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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
KALCHURI OF TRIPURI Kōkalla I, it becomes clear that Mugdhatuńga-Prasiddhadhavala conquered Pāli from the lord of Kōsala and placed one of his brothers in charge of it. This Kōsala is probably Dakshina or Southern Kōsala, comprising modern Chhattisgarh and the adjoining country on the east. There is still a village named Pali in the Bilaspur District, about 12 miles north of Ratanpur, which was no doubt situated in Dakshina Kōsala. There is even now an exquisitely carved temple at Pāli, which testifies to its past importance. The surrounding territory was evidently called the country of Pali, which was wrested by Mugdhatunga from the lord of Kōsala. The latter, as shown below,1 must have been a prince of the Bana dynasty, probably Vikramaditya I, called also Jayameru, the son of Malladéva, who built the aforementioned temple of Siva and has left an inscription incised over the door of its garbhagriha. As he flourished in the last quarter of the 9th century A.C.,2 his date squares with that of Sankaragana II alias Mughdatunga who probably reigned from 890 A.C. to 910 A.C. Śankaragana II had a son named Bālaharsha, who succeeded him, and two daughters, Lakshmī and Gōvindāmbā, both of whom married the Rāshtrakūta prince Jagattunga, the son of Śankaragana’s brother-in-law Krishna II. Jagattunga had, from Lakshmī, a son named Indra III, who succeeded Krishna II,3 and from Gōvindāmbā, another named Baddiga-Amōghavarsha III, who also later on sat on the Rāshtrakūta throne.4 Some Rāshtrakūta records5 further mention Śankaragana’s brother Arjuna, who must have been ruling over a mandala of the Chēdi kingdom. The latter’s son Ammanadēva had a daughter named Vijāmbā, who married Indra III and bore him two sons, Amōghavarsha II and Gōvinda IV, both of whom succeeded their father, one after the other.
Sankaragana II was followed by his son Balaharsha. He is mentioned only in the Banaras plates, which give him a merely conventional praise. The Bilhari inscription omits his name probably because he was a collateral. Balaharsha sounds like a biruda, but we have now no means of knowing the personal name of this prince. Bālaharsha had probably a very short reign (circa 910-915 A.C.). He seems to have died sonless; for, he was succeeded by his younger brother Yuvarājadēva I. No inscriptions of this prince also have yet been discovered ; but from the records of other dynasties and especially from a play of his court-poet Rājaśēkhara, we have more information about him than about any other early member of the Tripuri house. The Bilhari inscription states that Yuvarajadeva I fulfilled the ardent desires of
the minds of the women of Gauda, sported with the ladies of Karnata, applied the ornamental mark to the foreheads of the women of Lata, enjoyed the pleasures of love with
the women of Kasmira, and was fond of the excellent songs of the women of Kalinga.6
This implies that Yuvarajadeva raided Bengal, Karnatak, Gujarat, Kashmir and Orissa,
and married beautiful and accomplished ladies from these provinces. Curious as it
might seem, the foregoing description in the Bilhari inscription is corroborated by a
passage in the Sanskrit play Viddhasalabhañjika of Rajasekhara, which was staged at Tripuri.
Yuvarajadeva I himself is the hero of this play. From the fourth Act of it, we learn that
the king had married the princesses of Magadha, Malava, Pañchala, Avanti, Jalandhara 1 Below, p. 418.
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