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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA grants of A.D. 915[1] and of Indra III. as râjya-śriyô bhartâ in the Kardâ grant of A.D. 972 ;[2] we do not infer from those verses that Jagattuṅga II. and Indra III. were formally known as Vîralakshmîvallabha and Râjyaśrîbhartṛi ; in the same way, we do not take it as proved by the verse in the Paiṭhaṇ grant that Śrîvallabha is established as a specific biruda of Kṛishṇa I.;[3] and the Waṇî grant of A.D. 807 styles him simply Vallabha.[4] A verse in the Baroda grant of A.D. 811 or 812, which describes Kṛishṇa I. as raining down wealth in excess of even the utmost desires of his servants,[5] might be taken as conveying a hint that he had a second varsha-appellation, in the shape of Dhanavarsha :[6] but, in the Kâvî grant of A.D. 826 or 827,[7] the same verse was made to do duty in the case of the feudatory Râshṭrakûṭa prince Suvarṇavarsha-Karkarâja of Gujarât ; and it seems, therefore, that it was not intended to have any special meaning in either case. It may be added here that another verse in the Paiṭhaṇ grant tells us that Kṛishṇa I. conquered in battle a certain Râhappa, and then or thus “ quickly extended the sovereignty which was resplendent with a row of pâlidhvaja-banners.” It seems probable that Râhappa was the more familiar name of the Râshṭrakûṭa king Kakkarâja II., of another branch of the family in Gujarât, who was reigning over the territory on the north of the Taptî in A.D. 757,[8] or else that it was the name of his successor. And it is perhaps, in the same connection,─ rather than with any reference to Dantidurga, as I have previously thought,─ that we should apply the statement, in the Baroda grant of A.D. 811 or 812, that Kṛishṇa I. uprooted a vaṁśya or “ kinsman ” who had taken to evil ways, and appropriated the kingdom to himself for the benefit of his family.[9]
Kṛishṇa I. left two sons, Gôvinda II. and Dhruva. They are introduced by their proper names, as Gôvindarâja and Dhruvarâja, in two consecutive verses in the Paiṭhaṇ grant of A.D. 794.[10] And the second verses shews that Gôvinda II. was the elder of the two brothers. A statement, which has been understood to imply that Gôvinda II. succeeded to the throne and held it for a while, is made,─ and as far as all known records go, appears for the first time,─ a century and a half later in the Dêôlî grant of A.D. 940, which says that “ sensual pleasures “ made him (Gôvinda II.) careless of the kingdom ; and, entrusting fully the universal “ sovereignty to his younger brother Nirupama-(Dhruva), he allowed his position as sovereign to “ become loose.”[11] But no statement that he reigned is made in the Paiṭhaṇ grant, which is the first record after his time that puts forward details of the genealogy and succession. The verse which introduces him in that record, speaks, it is true, of his white umbrella with which the rays of the sun were warded off from his head as he moved in battle, and says that he conquered the world, and talks of his causing widowhood to the wives of his enemies and of his bursting asunder in war the temples of the elephants of his foes. These, however, are merely vague poetical statements, introduced to eke out the verse that first mentions him, of no more
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