South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Amôghavarshadêva, Atiśayadhavala, and Atiśayadhavalanarêndradêva,^[1] is enough to shew that all these endings, also, were not integral and essential parts of the birudas, and are to be disregarded for all general purposes. In editing records, it may be convenient to retain the ending indra, rather than to translate it by rendering, for instance, Lakshmîvallabhêndra by “ Lakshmîvallabha, the chief of Lakshmîvallabhas or of favourites of Fortune.” But the other two will be better treated by translation,─ narêndra being rendered by “ king,” and narêndradêva by “ his majesty the king.”

We have next to note that the most distinctive and leading birudas of the Râshṭrakûṭas were those ending in varsha. Not only are they found most frequently in the stone records, and often without any other appellation accompanying them, but also, in the formal preambles of the prose passages of the copper-plate charters of the kings of the main line, it is always the biruda ending in varsha that is used,─ and without any other appellation,─ to denote the predecessor, and the biruda ending in varsha of the reigning king is always presented with such others of his appellations as are put forward ; and, in the corresponding passages of the copper-plate charters of the feudatory princes of the Gujarât branch, the biruda ending in varsha is always prefixed to the proper name of the prince. We may find, hereafter, an exception to this rule about the designation of the predecessor in the copper-plate charters of the main line, when we obtain any such record of Amôghavarsha I. ; for, the Kaṇheri stone inscription of A.D. 851 describes him as meditating on the feet, not of Prabhûtavarshadêva, but of Jagattuṅgadêva,^[2] and, as we shall see further on, there are other indications that Gôvinda III. was best known as Jagattuṅga after his death, though, as we shall also see, in his lifetime he was best known as Prabhûtavarsha.

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But, after the Sâmângaḍ grant of A.D. 754, all the copper-plate records of the main line that we know at present, conform, with such variations as have been indicated above in the actual selection (without omitting the biruda ending in varsha) and order of the appellations of the reigning king, to the practice of the Paiṭhaṇ grant of Gôvinda III., which describes him as Pṛithvîvallabha, Prabhûtavarsha, his majesty the king Śrîvallabha, meditating on the feet of Dhârâvarshadêva ;^[3] and the Âtakûr stone inscription uses only the biruda Amôghavarshadêva to denote the predecessor of Kṛishṇa III.^[4] And another special feature of the birudas ending in varsha is that we cannot trace back the conception of them to any predecessors of the Râshṭrakûṭas of Mâlkhêḍ,^[5] nor even to the first Gujarât branch of the Râshṭrakûṭas which was represented by Karkarâja II. son of Gôvindarâja in A.D. 757, nor to the early Râshṭrakûṭas of Central India whose existence is disclosed by the grants of Abhimanyu and Yuddhâsura-Nandarâja.^[6] They were plainly first devised by the Râshṭrakûṭas of Mâlkhêḍ. The fashion seems to have been set by Akâlavarsha-Kṛishṇa I., as we have no biruda ending in varsha for his predecessor Dantidurga. And it seems likely that each subsequent member of the family was invested with a varsha­-appellation at the time when he was selected for the succession and was formally appointed as Yuvarâja.

Other special Râshṭrakûṭa birudas were those ending in avalôka and tuṅga. Of the former, we have two instances in the Mâlkhêḍ line, namely, Khaḍgâvalôka in the case of Dantidurga, and Raṇâvalôka in the case of Stambha son of Dhruva ;^[7] and we find two instances

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^[1] Pages 103, 104, above, text lines 8, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22.
^[2] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 134, No. 15, text line 2.
^[3] Above, Vol. III. p. 108, text lines 43, 44.
^[4] Page 53 above, text line 2.
^[5] But, when once they had been started by the Râshṭrakûṭas of Mâlkhêḍ, the fashion was followed, probably as the result of intermarriages, in other families also ; for instance, we have the Kalachuri king Kêyûravarsha-Yuvarâja I., at some time about A.D. 925 (see Prof. Kielhorn’s List of the Inscriptions of Northern India, Vol. V. above, Appendix, p. 61, No. 429), and the Paramâra king Amôghavarsha-Vâkpatirâja, with the date of A.D. 974 (ibid. p. 8, No. 46), and Karivarsha-Sâhilladêva, a king of Chaṇpakâ-(Chambâ) (ibid. p. 81, No. 593), and the Paramâra chieftain Dhârâvarsha, with the date of A.D. 1209 (ibid. p. 28, No. 193).
^[6] See Dyn. Kan. Distrs. p. 386.
^[7] See pages 195, 197, below.