South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

battle must, therefore, be dated towards the close of his reign.

Yuvarajadeva was a fervent devotee of Siva. He invited a Saiva ascetic named Prabhavasiva from Madhumati which still survives as a small village under the name Mahua, about a mile to the south of Terahi in Madhya Bharat. He built for him a monastery at the expense of an enormous amount of money at Gurgi in the former Rewa State and donated several villages for the maintenance of the Saiva ascetics residing there.¹ He also erected a temple of Siva nearby. At Bhera-Ghat near his own capital Tripuri, he built a round hypæthral structure dedicated to the sixty-four Yoginis.² From the characters of the short inscriptions on their pedestals, it appears that most of the images of the Yoginis installed in the cells of this temple belong to the time of Yuvarajadeva I. This temple, therefore, is of the same age as the hypæthral granite structure at Khajuraho, which also was similarly dedicated to the sixty-four Yoginis. From its round shape, the temple was known as the Golaki Matha (Circular Temple). It became in its turn an important seat of Saiva Acharyas and spread its branches in Cudappah, Kurnool, Guntur and North Arcot Districts of the Madras State. In an inscription³ discovered at Malkapuram in the Guntur District, it is stated that Yuvarajadeva gave, as bhiksha, three lakhs of villages to his guru Sadbhavasambhu of the Golaki Matha. This means that he assigned one third of the revenue of the Dahala country which contained nine lakhs of villages.⁴ His queen Nohala was also equally devoted to the same Saiva sect. She called another Saiva ascetic named Isvarasiva and donated two villages to him as a reward for learning (vidyadhana). She erected a lofty temple of Siva under the name of Nohalesvara5 and endowed it with the grant of seven villages situated in the neighbourhood.

Yuvarājadēva had a very learned, pious and capable Brāhmana minister, named Bhākamiśra. He is probably the prototype of Bhāgurāyana who figures as the counsellor of the hero in the Viddhaśālabhañjikā. Another minister of his, who probably belonged to the Kāyastha caste, was Gōllāka, also known as Gauda, the son of Bhānu. He was a devotee of Vishnu, and caused colossal images of the Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Balarāma and Paraśurāma incarnations of Vishnu to be carved out of rocks at Bāndhōgarh where he has left his own inscriptions.

Yuvarajadeva I was one of the most powerful rulers of the Later Kalachuri Dynasty. He raided distant countries and made even famous kings feel the weight of his arm. It is difficult to say if his raids resulted in the permanent annexation of any territory; for, no inscriptions of his reign have been discovered outside the Chedi country. But his titles Chakravartin and Trikalingadhipati indicate that he occupied for a time the leading position among the powers of North and South India. This was evidently when the power of the Pratiharas declined in the north owing to the raids of Indra III and that of the Rashtrakutas was on the wane in the south owing to dissensions in the royal family during the reign of Govinda IV. Yuvarajadeva was a pious man, a great builder, and a patron of religion and literature.
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¹No. 46, 11. 43 ff.
² Though the temple is called Chausath Jōginī Temple, there are in all 81 cells, one of which contains an image of Ganapati, and the rest, those of Yōginīs. Five of these are of an earlier, perhaps Kushāna, age. H. T. M., p. 78.
³ J. A. H. R. S., Vol. IV, pp. 152 ff.
⁴ This statement needs to be verified from other records. The records of the Śaiva Āchāryas themselves found in the Chēdi country make no mention of this munificent gift.
⁵ It is not known where this temple was situated. It is perhaps identical with the temple at Nōhatā on the main road between Jabalpur and Damoh. According to Cousens, it belongs at the latest to the 10th century A.C. See A. R. A. S. I. for 1903-4, p. 58.