South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

fully developed and the other without it. The former is more common, while the latter occurs at least twice.^[1] The vowel u is added to the consonant t in two different ways : one, as in modern Tamil, with a vertical stroke going upwards, and the other without it. The latter is perhaps meant to be Grantha, though it is used in Tamil words also. The akshara lu,which occurs twice (ll. 8 and 16), differs from is modern form of it in the vertical stroke of the u-symbol being omitted as in tu.

The inscription consists of 19 lines of Tamil prose and is dated during the reign of king Dantivarma-Mahârâja, who was “ the ornament of the Pallava family ” and belonged to the Bhâradvâja gôtra. There is thus no doubt that he belonged to the Pallava dynasty. The only other record of Dantivarma-Mahârâja hitherto known is mutilated,^[2] and the description of the king which we find in the Triplicane inscription is there missing. It is therefore uncertain if the two kings were the same. In any case, as the name Dantivarman does not occur in the hitherto known genealogies of the Pallavas, and as the alphabet of the Triplicane inscription does not look very ancient, it may be conclude that the Dantivarma-Mahârâja of the subjoined record was later than the Pallava king Nandivarman Pallavamalla, who fought against the Western Chalukya Vikramâditya II. (A.D. 733-34 and 746-47).^[3]

Nandivarman Pallavamalla is believed to have been the last powerful king of the Pallavas of Conjeeveram, who probably ceased to be a ruling power about the middle of the 8th century A.D.^[4] The Gaṅga-Pallavas appear to have taken their place, though the exact period when this happened is not yet known. Leaving out Vijaya-Narasiṁhavarman^[5] and Vijaya-Îśvaravarman,^[6] whose relationship to the main line is not yet ascertained, four Gaṅga-Pallava kings^[7] are known, viz. Danti(vikrama)varman, Nandi(vikrama)varman, Nṛipatuṅga-(vikrama)varman and Kampa(vikrama)varman. The last was probably a brother of the third^[8] and might have been his co-regent in a portion of the Pallava dominions ; but he is not mentioned in the Bâhûr plates of Nṛipatuṅga.^[9] Adding together the latest known years of the other three (Dantivikramavarman 51 years,^[10] Nandivikramavarman 62 years,^[11] and Nṛipatuṅga-vikramavaran 26 years^[12]), we get 139 years. The Chôḷa king Parântaka I. was actually ruling over the dominions of the Gaṅga-Pallavas, and therefore it may be supposed that the overthrow of the latter by the Chôḷas took place during the reign of his predecessor Âditya I. Accordingly, the event may be placed roughly in A.D. 900.^[13] Deducting the total duration of the reigns of the Gaṅga-Pallava kings, we obtain roughly A.D. 760 as the date of the accession to power of the first king Dantivikramavarman. This event cannot be placed earlier, because the Râshṭrakûṭa king Gôvinda III. is reported to have levied tribute from Dantiga, the ruler of Kâñchî, about A.D. 804, and this Dantiga has been identified with the Gaṅga-Pallava king Dantivikrama-
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^[1] Compare Prof. Hultzsch’s remarks in South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. III. p.90.
^[2] Compare Prof. Hultzsch’s remarks in ibid. Vol. II. p. 344, note 3.
^[3] Dr. Fleet’s Dyn. Kan. Distr. p.323.
^[4] Above, Vol. V. p. 157.
^[5] Above, Vol. IV. pp. 178 and 360, and Vol. VII. p. 22 f. Dr. Fleet thinks that Vijaya-Narasiṁhavarman was the earliest of the Gaṅga-Pallavas, and that his initial date must be placed somewhere about A.D. 760 to 770 ; above, Vol. V. p. 160.
^[6] Above, Vol. VII. p. 23 f
^[7] Skandaśishyavikramavarman of the Râyakôṭa plates was also a Gaṅga-Pallava. He is said to have belonged to the family of another Skandaśishya, who was the son of the Mahâbhârata hero Aśvatthâman by a Nâga woman ; above, Vol. V. p. 52. We have however no clue as to the time when Skandaśishyavikramavarman lived. Neither are we told what relationship he bore to the main line.
^[8] Above, Vol. VII. p. 196.
^[9] Extracts from this inscription were given by Prof. Hultzsch ; above, Vol. IV. p. 180 f.
^[10] No. 262 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for 1904.
^[11] South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. III p. 90.
^[12] Above, Vol. IV. p. 182.
^[13] See the Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1905-06, Part II., paragraph 10.