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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
The record begins with the well-known stanza Jayaty=āvishkṛitaṁ, etc., found at the beginning
of numerous charters of the Chālukyas and their subordinates. As in the other grants of Vikramāditya I, the king’s great-grandfather is introduced as belonging to the family of the Chalikyas
(Chālukyas) who claimed to be Hāritīputras of the Mānavya gōtra, to have increases through the
favour of the Seven Mothers, to have obtained prosperity through the protection of the god Kārttikēya and to have overpowered their enemies who submitted at the very sight of the Boar emblem
which the family acquired through the grace of Lard Nārāyaṇa. The Chālukya king is represented,
as in most of his records, as the great-grandson of Pōlikēśivallabha-mahārāja (i.e. Pulakēśin I)
who celebrated the Aśvamēdha sacrifice, as the grandson of Kīrtivarma-Pṛithivīvallabha-mahārāja
(i.e. Kīrtivarman I) who subdued the territories of his adversaries including the land of Vanavāsī
(i.e. the capital of the Kadambas), and as the dear son of Satyāśraya Śrīpṛithivīvallabha-mahārājādhirāja-paramēśvara (i.e. Pulakēśin II) who obtained the second name Paramēśvara as a result
of his victory over Harshavardhana, the lord of the entire Uttarāpatha (meaning here the northern
half of India lying to the north of the Vindhyas). King Vikramāditya I, the issuer of the charter,
is stated to have overthrown, with the help of his charger Chitrakaṇṭha and his sharp sword, the
three kings who were responsible for the disappearance of his father’s royal fortune and to have
restored the properties belonging to gods and Bhāhmaṇas in the kingdoms of the said three kings
who had confiscated them. The above introductory part of the record is concluded with a stanza
saying that king Anivārita-Vikramāditya (i.e. Vikramāditya I) recovered the prosperity of his
family as a result of his conquests over many adversaries in different directions. This verse is
found in the earlier charters of the king, while the later Gadval (674 A.D.) plates add to it four more
stanzas referring to his success against his three adversaries belonging to the Pallava royal family
of Kāñchī.
None of the facts recorded in the introductory part of the inscription, discussed above, is new.
It is well known that the Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman I (c. 630-68 A.D.) defeated and killed
Pulakēśin II about 642 A.D. and occupied the southern part of the Chālukya empire including the
capital city of Bādāmi while Vikramāditya I succeeded in recovering the lost part of the kingdom
and in establishing himself on his father’s throne about 655 A.D., although his struggle with the
Pallavas continued till the early years of Paramēśvaravarman I (c. 669-90 A.D.), the grandson
of Narasiṁhavarman I.[1] But two points deserve notice in this connection. In the first place, the
statement that Pulakēśin II assumed the second name Paramēśvara after his victory over king
Harshavardhana of Northern India does not appear to be strictly accurate. As we have elsewhere[2]
suggested, the Chālukya king probably assumed that name after saving his homeland from enemies
and restoring Chālukya sovereignty in the territories of the disaffected neighbours while an additional significance was later attached to it after his victory over Paramēśvara (i.e. the imperial
ruler) Harshavardhana. Secondly, it is well known that the reference to the regal fortune of
Pulakēśin II, which had been interrupted by three kings, and to the re-establishment of the grants
to gods and Brāhmaṇas (which had been confiscated by the three kings) by Vikramāditya I was
understood by Fleet as an allusion to the Chālukya king’s success against his three Pallava rivals,
viz. Narasiṁhavarman I (c. 630-68 A.D.), Mahēndravarman II (c. 668-69 A.D.) and Paramēśvaravarman I (c. 669-90 A.D.).[3] This view is, however, clearly wrong, because the claim is noticed
in the records of Vikramāditya I, including the one under study, which bear dates much earlier than
the end of the rule of Narasiṁhavarman I. It has also to be noticed, as already indicated above,
that the stanzas referring to his success against the said three rulers of the Pallava family are found
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[1] See The Classical Age, pp. 241 ff.
[2] Ibid., p. 237.
[3] Bomb. Gaz., op. cit., p. 362.
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