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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA approximately, we may suggest that the year 904 A.D. fell in Balavarman’s reign. Thus Balavarman’s rule may be roughly assigned to the period 885-910 A.D. and the present inscription to a date about the end of the ninth century. The inscription begins with a Siddham symbol which is followed by two maṅgala stanzas. Verse 1 prays that the luster of Rudra (Śiva) may be for the peace of the earth, while verse 2 seeks that the waters of the Lauhitya, called a vāridhi or sea,[1] may destroyed the sin of men. Verse 3 introduces Naraka who was the son (born of the goddess Earth) of Upēndra (Vishṇu) in his Boar incarnation and was a friend of the demons. Verses 4-6 describe the career of Naraka. It is stated that he carried away Aditi’s ear-rings and discredited Mahēndra (i.e. her son, the king of the gods) thereby, that he made his abode at the city of Prāgjyōtisha in Kāmarūpa, and that he was killed by Murāri (Vishṇu) with the discus in a battle that was fought at his capital, i.e. Prāgjyōtishapura (Śōṇitapura according to the Purāṇas). Verses 7-8 state how Naraka was succeeded on the throne by his son Bhagadatta whose successor was his younger brother Vajradatta. Verse 9 introduces Sālastambha who is stated to have belonged to the dynasty of Naraka, Bhagadatta and Vajradatta, and to have become king after a number of rulers of the said family had passed away. In this connection, it is interesting to note that verses 9-10 of the copper-plate grants[2] of Ratnapāla of the third dynasty (i.e. the Brahmapāla family) of the rulers of Kāmarūpa or Prāgjyōtisha offer a different and apparently more reliable account of the pedigree of Sālastambha. According to these, Sālastambha, who was a Mlēchchha king or a ruler of the Mlēchchhas (Mlēchchh-ādhipati), obtained the kingdom of the kings of the Nāraka dynasty as a matter of chance (vidhi-chalana-vaśāt) and that, Tyāgasiṁha the twentyfirst king of Sālastambha’s line having died without leaving an heir, the subjects (prakṛitayaḥ) though that a member of the Bhauma (i.e. Nāraka) dynasty alone was suitable to them and therefore made Brahmapāla their king. This seems to suggest that Sālastambha was really a ruling chief, probably of Tibeto-Burman origin, under the latest ruler of the Bhauma-Nāraka dynasty of Kāmarūpa and that he succeeded in occupying his master’s throne under circumstances which are difficult to determine without further light on the subject. It is clear, however, that Sālastambha’s descendants claimed descent from Naraka ; but the claim may have been based either on mere fiction or on a matrimonial relation Sālastambha might have contracted with the rulers of the Bhauma-Nāraka family.
Verse 10 of our inscription says that, amongst the descendants of Sālastambha, Harjara because king after others like Pālaka and Vijaya had passed away. The names of all the rulers of the Sālastambha family, especially those who flourished between Sālastambha and Harjara or Harjaravarman, cannot be determined. We have seen how the charters of Ratnapāla, who belonged to the third or Brahmapāla dynasty of Prāgyōtisha rulers, ascribe 21 kings to the dynasty of Sālastambha. Of these, they mention by name only Sālastambha (the founder of the line), Tyāgasiṁha (the last king of the family) and Vigrahastambha who was one of the rulers flourishing between Sālastambha and Tyāgasiṁha. The damaged and fragmentary copper-plate grant[3] of Harjaravarman (second quarter of the ninth century) from Haiyungthal, appears to have quoted the names of most of his predecessors beginning from Sālastambha, although the section cannot be fully and satisfactorily deciphered. According to the reading and interpretation of the said section offered by Pandit P. N. Bhattacharya,[4] Sālastambha was succeeded by his son Vijiya who was followed successively by Pālaka, Kumāra, Vajradēva, Harshavarman, Balavarman _____________________________________________________
[1] See above, Vol. XXIX, p. 151 and note 3.
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