South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Râjatriṇêtra ;^[1] and the formal preamble of the prose passages, using first Amôghavarsha with the ending dêva, adds the biruda Pṛithvîvallabha, and further styles him Vallabhanarêndradêva, “ his majesty the king Vallabha.”^[2] The Guṇḍûr inscription of his time, dated in A.D. 973, uses his Prâkṛit name Kakkaladêva, as already noted, and presents the biruda Pṛithvîvallabha in the tadbhava- form Prithuvivallabha.^[3]

Kakka II. was the last Râshṭrakûṭa king of Mâlkhêḍ. After his overthrow in the latter part of A.D. 973 or early in the next year by the Western Châlukya Taila II., an attempt was made by the great Western Gaṅga prince Noḷambântaka-Mârasiṁha II. to continue the Râshṭrakûṭa sovereignty by crowing Indra IV., grandson of Kṛishṇa III.^[4] But, though Indra IV. lived on till A.D. 982, there is nothing to shew that the attempt was even temporarily or locally successful ; doubtless, because Mârasiṁha II. was either dead, or else had abdicated and passed into religious retirement, before June-July, A.D. 974,^[5] and because before August, A.D. 975, another Western Gaṅga prince, Pañchaladêva, had set himself up as paramount sovereign, in opposition to Taila II., in the southern provinces of what had been the Râshṭrakûṭa kingdom.^[6] Indra IV. eventually died, starving himself to death in the performance of the sallêkhanâ-vow, on the 20th March A.D. 982.^[7] The record which furnishes that information,^[8] mentions him by the proper name of Indrarâja, and puts forward for him the birudas of Raṭṭakandarpadêva, Râjamârtaṇḍa, Chaladaṅkakâra, “ the champion of firmness of character,”^[9] Ahitarajava, “ the Death of enemies,” Chaladaggali, “ the door-bar of firmness of character,” Kîrtinârâyaṇa, Kaligaḷoḷgaṇḍa, “ the hero among brave men,” Bîrarabîra, “ the bravest of the brave,” and Elevabeḍeṅga, “ a marvel among those who take by force (the property of others).”

Some special features in the use of the appellations.

We have now to notice certain special feature, attending the use of the appellations of the members of the family, whether they were actually reigning kings or not, which are disclosed by the technicalities that are recognisable in the diction employed in the Râshṭrakûṭa records.

And first as regards the proper names in their Sanskṛit forms. It has been mentioned that the verse in the Sâmângaḍ grant which first introduces Dantidurga, gives his name as Dantidurgarâja, while the formal prose passage adds dêva and styles him Dantidurgarâjadêva. The habitual earlier practice, and evidently the correct etiquette, was that the verses of the records should be constructed in such a way that the Sanskṛit names should have the ending râja and nothing else,─ in the case, not only of the paramount sovereigns and other members of the main line of Mâlkhêḍ, but also of the feudatory princes of the Gujarât branch. This was does so constantly, that it is necessary to notice only the cases in which it was not done. And I have found at present only the following exceptions, most of which occur in records which were

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^[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 266, text lines 38 to 41.
^[2] Ibid. text lines 44, 45. This appellation is preceded by the honorific śrîmat,─ not śrî.
^[3] Ibid. p. 271, text lines 3, 5.
^[4] See above, Vol. V. p. 170, and note 4. An allusion to the attempt is to be found in the Western Châlukya Kauṭhêṁ grant of A.D. 1009, which presents an imaginary item of ancient history in asserting that Jayasiṁha I., the original ancestor (about A.D. 500) of the earlier Chalukya dynasty of Bâdâmi, re-established his line, after a period during which its power had been in abeyance, by conquering a Râshṭrakûṭa king Indra, son of Kṛishṇa (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 17). The assertion is certainly based (see Dyn. Kan. Distrs. p. 342) upon nothing but the overthrow of Kakka II. by Taila II., and on the names of Kṛishṇa III. and Indra IV. and the crowing of the letter.
^[5] Above, Vol. V. p. 152.
^[6] Ibid. p. 172.
^[7] Ind. Ant. Vol. XXIII. p. 124, No. 64.
^[8] Inscrs. at Śrav.-Beḷ. No. 57.
^[9] This is to be added to the two instances given above, page 57, and note 8, of the occurrence of aṅkakâra in a biruda the first component of which is not a proper name.