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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA our record (710-11 A. D.). Similarly, Nanna referred to as the father of Rāshṭrakūṭa Śaṅkaragaṇa who issued the Daulatabad plates[1] dated Śaka year 715 (793 A. D.), too, cannot be identified with Ṇaṇṇa of our record due to the considerable gap of time between the two. A Rāshṭrakūṭa Nannarāja is mentioned in a Prakrit inscription engraved in nail-headed characters of the 8th of 9th century A. D. on the back wall of the chapel between caves XXVI and XXVII at Ajanta.[2] On account of closer proximity of time and place, Nannarāja of the Ajanta inscription may more plausibly be identified with Nanna of the Daulatabad plates than with the homonymous chief of our record. The Bayana memorial stone inscription,[3] palaeographically datable in circa 8th century A. D., also refers (without specifying the family name) to a prince called Ṇaṇṇa during whose reign one Durgāditya was killed in the course of a fight at a place called Piṁpala-Gauṇḍala. Mere identity of name and similarity of script do not warrant the identification of this prince with Ṇaṇṇa of our record, as the tract of Bayana is not contiguous with the known extent of Nannarāja-Ṇaṇṇappa’s kingdom.[4] The feudatory status of the family of Nannarāja-Ṇaṇṇappa is indicated by the non-assumption of paramount titles by any member of the family. We should also note the fact that Svāmirāja of the Nagardhan plates bears the significant epithet bhaṭṭāraka-pādānuddhyāta. The paramount rulers of Berar in the time of Svāmirāja (573 A. D.) were the Kalachuris who were ousted early in the 7th century A. D. by the Chālukyas of Badami. The territories of Pulakēśin II (610-42 A. D.) who is credited with the conquest of the three Mahārāshṭrakas included Berar and also probably Malwa which continued to form part of the Chālukya empire in the time of his successors, viz. Vikramāditya I (655-80 A. D.), Vinayāditya (618-96 A. D.), and Vijayāditya (679-733 A. D.). The last two were the Chālukya suzerains of Nannarāja-Ṇaṇṇappa.[5]
TEXT[6] [Metres : Verses 1, 4, 6 Sragdharā ; verses 2-3, 8 Śārdūlavikrīḍita ; verses 5, 7, 9-15 Anushṭubh.]
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[1] Above, Vol. IX, pp. 195 ff. and Plate.
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