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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
KALACHURI OF SOUTH KOSALA It has been suggested that Jagaddēva had been superseded by his younger brother Jājalla II and was ruling over some eastern districts during the latter’s life time. But in that case the Kharōd inscription of his son Ratnadēva III’s reign would not have bestowed high praise on the usurper.1 The wording of the verses 13 and 14 of that inscription rather suggests that Jagaddēva had voluntarily relinquished his claim to the throne in order to fight with the Eastern Gangas and that he had to return home hastily when the country was rent by disorder as a result of some foreign invasion. Jagaddeva seems to have had a short reign of about 10 years (K. 920-930 or 1168-1178 A.C.). He had a queen names Somalladevi, who bore him a son named Ratnadeva III. Ratnadeva III came to the throne about 1178 A.C. The Kharod stone inscription dated K. 933 (1181-82 A.C.), which is the only record of his reign, states that he was distinguished for a handsome from, learning and charity. During his reign too there was some trouble. As the Kharod inscription states, the treasure was exhausted, the elephant force became weak, the people were scattered and the country was infested by a famine and reduced to a pitiable state. In this emergency Ratnadeva made the learned Brahmana Gangadhara his Prime Minister. The latter, by his policy, vanquished the enemies of his lord everywhere, and freed the kingdom from all troublesome persons.2 It would appear, therefore, that the trouble had been caused by some unnamed enemy.
Gangadhara, the aforementioned minister of Ratnadeva III, erected religious and charitable works at several places in the kingdom. He repaired the mandapa of the temple of Lakshmanesvara at Kharod. This temple had been erected by the Somavamsi king Isanadeva more than six centuries before.3 Its mandapa may have fallen into disrepair owing to the passage of time. Gangadhara constructed temples at several other places in honour of Vishnu, Siva, Ekavira, Durga and Ganapati. Some of them, such as the temple of Ekavira at Ratnapura are still standing. He excavated tanks, raised a garden, and established a charitable feeding house at Narayanapura.4 Ratnadēva III was succeeded by his son Pratāpamalla in circa K. 950 (1198-99 A.C.). He is known from his two land-grants dated K. 965 and K. 969, and some copper coins which have the king’s name on the obverse and the figure of a lion and a dagger on the reverse. From the description in the Pendrābandh plates that though a boy, he was a second Bali in strength, it seems that he came to the throne while quite young. In other respects, the description of him given by the plates is quite conventional. We have no records of the successors of Pratapamalla until we come to the time of
Vaharendra towards the close of the fifteenth century A.C. In the records of other dynasties, there are occasional references to the defeats inflicted on the kings of Kosala, but they
rarely mention the names of the reigning kings. Hemadriâs Vratakhanda states in its
Rajaprasasti that the Yadava king Simhana took away troops of rutting elephants belonging
to the king Jajjalla.5 The latter was probably a king of Ratanpur. As he was a contem-
porary of Simhana (circa 1210-1247 A.C.), he seems to have succeeded Pratapamalla. He
suffered another defeat at the hands of Vishnu, the minister of the Ganga King Ananga- 1See No. 100, v. 11. It must, however, be noted that the Pendrābandh plates of Ratnadēva III’s
son Pratāpamalla omit Jājalladēva II’s name in the genealogical portion ; but that may be because he was a
collateral.
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