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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Gôvinda III. is mentioned, in all the eight records, only as Jagattuṅga and Jagattuṅgadêva, without any allusion to his proper name or to any his other birudas. Amôghavarsha I. is mentioned in the Nausârî grants as Śrîvallabha, who then became Vîranârâyaṇa. The Sâṅglî, Kardâ, Bhâdâna, and Khârêpâṭaṇ grants mentions him as Amôghavarsha,─ the Bhâdâna record putting forward also a very questionable new biruda for him, in the form of Durlabha. The Dêôlî and Karhâḍ grants use only his biruda Nṛipatuṅgadêva. And Kṛishṇa II. is mentioned by his proper name only, as Kṛishṇarâja, in the Nausârî, Dêôlî, Karhâḍ, and Bhâdâna grants, and by only his biruda of Akâlavarsha in the Sâṅglî and Khârêpâṭaṇ grants ; while the Kardâ grant presents both his proper name and the same biruda, mentioning him first as Akâlavarsha, and then supplying his proper name as Kṛishṇanṛipa, “ king Kṛishṇa.” It is rather curious that Gôvinda III. was thus remembered only as Jagattuṅga ; for, as we shall see further on, this biruda was certainly not the appellation by which he was best known in his own time. It appears first in the Tôrkhêḍê grant of A.D. 813, issued in his time. And all that we know as to the origin of it, is the assertion in the Nîlgund inscription of A.D. 866, of the next reign, that he, Prabhûtavarsha-Gôvindarâja, conquered the whole world and so became known as Jagattuṅga. It evidently became his leading biruda, supplanting the biruda that was at first his distinctive appellation ; because it was used, most exceptionally, in violation of the custom of using the biruda ending in varsha, to denote him in the Kaṇheri inscription of A.D. 851, in the formal passage which mentions him, as Jagattuṅgadêva, as the predecessor of the then reigning king Amôghavarsha I.[1] His assumption of the biruda, and the fact that it eventually became his most well known appellation, are evidently to be attributed to something or other that occurred when his reign was well advanced, and after A.D. 807 because there is no allusion of any kind to the biruda in the Waṇî and Râdhanpur grants of that year.
* * * * * * The use of the biruda Śrîvallabha in the Râshṭrakûṭa records. We have now to consider who is most likely to be intended by the biruda Śrîvallabha as used to denote the reigning king,─ without any other appellation, or any other hint,─ in a Râshṭrakûṭa record which, like the Lakshmêshwar inscription, C. above, is not dated but is referable to the last quarter of the eighth century A.D. We have first to note that from Śrîvallabha, “ favourite of Śrî or Fortune,” we have the derivative śrîvallabhatâ, “ the condition of being a Śrîvallabha.” In the Râshṭrakûṭa records, this word śrîvallabhatâ is met with as the equivalent of râjâdhirâjaparamêśvaratâ, “ the condition of being an over-king of kings and a supreme lord.” And these two words were used in the general sense, according to free translation, of “ supreme sovereignty ;” for instance, a verse in the Sâmângaḍ grant of A.D. 754 describes Dantidurga as acquiring the râjâdhirâja-paramêśvaratâ by conquering Vallabha,[2]─ which appellation denotes there, and in the passage quoted below, the Western Chalukya king Kîrtivarman II.,─ while another verse in the inscription at the Daśâvatâra cave at Ellôrâ says that, by defeating the army of Vallabha and subjugating certain other kings, he acquired the śrîvallabhatâ.[3] And, in view of this, the biruda Śrîvallabha might, without any objection, be applied to any paramount king without exception. ________________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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