South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

him with the Chellakêtana, whose son Lôkâditya alias Chellapatâka (the younger brother of Chelladhvaja), of the Mukula kula, in A.D. 897 was governing the Vanavâsa country at Baṅkapura, so named by his father after his own name (Baṅkêśa) ;^[1] and there can therefore be hardly any doubt that the date of our inscription (in A.D. 860) may give us a true date for the time of Baṅkêśa.─ The exploits of Baṅkêśa are told in verses 22-31. As leader of the hereditary forces, he at the king’s command invaded Gaṅgavâḍi^[2] (the country of the Western Gaṅgas), took the fort of Kêḍaḷa, put to flight the ruler of Talavanapura, and after crossing the river Kâvêrî, conquered the enemy’s country. Recalled then by Amôghavarsha on account of disturbances which had broken out at home, and in which, as appears from verse 31, the king’s own son was concerned,^[3] he quickly returned, and succeeded in quelling the insurrection and restoring his master’s fortune.─ The Talavanapura here mentioned is the well-known capital of the Western Gaṅgas, the modern Taḷakâḍ on the left bank of the river Kâvêrî ;^[4] and Kêḍaḷa may perhaps be the modern ‘ Kaidala’ which, according to the map in Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, is to the north-east of Kaḍaba.

As regards the places mentioned in connection with the actual grant, Koḷanûra has already been stated to be the village of Konnûr, where the inscription is. The village granted, Taleyûra, which was in the Majjantiya-seventy bhukti, has not been identified ; nor have its boundaries, Beṇḍanûru,^[5] Sâsavevâ[du], Paḍilagere, and Kîlavâḍa. In addition to the main grant, twelve nivartanas of land were granted at Koḷanûra itself, and at each of the thirty villages which are enumerated in lines 45-48. Eleven of these may be identified^[6] with modern villages at a reasonable distance from Konnûr, thus :─

Avaravâ[ḍi]i= ‘ Owruddee,’ ‘ Aurwádi ;’ 6 miles west by north from Konnûr ;
Beṇḍanûru= ‘ Bennoor ;’ 1½ miles north of ‘Owruddee ;’
Suḷḷa= ‘ Soolah,’ ‘Sula ;’ 5 miles east by south from Konnûr ;
Mâvinûru= ‘ Munnoor ;’ 8 miles east by south from Konnûr ;
Mattikaṭṭe= ‘ Mutteekuttee.’ ‘ Matikatti ;’ 12 miles north by east from Konnûr ;
Nîla[gun]dage= ‘ Neelgoondee ;’ 5½ miles north-east from Konnûr ;
Tâḷikhêḍa= ‘ Tullakodda ;’ ‘ Tálakwád ;’ 2½ miles north-west from Konnûr ;
B[e]ḷḷeru= ‘ Belleeree ;’ 2½ miles west-north-west from Konnûr ;
Muttalagere= ‘ Mootulgeeree,’ ‘ Mutalgeri ;’ 7½ miles east by north from Konnûr ;
Kâkeyanûru= ‘ Kakanoor,’ ‘ Káknur ;’ 7½ miles north-west from Konnûr ;
Neri[la]ge= ‘ Neerlehgee,’ ‘ Niralgi ;’ 9 miles north by west from Konnûr.

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^[1] See the passage from the Jaina Uttarapurâṇa, first published in Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 217, and afterward, more correctly, in Prof. Bhandarkar’s Report for 1883-84, p. 429 ; also Prof. Bhandarkar’s remarks, ibid. p. 430 and pp. 120 and 121. Our inscription shews that in the Sanskṛit text Mukula, and not Padmâlaya, must be taken to be the name of Lôkâditya’s family.─ The biruda Chellakêtana (or Sellakêtana) Mr. Pathak in Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XVIII. p. 223 has translated by ‘ cloth-bannered ’ (see Dr. Fleet’s Dynasties, p. 403, note 2), but, so far as I can see, the Kanarese word for ‘ cloth ’ is sele = Sanskṛit chêla. Böhtlingk’s Dictionary gives sêla (from the Kâdambarî) and sêlla in the sense of ‘ a kind of weapon ;’ Kittel’s Dictionary has śalle=śalle=śalya, ‘a dart, a javelin, a spear tipped with iron, a pike ’ etc., and also selleha=salleha= śalya ; I think that these are the words with which the first part of the biruda should be connected. In support of this view, I would state that I find sella as the first part of a proper name in Sellavidyâdhara (Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 54, line 29 of the text), and that in the verse in which the name occurs (where I would alter the corrupt selullâlita-pâṇinâ to sella-lâlita-pâṇinâ) the author too apparently has understood sella to denote some kind of weapon (‘ Sellavidyâdhara, whose hand is fondled by the javelin’).─ Compare also the biruda Sellaviḍega in Ep. Ind. Vol. II. p. 219, l. 51.
^[2] The wars with the Gaṅgas are often spoken of in Râshṭrakûṭa records. In Sanskṛit inscriptions the name of their country is ordinarily written Gaṅgapâṭî.
^[3] Regarding Amôghavarsha’s wars with rebellious members of his own family, see e.g. Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 53. I am not aware that elsewhere his own son is spoken of in this connection.
^[4] See Dr. Fleet’s Dynasties, p. 299.
^[5] There is a ‘ Bennoor,’ 2 miles north-west of Konnûr, and another village of the same name will be mentioned below.
^[6] Most of these have been identified for me by Dr. Fleet.