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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA 3. Bijolia inscription[1] of Somesvara, dated V.S. 1226(1169-70 A.D.), Phalguna-vadi 3, Thursday=
February 5, 1170 A.D. The year began before the month of Phalguna.
The above dates would show that the Vikrama year commenced between the months of Bhadrapada and Margasirsha. The year thus appears to have been Karttikadi and not Chaitradi, Asha?hadi or Srava?adi. Of the Ashadhadi and Srava?adi Vikrama years prevalent in some parts of Rajasthan,[6] the first does not suit the dates of Nos. 4-6 and the second is equally unsuitable in the case of No. 5. The date of our inscription, viz. V. S. 1234, Chaitra-sudi 4, would thus appear to correspond to the 25th March 1178 A.D.
But this date of the reign of P?ithviraja III is earlier by a few months than the latest known date of his father and predecessor Somesvara, viz. V. S. 1234, Bhadra-sudi 4=August 18,1178 A.D. as found in the Anvalda inscription. Since, however, the inscription under study clearly refers to the death of Somesvara (cf. tridasa-pattana? prapte in verse 4), its date can scarcely be earlier than the latest date in the records of that king, viz. August 18, 1178 A.D. It is therefore not improbable that V.S. 1234 in the date of our record is a mistake for V.S. 1235. In that case the date of the epigraph would correspond to March 14, 1179 A.D. Thus P?ithviraja III would appear to have ascended the Chahamana throne after the death of his father Somesvara between the 18th August 1178 A.D. and the 14th March of the following year, that is to say, sometime about the end of 1178 A.D. or the beginning of 1178 A.D. It seems that there is some confusion in the minds of the writers on Chahaman history about the English equivalent of the date of the Anvalda inscription of Somesvara, viz., V.S. 1234, Bhadra-sudi 4, which is the latest known record of that king. H. C. Ray regards the year as c. 1177 A.D.,[7] while D. C. Ganguly gives the year of the accession of Somesvara’s successor P?ithviraja III as 1177 A.D.[8] Although Ganguly does not refer to Bhattacharya’s note on the inscription under study,[9] his view seems to have been influenced by the wrong equation of V. S. 1234, the year of P?ithviraja’s accession according to the present record, with 1177 A.D. The only geographical name mentioned in the inscription is the agrahara of Atisakha whence the family of Yasoraja hailed. I am not sure about the identification of the locality. ___________________________________________________________ [1] .Bhandarkar’s List, No. 344.
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