South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

line 18. It is often wrongly changed to anusvāra and is found wrongly conjoined with the following v in a few cases in lines 25, 59 and 60. In one case in line 43, final n has been wrongly changed to anusvāra. The rules of Sandhi have in some cases been ignored.

The date of the charter is quoted in lines 58-60 as Śaka 848, Vyaya, Vaiśākha-śu. 3, Akshata-tṛitīyā, (i.e. Akshaya-tṛitīyā), Monday. The details correspond to the 17th April, 926 A.D.

The inscription begins with the Siddham symbol. Then follows an introductory section in four stanzas, the first of which is in adoration of Girisutā and Hara (i.e. Pārvatī and Śiva). Verse 2 is also in adoration of Durgā, i.e. Pārvatī. The sage Agastya is adored in verse 3 and the Ārya-dēśīyā Mahā-parshad in verse 4. Since Agastya was regarded as the leader of the Aryanisation of trans-Vindhyan India, he was an object of special veneration to the Brahmanists of the south. The Ārya-dēśīyā Mahā-parshad seems to have been an assembly of learned Brāhmaṇas hailing from what was called Āryavarta (roughly, India to the north of the Vindhyas) in ancient Indian literature. The contents of the record would suggest that this assembly belonged to the city of Saṁyāna which is the modern Sanjan about 22 miles to the north of the findspot of the inscription. The same assembly is apparently mentioned in lines 29-30 as the Pañcha-Gauḍīya-Mahā-parshad.

The next four stanzas (verses 5-8) introduce the Yadu or Yādava dynasty. This section speaks of the moon, his son Budha, his son Purūravas, and his son Āyus. It also mentions Yayāti as one of the imperial rulers born in the said family and Yadu as the son of Yayāti and the progenitor of the Yadu-vaṁśa. Verse 9 refers to the birth of Gōvindarāja in the same family otherwise called the Rāshṭrakūṭa dynasty.^[1] This Gōvindarāja is the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Gōvinda I, son of Indra I and grandson of Dantivarman I. The next stanza (verse 10) mentions the following four kings who ruled successively : (1) Kakkarāja (Kakka I), son of Gōvindarāja ; (2) Indrarāja (Indra II), son of Kakkarāja ; (3) Dantidurga (Dantivarman II, 742-56 A.D.), son of Indrarāja ; and (4) Kṛishṇarāja (Kṛishṇa I, 756-75 A.D.), the younger brother of Dantidurga’s father. Verse 11 similarly speaks of the following successive rulers of the Rāshṭrakūṭa dynasty : (1) Gōvindarāja (Gōvinda II, 775-80 A.D.), son of Kṛishṇarāja ; (2) Dhruvarāja (780-94 A.D.), younger brother of Gōvindarāja ; (3) Jagattuṅga (Gōvinda III, 794-814 A.D.), son of Dhruvarāja ; and (4) Amōghavarsha (i.e. Amōghavarsha I, 814-80 A.D.), son of Jagattuṅga. Verse 12 not only mentions Kṛishṇarāja (Kṛishṇa II, 878-915 A.D.), son and successor of Amōghavarsha, but also refers to his own successor who was the son of his son named Jagattuṅga.

The name of the grandson and successor of Kṛishṇa II is given in verse 13 as Indrarāja (Indra III, 915-28 A.D.) while the next stanza (verse 14) describes him as gṛihīta-Ḍāhāla-nāyaka-kapāla and uttara-dig-baddha-ruchi. In the first of these two epithets, Ḍāhāla is no doubt the name of the territory under the rule of the Kalachuris of Tripurī near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, and nāyaka possibly means a lieutenant of the contemporary Kalachuri king. The claim therefore may refer to the slaughter of a Kalachuri general. We know that Lakshmī, mother of Rāshṭrakūṭa Indra III, was the daughter of Kalachuri Śaṅkaragaṇa Raṇavigraha, son of Kōkkalla I,^[2]

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^[1] That the Rāshṭrakūṭas did not originally claim the Yādava lineage seems to be suggested by the description of Gōvinda III in his records. It is stated that the Rāshṭrakūṭa family became unconquerable to its foes owing to the birth of Gōvinda III just as the Yādava race had been after the birth of Madhu-ripu, i.e. Kṛishṇa-Vishṇu (cf. Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 66, verse 11) thereby making a distinction between the two dynasties. The Sanjan plates (above, Vol. XVIII, p. 243, verse 3) of Amōghavarsha I, dated 871 A.D., refer to the birth of Rāshṭrakūṭa Gōvinda I in the Yadu dynasty thus suggesting the identification of the two families. The Huvīna-Hippargi inscription (862 A.D.) of the same Rāshṭrakūṭa king mentions Kṛishṇa I as Yādav-āṁś-ōdbhava, probably meaning an incarnation of Kṛishṇa, the Yādava par excellence. Cf. Bombay-Karnatak Inscriptions, Vol. I, part i, p. 5, No. 9, text line 1.
^[2] Cf. Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 265.