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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA who died when he was still a youth (v. 8), Malladêva, Vastupâla and Têjaḥpâla, and seven daughters : Jâlhû, Mâû, Sâû, Dhanadêvî, Sôhagâ, Vayajukâ and Padamaladêvî. The family professed the Jaina faith (vv. 7 ; 10) and belonged to the lineage of the Prâgvâṭas (v. 4). The four brothers are all called ministers (mantrin, sachiva), and of Vastupâla it is expressly stated that he was in the service of the Chulukyas (v. 14). Special praise is bestowed on Vastupâla and Têjaḥpâla, who seem to have been connected by the ties of sincere brotherly affection (vv. 19- 24) ; but these verses contain no historical allusions. The text then turns from the ministers to their lords, the Chaulukyas as they are called here (vv. 25 ; 28). Only the members of the so-called Vâghêlâ line are mentioned here, viz. Arṇôrâja (v. 25), his successor Lavaṇaprasâda (v. 26), and the son of the latter, Vîradhavala (v. 27). Two verses (vv. 28 ; 29) are added in praise of the services rendered to Vîradhavala by the brothers Vastupâla and Têjaḥpâla, and of the implicit confidence by which the king rewarded their attachment to his person.
Abruptly a description of the Arbuda mountain, the modern Mount Âbû, is introduced (vv. 30 ; 31), after which follows, equally abruptly, a genealogy of the Paramâras of Chandrâvati (vv. 32-42). That these verses are inserted here because Têjaḥpâla built a temple on Mount Âbû and this mountain was situated in the province governed by the Paramâras, can be gathered only from the contents of the last section of the inscription. The account of the Paramâras begins with the legend of their origin. Their ancestor, from whom they took their name, is said to have sprung from the altar of the sacrificial fire of Vaśishṭha and to have received the appellation of Paramâra from that sage on account of the delight he took in killing his enemies (para-mâraṇa) (v. 32). In that family there arose first Dhûmarâja (v. 33), who was followed by Dhandhuka, Dhruvabhaṭa and others up to Râmadêva (v. 34). With Râmadêva begins a coherent pedigree which may be tabulated as follows : Râmadêva.
Besides the genealogy the inscription furnishes several items of historical value. Yaśodhavala
is said to have quickly killed Ballâla, the lord of Mâlava, when he had learned that he had
become hostile to the Chaulukya king Kumârapâla (v. 35). From the wording of the verse
we may conclude that Yaśôdhavala was a feudatory of Kumârapâla when he waged war against
Ballâla, just as Yaśôdhavala’s son Dhârâvarsha appears as a feudatory of Kumârapâla’s grand-nephew Bhîmadêva II. in a Mount Âbû inscription of Vikrama-Saṁvat 1265.[1] It is no wonder,
therefore, that elsewhere we find the destruction of Ballâla attributed to Kumârapâla himself.
In Sômêśvaradêva’s Kîrtikaumudî (II. 48) Kumârapâla is said to have seized in battle, out of
passion, the heads of the kings Ballâla and Mallikârjuna like the breasts of the goddess of victory.
And in the Sômnâthpattan inscription of Bhâva Bṛihaspati, dated in Valabhî-Saṁvat 850
(A. D. 1169),[2] he is called ‘ a lion to jump on the heads of (those) elephants─ Ballâla, king of
Dhârâ, and the illustrious ruler of Jâṅgala.’ The latest epigraphical date for Kumârapâla’s
predecessor Jayasiṁhadêva is Vikrama-Saṁvat 1196.[3] The earliest inscription of the reign of
[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 221.
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