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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA may have been his younger brother ;[1] but there is nothing to prove this with certainty, Dêvavarman, described as the son of a Kṛishṇavarman, in my opinion more probably was a son of Kṛishṇavarman I. (and younger brother of Vishṇuvarman who was an eldest son) than of Kṛishṇavarman II. ;[2] but of this, again, we have no definite proof. It is also not certain that Śivaratha was a younger brother of Bhânuvarman. Of the three brothers, Bhânuvarman is described as the younger brother of Ravivarman, Śivaratha as the paternal uncle of Harivarman.─ It will be seen that according to the Table the number of generations is eight, not eleven, as found by Mr. Rice. There remains the question as to the age of this inscription. The inscription itself is not dated in any way. Of the fifteen Kadamba copper-plate inscriptions, four are not dated at all ; ten are dated in regnal years,[3] varying between 2 and 11 ; and the plates of the Yuvarâja Kâkusthavarman are dated in the 80th year, which, as intimated already by Dr. Fleet, in all probability was reckoned from the commencement of Mayûraśarman’s reign. Neither in the present inscription nor in the plates is there any reference to a king whose time can be determined with any certainty ; and the inscriptions of other dynasties do not mention any specific Kadamba king. That our inscription belongs to comparatively early times, there can be no doubt. I have shown that the rare metre, chiefly employed in it, is elsewhere found in records from about the fifth to the seventh century A.D. ; and much the same period is indicated by Kâkusthavarman’s connection with some Gupta king or kings. Of the copper-plates which are later than this inscription, two─ instead of quoting the ordinary lunar months which are quoted in seven others ─ quote fortnights of the rains and winter (varshâ and hêmanta). This also would suggest a considerable antiquity, although we must not forget that we have a similar season-date in the Dudia plates of Pravarasena II. (above, Vol. III. p. 260), which have been assigned to about the beginning of the 8th century A.D.[4] To what particular portion of the time from the 5th to the 7th century A.D. our inscription should be referred, seems to me extremely difficult to say. I have carefully studied all Kadamba inscriptions from a palæographical point of view, and have compared them with other inscriptions from the South without being able to arrive at any certain and definite conclusion. My general impression is that the present inscription may be assigned to about the first half of the 6th century A.D.[5]
TEXT.[6]
1 Siddham[7] [||] Namaś=Śivâya || Jayti[8] viśvadê[va]-[9]sa[ṁ]ghâta-nichit-aikamûrttis=
sanâtanaḥ Sthânu(ṇu)r=indu-raśmi-vichchhurita-[10]dyutimaj-jaṭâbhâra-maṇḍanaḥ || [1*]
Tam=anu bhûsurâ dvija-pravarâs=sâma-rg-yajur-vvêda-vâdinaḥ yat-prasâdas=trâyatê
nityaṁ bhuvana-trayaṁ pâpmanô bhayât || [2*] Anupadaṁ Surêndra-tulya-
[va]puh=Kâkusthavarmmâ viśâla-dhîḥ bhûpatih=Kadamba-sênânî-bṛihad-[11]anvaya-
vy[ô]ma-chandramâḥ
[1] See above, Vol. VI. p. 13.
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