South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Arjunavarman ; for they were composed (rachita) by the same râjaguru Madana,^[1] who was the author of the drama (l. 4).

Arjunavarman’s grants report that he defeated Jayasiṁha.^[2] The same enemy is referred to in the drama (l. 7), with the additional information that he was a king of Gûrjara (l. 7, vv. 10 and 18) and belonged to the Chaulukya family (v. 7). Hence he seems to be identical with the Chaulukya king Bhîmadêva II. of Aṇahilapâṭaka,^[3] whose grants are dated between A.D. 1199 and 1238.^[4] Although these grants do not apply to Bhîmadêva II. the name Jayasiṁha, they call him ‘ the new Siddharâja,’ and ‘ Siddarâja ’ had been the surname of his ancestor Jayasiṁha. Hence I believe that Bhîmadêva II. is meant both in the drama and in the grants of Arjunavarman. It is, however, not absolutely impossible that the Jayasiṁha whom Arjunavarman defeated was the temporary usurper Jayantasiṁha Abhinava-Siddharâja, who ruled in the place of Bhîmadêva II. in A.D. 1223.^[5] At any rate, as noted by Bühler,^[6] Mêrutuṅga’s Prabandhachintâmaṇi places both the conquest of Gujarât by Arjunadêva of Mâlava and an attempted invasion^[7] by his father Subhaṭa in the lifetime of Bhîmadêva II. himself.

The drama locates the decisive battle between Arjunavarman and Jayasiṁha on the borders of the land at the foot of a mountain called Parvaparvata (l. 7). The name of Arjunavarman’s minister is stated to have been Nârâyaṇa (v. 8). To Arjunavarman himself the drama applies the surname Trividhavîrachûḍâmaṇi (l. 7 and v. 9). Even this detail is corroborated from two different sides. The same surname occurs as Trividhavîra in the grants,^[8] and as Vîrachûḍâmaṇi in the colophon of the Rasikasaṁjîvinî, a commentary on the Amaraśatakam.^[9] This commentary is attributed to king Arjunavarman, who at the beginning of it calls himself ‘ the son of king Subhaṭavarman ’ and ‘ the light of Bhôja’s family.’^[10]

In his commentary on the first verse of the Amaruśatakam (p. 2) Arjunavarman quotes a Śârdûlavikrîḍita verse of ‘ the preceptor (upâdhyâya) Madana whose other name was Bâlasarasvatî.’^[11] the same person seems to be meant by the ‘ upâdhyâya ’who is quoted as the author of an Âryâ (p. 15) and of two Anushṭubh verses (pp. 16 and 44). The upâdhyâya Madana is of course identical with the râjaguru Madana, the author of the Pârijâtamañjarî and of Arjunavarman’s grants.^[12] The quotations in the Rasikasaṁjîvinî show that the produced other poetical works besides these,^[13] and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he aided his royal pupil very materially in the compilation of the commentary on the Amaruśatakam.

Finally the drama mentions a few localities within and near the city of Dhârâ. According to the prologue, the first performance of the drama took place in a temple of the goddess Sarasvatî.^[14] The scene of the first act is the top of the royal palace (v. 8), and that of the
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^[1] Journ. As. Soc. Bengal. Vol. V. p. 379 ; Journ Am. Or. Soc. Vol. VII. pp. 29 and 33.
^[2] Ibid. p. 26, verse 17.
^[3] This was already suggested by Dr. Hall, ibid. p. 39 f.
^[4] Prof. Kielhorn’s Northern List, Nos. 188 and 216.
^[5] Ibid. No. 205.
^[6] Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 187.
^[7] This invasion is alluded to in the grants of Arjunavarman ; Journ. Am. Or. Soc. Vol. VII. p. 26, verse 15.
^[8] Loc. cit. verse 19.
^[9] Kâvyamâlâ edition. p. 69.
^[10] Ibid. p. 1, verse 5. On p. 23 Arjunavarman quotes a verse of ‘ our ancestor Muñjadêva whose other name was Vâkpatirâja.’ Compare Zeitschr. D. M. G. Vol. XLVII. p. 93.
^[11] Bâlasarasvatî-Madana was taught poetry by the Jaina Âśâdhara, a contemporary of the Mâlava king Arjuna and of his two successors Dêvapâla and Jaitugidêva (Jayasiṁha) See Dr. Bhandarkar’s Report for 1883-84, p. 104 f. ; Bühler in Zeitschr. D. M. G. Vol. XLVII. p . 94 ; and Prof. Kielhorn, above, Vol. V. App. p. 32, note. 3.
^[12] See the two first lines of this page.
^[13] Prof. Oppert’s Lists of Sanskṛit Manuscripts mention three MSS. of the Bâlasarasvatîyam, a kâvyam by Bâlasarasvatî, which Prof. Aufrecht (Catalogus Catalogorum, Vol. I. p. 425) assigns to the upâdhyâya Madana.
^[14] Śâradâdêvî, l. 3, or Bhâratî, l. 6.