South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

have placed one of his sons in charge of the country conquered from the Gurjaras. But these suppositions do not appear to be correct. As started before, Lakshmanarāja’s victory over the king of Kōsala is mentioned in connection with the despoilment of the lord of Odra (Orissa). This Kōsala appears, therefore, to be Dakshina Kōsala or Chhattisgarh and the adjoining country. Besides, Lakshmanarāja who founded the dynasty ruling in the Gōrakhpur District of the United Provinces must have flourished long before Lakshmanarāja II of the Tripurī house.¹

Lakshmanarāja sought to strengthen his position by a matrimonial alliance with the Chālukyas, who were the rivals of the Rāshtrakūtas in the Deccan. He gave his daughter Bonthādēvī in marriage to Vikramāditya IV, whose son Tailapa II (circa 956-997 A.C.) later on overthrew the last Rashtrakuta king Karka II in 973 A.C.

Like his father and mother, Lakshmanarāja was a devout Śaiva. The Bilhāri inscription states that he showed his devotion by presents sent by well-conducted messengers, and invited to his country the Śaiva pontiff Hridayaśiva, the spiritual successor of Chūdāśiva. The latter ascetic seems to be identical with Śikhāśiva, whose disciple Prabhāvaśiva had already been invited by Yuvarājadēva I. Hridayaśiva received from Lakshmanarāja the monastery of the holy Vaidyanātha at Bilhāri. He then placed his disciple Aghōraśiva in charge of the aforementioned temple of Nōhalēśvara. Another Śaiva ascetic of the time was Praśāntaśiva,² the spiritual successor of Prabhāvaśiva. He became the head of the monastery at Gurgi in the former Rewa state. He built there a temple of Śiva near another built of Yuvarājadēva I, and installed in the shrines attached to it the images of Umā, HaraGaurī, Kārttikēya, Ganapati and Sarasvatī. He also built a monastery on the bank of the Śōna for the practice of Yōga, and another at Vārānasī (Banaras) for the performance of austerities.

The only record of Lakshmanarāja’s reign discovered so far is the Kārītalāi stone inscription. It is not dated, but in view of the date of Yuvarājadēva I fixed above, we may place Lakshmanarāja II in the period 945-970 A.C.

Lakshmanarāja had a very learned, accomplished and pious minister named Sōmēśvara, the son of Bhākamiśra who had served his father in the same capacity. He is highly glorified in the aforementioned Kārītalāi inscription. He is said to have mastered the Vēdas, logic, tantra and kāvya, and to have been proficient in music and other fine arts. He built at Kārītalāi a temple of the Boar incarnation of Vishnu under the name Sōmēśvara and established eight Brāhmanas there, for whose maintenance he donated the village Dīrghaśākhika, modern Dighi, ⁶ miles south-east of Kārītalāi. The king Lakshmanarāja, his queen Rāhadā and the prince Śankaragana, who is described as a devout worshipper of Vishnu, endowed the temple with gifts of several villages. Another minister of the king, who belonged to the Kāyastha caste, was mentioned in the Rewa stone inscription dated 1048-49 A.C.., but his name is lost in the lower mutilated portion of it.

Lakshmanarāja II was succeeded by Śankaragana III, who was his son probably from the queen Rāhadā. He is mentioned in both Bilhāri inscription and the Banaras plates; but later inscriptions omit him, probably because he was a collateral. A stone inscription at Bargaon, 27 miles from Murwārā, records certain gifts in honour of the god Śankaranārāyana. The deity was probably installed by Śankaragana III and named after himseflf.³ It is noteworthy in this connection that he is called parama-vaishnava or a devout worshipper of Vishnu in the Kārītalāi inscription.
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¹ See below, p. cxii.
²He is mentioned in No. 44, 11. 8-9 and No. 46, 11. 11 ff.
³ Compare the name Indranārāyana of the deity installed in a temple erected by the Rāshtrakūta king Indra III, as stated in the Bodhan stone inscription dated 1056 A.C. H. A. S., No. 7.