South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURIS OF SOUTH KOSALA

scholars the attention it deserves.¹ As the names Malladēva and Vikramāditya occur in the dynastic list of Bāna kings, Dr. Bhandarkar made at the time the ingenious suggestion that this Vikarmāditya might be one of the Bāna kings.² He could not, however, definitely identify him; for, no such Vikramāditya, son of Malladēva, was then known. From the Gudimallam plates³ discovered later, Dr. Hultzsch has shown that there were three Vikramādityas in the Bāna dynasty, of whom the first, also called Jayamēru, was the son of Malladēva. He is identical with the Bāna Vidyādhara mentioned in the Udayēndiram plates. As the known dates of his son Vijayāditya Prabhumēru range from Śaka 820 (898-99 A.C.)⁴to Śaka 831 (909-10 A.C.),⁵ Vikarmāditya I may be reffered to the period 870-895 A.C.⁶

The Bāna kings are known from records found in the North Arcot District. The province over which they ruled is called Pērumbānappādi in later Tamil inscriptions.⁷ As R.B. Venkayya has shown, this province extended from Punganūr in the west of Kālahasti in the east.⁸ It is, however, surmised that the Bānas were originally settled further north in the Telugu country. From there they seem to have penetrated further to the north and carved out a kingdom for themselves in the Bilaspiur District of Chhattisgarh, from where they ousted the Sōmavamśis, who were obliged to move to the east and settle at Vinītapura (modern Binkā in the Sonpur State). This invasion of the country to the north of the Gōdāvari appears to have occurred in connection with the northern campaign of Udaya- chandra, a general of the Pallava king Nandivarman II-Pallavamalla (circa 710-775 A.C.)⁹. The Udayēndiram plates¹⁰ state that Udayachandra pursued a Nishāda chief called Purushavyāghra, who, desiring to become very powerful, was running after the horse of the Aśvamēdha, defeated him and ordered him out of the district of Vishnurāja, which he subjected to the Pallava king. This Purushavyāghra may have been ruling over the country now comprised in the Bastar District.¹¹ Vishnurāja, whose country he had invaded, has been identified with Vishnuvardhana III (709-746 A.C.). The Bāna chiefs, who were feudatories of the Pallavas, seem to have pressed still further to the north and established themselves in the Bilaspur District with Pāli as their capital. We have no record of the early Bāna kings who founded this kingdom. Nandivarman is the earliest king known from the Udayēndiram plates.¹² As shown above, his great-grandson Vikramāditya I was ruling from circa 870 A.C. to 895 A.C. Nandivarman may, therefore, have flourished about 800 A.C. Either he or his father may have been the founder of the Bāna Kingdom in
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¹I drew attention to its importance in an article entitled ‘An Ancient Dynasty of Mahākōsala’ published in P.I.H.C. (1939), pp. 319 ff.
²P.R.A.S.,W.C.(1903-4),P.52.
³Ep. Ind., Vol. XVII, pp. 1 ff,
⁴Ibid., Vol. XI, p. 227.
⁵See No. 99 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1899.
⁶Sewell says that Vikramāditya I’s accession date (872 A.C.) is derived from an inscription which mentions the year Vijaya (873-74 A.C.) as being in the second year of Bāna Vidyādhara H.I.S.I.,p. 328, He has, however, not given the exact reference of this record. T.V. Mahalingam places Vikramāditya I in
the period 850-895 A.C. ⁷Ep. Ind., Vol. XI, p. 230.
⁸Ibid., Vol. XI, p. 238.
⁹See H.P.K., p. 119. Jouveau-Dubreuil gives the reign- period as 717-779 A.C.
¹⁰Ind. Ant., Vol. VIII, pp. 274 ff.
¹¹Compare the name Vyāghrarāja of the ruler of Mahākāntāra mentioned in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, C.I.I., Vol. III, p. 7. This Mahākāntāra probably corresponds to the Bastar District.
¹²Ep. Ind., VoI. III, pp.74 ff.