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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA in the Gôdâvarî district ; after that, in verse 28, comes his occupation of ‘ the water of Kunâḷa ;’ this again is followed, in verse 29, by his defeat of the Pallava ruler near Kâñchîpura ; and in verse 30 he crosses the river Kâvêrî. Pulikêśin’s march of conquest therefore is from the north to the south, along the east coast of Southern India ; and the localities mentioned follow each other in regular succession from the north to the south. This in my opinion shews that ‘ the water of Kunâḷa’ can only be the well-known Kolleru lake, which is south of Piṭhâpuram, between the rivers Gôdâvarî and Kṛishṇâ. To that lake the description of ‘ the water of Kunâḷa,’ given in the poem, would be applicable even at the present day ; and we know from other inscriptions that the lake contained at least one fortified island which more than once been the object of attack. In the Chellûr plates[1] of the reign of the Eastern Chalukya Kulôttuṅga-Chôḍa II. of Śaka-Saṁvat 1056 (exactly five hundred years after the date of the present inscription) we are told that in the Veṅgî-maṇḍala there is a great lake in which, like Vishṇu’s city Dvârakâ in the ocean, is a town named Sarasîpurî, unconquerable by enemies, and that at the time of the inscription that town was possessed or governed by Kâṭama-Nâyaka of Kolanu, a Telugu word meaning ‘ lake,’ which according to other inscriptions[2] must undoubtedly be connected with the Kolleru lake, and which in my opinion is identical with Kunâḷa.[3] Regarding the date of the inscription as given in verses 33 and 34, I have nothing to add to what Dr. Fleet already has stated about it. It corresponds, for the expired year 3735 of the Kaliyuga, here described as the year 3735 since the Bhârata war, and─ which is the same─ for Śaka-Saṁvat 556 expired, to A.D. 634-35.
Important as this inscription is as an historical document, to myself it seems almost more interesting from a literary point of view. The statement in verse 37 that it raises its author to the level of Kâlidâsa and Bhâravi, is surely an exaggeration, but in my opinion this poem indubitably places him in the very front rank of court-poets and writers of praśastis. Ravikîrti is thoroughly conversant with the rules of the Alaṁkâra-śâstra, and like a true dâkshiṇâtya, he is unsurpassed in some of his utprêkshâs. He is familiar with the works of India’s greatest poets, and seems to have especially profited by the study of that most perfect poem of Kâlidâsa’s, the Raghuvaṁśa. That this kâvya of Kâlidâsa’s about A.D. 600 was well-known in widely distant parts of India, and even beyond the confines of India proper, there can be no doubt now. I have elsewhere[4] had occasion to shew that one of its verses (XII. I) has been present to the mind of the author of the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription of Mahânâman, dated in A.D. 588. I have also drawn attention to the fact[5] that another verse of the same poem (VI. 23) has been imitated in one the Nâgârjunî Hill cave inscriptions of the Maukhari Anantavarman, which for palæographic reasons cannot be placed later than the first of the sixth century. Besides, so far as I can judge, part at least of the text of the Raghuvaṁśa was __________________________________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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