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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
dated in July, A.D. 980,[1] speaks of the prince Kârtavîrya I., in a Kanarese verse, as Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa, “ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas.” The Saundatti inscription, dated in
December of the same year, of the Baisa prince Śântivarman, speaks in Kanarese verses, with
reference it may be to the Râshṭrakûṭas of Mâlkhêḍ, or it may be to some earlier members of
the Raṭṭa family of Saundatti,[2] of Raṭṭa-kuḷ-ânvaya-nṛipar, “ the kings of the lineage of the
family of the Raṭṭas,” and, with the Drâviḍian r, of Raṭṭar, “ the Raṭṭas.”[3] The Maṇṭûr
inscription of A.D. 1040 presents a formal praśasti of the usual kind in Kanarese prose,
introductory to the practical details of the record, in which it applies to the prince Eraga-Ereyammarasa the epithet Raṭṭa-vaṁś-ôdbhava, “ born in the race of the Raṭṭas,” and the
biruda Raṭṭamârtaṇḍa, “ a sun of the Raṭṭas ;” and, in Kanarese verses, it gives him the
biruda Raṭṭanârâyaṇa, “ a Nârâyaṇa of the Raṭṭas,” in addition to repeating the biruda
Raṭṭamârtaṇḍa ; and it further speaks, in Kanarese prose, of a tank called Raṭṭasamudra.[4] The
Kanarese inscription in the temple of Aṅkalêśvara or Aṅkuśêśvara, at Saundatti,[5] in the passage
of A.D. 1048 describes Nanna, the father of Kârtavîrya I., in verse as Raṭṭa-kuḷ-âṁbara-tigmarôchi, “ a sun of the sky which is the family of the Raṭṭas,” and speaks of Ḍâyima in
verse as Raṭṭara Mêru Ḍâyima, “ Ḍâyima, a Mêru of the Raṭṭas ;”[6] and it uses the same
form of the name twice more, in verse and prose, in connection with Aṅka in that passage,
and once again in the passage of A.D. 1087, in which it describes Kârtavîrya II., in a formal prose
praśasti, as Raṭṭa-kuḷa-kamaḷa-mârttaṇḍa, “ a sun of the water-lily (blooming in the daytime)
which is the family of the Raṭṭas.”
Another inscription at Saundatti, of the period A.D. 1069 to
1076, describes the prince Kârtavîrya II., in the formal praśasti in Kanarese prose, as Raṭṭa-kuḷa-vanaja-vana-mârtaṇḍa, “ a sun of the group of water-lilies (blooming in the daytime) which is the
family of the Raṭṭas,” and, in giving his pedigree, uses the same verse that stands in the record of
A.D. 1048, and styles his ancestor Ḍâyima, in a Kanarese verse, Raṭtara Mêru Ḍâyima, “ Ḍâyima,
a Mêru of the Raṭṭas.”[7] The Saundatti inscription, put together in A.D. 1096 or thereabouts,
which has been quoted above as presenting the name Râshṭrakûṭa in connection with Kṛishṇa III.,
describes the prince Kârtavîrya II., in the formula praśasti in Kanarese prose, as Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa, “ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas,” and, in tracing his descent, describes his
ancestor Kârtavîrya I., in a Sanskṛit verse, as Raṭṭa-vaṁś-ôdbhava, “ born in the race of the
Raṭtâs.”[8] The Têrdâḷ inscription, put together in A.D. 1187, which has been quoted above as
presenting, in a passage dated in A.D. 1122, the name Râshṭrakûṭa in connection with the
prince Kârtavîrya II., styles him, in the formal praśasti in Kanarese prose, Raṭṭa-kuḷa-bhûshaṇa,
“ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas.” [9] The Kalhoḷe inscription of A.D. 1204 describes the
prince Sêna II., in a Kanarese verse, as Raṭṭ-ânvaya-Śrî-nêtra, “ the eye of Fortune in the shape of
the lineage of the Raṭṭas,” and applies the biruda Raṭṭanârâyaṇa, “ a Nârâyaṇa of the Râṭṭas,”
to Kârtavîrya IV., again in a Kanarese verse, and then, in the formal praśasti in Kanarese prose,
styles him, a usual, Raṭṭa-kula-bhûshaṇa “ an ornament of the family of the Raṭṭas.”[10] The
Bhôj plates of A.D. 1208 speak of the family of the princes, in a Sanskrit verse, as Raṭṭ-âhvayô
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[1]Noticed in Dyn. Kan. Distrs. pp. 428, 553. I quote it from an ink-impression.
[2] On this point, see page 223 below, note 5.
[3] Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 204, text lines 1, 2.
[4] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. p. 164, text lines 9, 10, 17, 24, and p. 165, line 27.
[5] Not yet published, but mentioned in Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 172 f., and Dyn. Kan. Distrs.
pp. 553, 554. I quote it from an ink-impression.
[6] With the epithet thus applied to Ḍâyima, compare the likening of Indra II to “ a golden mountain (Mêru)
of the good Râshṭrakûṭas,” see page 215. It would also seem that Nâgavarman, somewhere in his
Kêvyâvalôkana,
uses the expression Raṭṭara Mêru Dantiga. “ Dantiga, a Mêru of the Raṭṭas,” with reference probably to the
Râshṭrakûṭa king Dantidurga-Dantivarman II. ; see Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XX. p. 25.
[7] Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 213, text line 6, and p. 214, line 12.
[8] Ibid. p. 196, text lines 24, 26.
[9] Ind. Ant. Vol.. XIV. P. 18, text line 43.
[10] Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 220, text line 5, and p. 221, line 12, 16.
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