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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA from Chinchani, dated respectively in Śaka 969 (1048 A.D.) and Śaka 975 (1053 A.D.), in both of which the donor is described as a Mōḍha, are conspicuous in their silence about the allegiance of the ruler of Saṁyāna to the Śilāhāras. This fact may suggest that, for some time about the middle of the eleventh century, Śilāhāra hold on Saṁyāna became week. This seems to be further indicated by the record of Śaka 975 (1053 A.D.) in which the Mōḍha chief is endowed with the typical Śilāhāra title ‘ lord of Tagarapura ’ and is stated to have been ruling over ‘ the new kingdom ’ obtained by the strength of his own arms (line 8). In the inscription of Śaka 969 (1048 A.D.), he calls himself Śaraṇāgata-vajra-pañjara in imitation of the Śilāhāras. We have also to note of that the Saṁyāna chiefs enjoyed the same feudatory titles as the Śilāhāra rulers and that one of them claimed to have ruled over nearly a half of the Northern Kōnkan. It was probably Śilāhāra Mummuṇi or Māmvāṇi who subdued or supplanted the Mōḍhas and re-established Śilāhāra authority over the Saṁyāna region shortly after the middle of the eleventh century. The Kharepatan plates[1] (Śaka 1016=1095 A.D.) of Anantadēva or Anantapāla, son of Nāgārjuna and successor of Mummuṇi or Māmvāṇi, speak of his success against a calamity facing the Śilāhāras of the Northern Konkan owing to dāyāda-vairi-vyasana,[2] although it is difficult to say whether the chief of Saṁyāna were encouraged to rule without reference to the Śilāhāras in the period of trouble referred to in that record.
1. Grant of Chāmuṇḍarāja, Subordinate of Śilāhāra Chhinturāja, Śaka 956 This is a single plate measuring 10·5″ in length, 7·5″ in height and ·1″ in thickness. There are altogether 32 lines of writing, 20 on the first side and 12 on6 the second. A ring-hole disturbs the continuity of writing in the first two lines both on the observe and the reverse of the plate. But no ring or seal was found with it. Since the writing was completed on both sides of a single plate, no ring bearing seal may have been attached to it. The plate weighs 77½ tolas. The characters belong to the Northern Class of alphabets and closely resemble those of the Śilāhāra inscriptions of the tenth and eleventh centuries A.D.[3] The draft of the record as well as its engraving exhibits as amount of carelessness. The letter ś has been written in two different ways ; cf. śavda and śrī in line 2. Although medial ē is generally of the pṛishṭha-mātrā type, its śirō-mātrā form is also used in a few cases (cf. maṇḍalēº in line 6). The language is Sanskrit and the record is written in prose and verse. In point of orthography and style also the inscription resembles the contemporary Śilāhāra records and little calls for special mention. The date of the charter is quoted in lines 15-16 as Śaka 956 expired, Bhāva, Bhādrapada-badi 15, both in words and figures. The date seems to correspond to the 15th September 1034 A.D. It may be recalled in this connection that the Berlin Museum plates of Śilāhāra Chhittarāja were issued only a few months earlier on Dvitīya-Chaitra-sudi 14 of the same year, viz. Śaka 956, Bhāva.[4] The inscription begins with the symbol for Siddham followed by the maṅgala : ‘ May there be victory and prosperity.’ Next follows a stanza in adoration of the god Gaṇanāyaka (Gaṇēśa). We know that many of the Śilāhāra grants begin with the same passage and the same stanza.[5] Lines 2-4 introduce the reign (kalyāṇa-vijaya-rājya) of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Chhinturāja described as ‘ the supreme lord of Tagarapura ’, ‘ the illustrious Sīlāra (Śilāhāra) king ’ and ‘ one horn _______________________________________________
[1] Ind. Ant., Vol. IX, pp. 33 ff.
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