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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA at the edges with a view to preserve the engraved matter from friction. The seal bears the Yādava emblem which is a small copper image of Garuḍa sitting with hands folded and wings stretched out.[1] The ring passes through the aperture at the base of the image and through the holes in the three plates. The Garuḍa image is 4·5″ in height and 4″ in width and weighs 59 tolas. The ring is 12″ in circumference and 22·5 tolas in weight. Being well-protected between the stones, the charter is quite legible. The Dēvanāgarī script employed in the document represents the peculiarities of the century to which it belongs. Pṛishṭhamātrās are commonly used. The following letters are sometimes confusingly similar : va and ba, da and ḍa, tha and dha, stha and chchha, dva and ddha, vya and dhya. To the bottom of the vertical bar of p is, in some cases, added a sharp curve so that the letter looks almost like ē. The anusvāra is generally a hollow circle. The language is Sanskrit. As regards orthography, the consonant following r is often doubled. In a few places, ś is substituted for s. The details of the date, quoted in the record correspond to the 29th August 1261 A.D. Its importance will be discussed later on. The first thirty verses of the charter are important as they depict the career of the donor and some of his predecessors. As the Yādavas are said to have descended from the moon, the Purāṇas are drawn upon by the court poet. Verses 1-5 give the genealogy of the lunar race from Brahman, born of Vishṇu’s navel, to Yayāti’s son Yadu after whom the family came to be called Yādavavaṁśa. From their original home in Mathurā, some Yādava families migrated to Saurāshṭra and to Gujarāt and Mahārāshṭra.[2] Dṛiḍhaprahāra (c. 795 A.D.), the son of Subāhu, is traditionally held to be the first ruler of Chandrādityapura or Chandrapura which is identified with Chāndvaḍ, Chāndōḍ or Chāndōr in the Nasik District. According to Hēmādri, however, the capital was Śrīnagara or Sinner in the same District, called variously Sindhinagara, Siṇḍinagara and Siṇḍinērā in the inscriptions. In the beginning, these Yādavas were feudatories of the Chālukyas of Kalyāṇa and protected their northern frontier.
Verse 6 speaks of Rāja (c. 850 or 900 A.D.) who is also called Rājagi or Rājugī in other inscriptions. Ten kings, placed after him by Hēmādri, are omitted by our poet. Verse 7 says how in this royal house was later on born Siṅghaṇa (i.e. Siṁhana I or Siṁharāja, c. 1100 A.D.) who adopted the title Sāhasāṅka. It is stated that he subdued the king of Karṇāṭa, vanquished the Pāṇḍya chief and raised a pillar on the sea shore to commemorate the victory, and scared away the Gūrjara leader from the battle-field by his superior valour.[3] Verse 8 introduces his son, Mallugi (also called Mailugi) who amassed much wealth belonging to the enemy kings. Verses 9-11 state that he was succeeded by Bhillama (i.e. Bhillama V, 1187-91 A.D.).[4] He is called a Sārvabhauma. He routed the lord of the Vindhyas and erected a column of victory on that mountain.[5] He also put down the Chālukya monarch, conquered the south and uprooted the Kākatyas (i.e. Kākatīyas of Warangal in the north-eastern Deccan). Bhillama’s victory over the Vindhyan king and the Kākatyas, if real, is learnt for the first time from this grant. The other facts are already known. Thus in 1187 A.D. he is known to have founded the new capital, Dēvagiri, after having defeated the Chālukya king Sōmēśvara IV. Similarly, the conquest of the south refers to the defeat of the Hoysala-Yādava king Narasiṁha (the father of Vīra-Ballāḷa) who ruled at Haḷēbīḍ in Mysore. Later on, however, Bhilla- _______________________________________________
[1] The Bassein plates (1069 A.D.) of Sēuṇacandra II has on two sides of the Garuḍa seal two conchs while the
Haraḷahaḷḷi (Dharwar) plates of 1237-38 A.D. has the sun and the moon on the sides of Garuḍa. See JBBRAS,
Vol. XV, p. 386 ; Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 119. Our seal has no such signs.
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