijayāditya-vallabhēndrē in line 32. This suggests that the king had gone to Banavāsi as if to pay a courtesy visit to his brother-in-law and not in the capacity of an over-lord. It is interesting to note that the actual camp of the king at the time was at Kisuvolal and that the king appears to have gone to Banavāsi to pay a personal visit to Chitravāhana. It is also likely that the Ālupa ruler Chitravāhana was an elder relative of the king since he figures in the grant of Vinayāditya dated A.D. 692 referred to above. The Jaina monastery which was caused to be constructed by Kuṁkumadēvī at Purigere and in respect of which the king made the grant might have been the same monastery as the one called Ānesejjeyabasadi in the Guḍgēri inscription referred to above. The gift-village was Guḍḍigere, stated be the centre of Jaina religion specially for the teaching of Sūrasta branch of Mūla-saṁgha. Guḍḍigere is modern Guḍgēri which is about [6] miles west of Lakshmēśvar (ancient Purigere). Its Sanskritised name is given as Dhvaja-taṭāka in the Guḍgēri inscription mentioned above. _________________________________________________________
[1] Ep. Car., Vol. VI., Kp. 38.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
