South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

(or Âśvina) in the [Jovian] year Vikrama, Śaka-Saṁvat 782 expired or, as is expressly stated, 83 current (ll. 43 and 44)─ king Amôghavarsha [I.], the successor of Jagattuṅga (ll. 15 and 16), residing at this capital of Mânyakhêṭa^[1] (l. 34), at the request of his subordinate Baṅkêśa (Baṅkêya) and in recognition of important services rendered by him, granted the village of Taleyûra (l. 38) and some land in other village (ll. 45-48), for the benefit of a Jaina sanctuary founded by Baṅkêya at Koḷanûra, to the sage Dêvêndra,^[2] who had been appointed by Baṅkêya to the charge of the sanctuary, the disciple of Trikâlayôgîśa, of the Pustaka gachchha of the Dêśîya gaṇa of the Mûla saṁgha (ll. 35-38). The introduction part of the inscription─ after two verses of which one invokes the blessing, at the same time, of the god Vishṇu (Jina) and the first Jaina prophet (Jinêndra), and the other^[3] the protection of both Vishṇu (Nârâyaṇa) and the king Amôghavarsha himself, here, as in verse 34, called Vîra-Nârâyaṇa[4]─ in verse 3-11 gives the genealogy of Amôghavarsha. Verses 17-34 contain a eulogistic account of the service rendered by Baṅkêśa (Baṅkêya). And the concluding lines 57-59 record the writer’s name, Vatsarâja, and that of, Baṅkêyarâja’s chief adviser, the Mahattara Gaṇapati.

It may at once be stated here that the date given above undoubtedly is correct. The Jovian year Vikrama corresponded to Śaka-Saṁvat 782 expired, by both luni-solar systems ;^[5] and on the full-moon day of Âśvina of that year, corresponding to the 3rd October A.D. 860, there was a total eclipse of the moon, fully visible in India for more than three hours. But much as the correctness of a date, containing such particulars as are given here, would speak in favour of the genuineness of a record, there is at least one point in the preceding, which raises a doubt whether the stone inscription, even if it was based on a genuine copper-plate charter, is an authentic copy of it in every detail. Excepting the Kaḍaba grant of Prabhûtavarsha (Gôvinda III.) the form of which is altogether peculiar, the earlier Sanskṛit copper-plate inscriptions of the Râshṭrakûṭas of the main line, from the Sâmâṅgaḍ plates of Dantidurga to the Nausârî plates of Indrarâja III. of Śaka-Saṁvat 836, all commence with the verse Sa vô=vyâd=Vêdhasâ dhâma ; and as that verse is found also in Amôghavarsha’s own Śirûr inscription, I should have expected the present inscription also to begin with it, and might well fancy that the Jaina copyists substituted for it a verse referring to their own creed.

However this may be, it is certain that the genealogical account in verses 3-11 of this inscription, which we now have to consider, cannot possibly be admitted to be a true copy of a genuine copper-plate charter. To shew this, I place side by side here the line of succession as

___________________________________________________________________________
^[1] According to the Dêôlî plates of Śaka-Saṁvat 862 (above, Vol. V. p. 193, l. 18 of the text) Mânyakhêṭa was founded by Amôghavarsha I. The earliest plates in which it is described as the residence of a king, are the Nausârî plates of Indrarâja III. of Śaka-Saṁvat 836 (Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XVIII. pp. 257 and 261).
^[2] This may be the Dêvêndra of Baṅkâpura, mentioned in Inscr. at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, Roman text, p. 49, l. 8,
^[3] With this second verse may be compared the third verse of the Nausârî plates mentioned above, which eulogizes the king Indrarâja III. who issued the grants, by comparing him with, and ascribing to him actions which were performed by, the god Vishṇu.
^[4] I.e. ‘ a Nârâyaṇa (or Vishṇu) in the shape of a hero,’ or ‘ a hero who is like Nârâyaṇa (Vishṇu).’ Amôghavarsha I. is described as Vîra-Nârâyaṇa also in the Nausârî plates ; and the same epithet is given to Amôghavarsha Kakkarâja II. in the Kardâ plates of that king (Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 266, l. 40 of the text). Similar epithets are Kîrti-Nârâyaṇa, ‘a Nârâyaṇa (or Vishṇu) in fame,’ applied to Gôvinda III. in the Śirûr inscription of Amôghavarsha I. (ibid. p. 218, l. 5 of the text), and to Indrarâja III. in this Nausârî plates ; and Vikrânta-Nârâyaṇa, ‘ a Nârâyaṇw (or Vishṇu) in valour,’ applied to Gôvinda IV. in his Sâṅglî plates (ibid. p. 251, l. 38 of the text).─ In the case of the present inscription, what, in my opinion, must strike one as somewhat suspicious, is, that, in verse 34, the king in his own speech should have been made to represent himself as Vîra-Nârâyaṇa.
^[5] Judging by other dates, the proper system for Śaka-Saṁvat 782 is the so-called northern luni-solar system ; but by the strict mean-sign system also the day of the date would fall in the year Vikrama, which ended on the 14th October A.D. 860.