South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

The Lakshmī type introduced by Gāngēya was subsequently copied by the Chandēllas, the Gāhadavālas and the Tomars, and was introduced even in distant Kashmir.¹

As stated above, Gāngēyadēva was succeeded by his son Karna in 1041 A.C. From several inscriptions of his reign as well as from references in literary records, Sanskrit and Prakrit, we can form a general idea of the main political events of his reign.

The Rewa stone inscription² dated in K. 800 (1048-49 A.C.) shows that in the first seven years of his reign, Karna attained remarkable victories in the east, south and west. He seems to have first proceeded to the east. Verse 26 of the aforementioned inscription states that the ship of the king of the eastern country, being driven by the storm of unparalleled arrogance, was submerged in the ocean of Karna’s forces, its joints being rent by dashing against the promontories of the mountains which were his elephants. This verse clearly implies that Karna obtained a decisive victory over the king of the eastern country, who lost his life in the encounter. Who was this king of the eastern country ? He could scarcely have been the contemporary Pāla king; for, the kingdom of the Pālas, as shown by their own inscriptions and those of their contemporaries, was restricted to parts of Bihar and North-West Bengal. From the Bhērā-Ghāt inscription of Narasimha,³ on the other hand, we learn that when Karna gave a full play to heroism, the Vanga trembled with the Kalinga. Karna’s victory seems, therefore, to have been obtained over the king of Vanga or Eastern Bengal. The tenour of the description suggests that the ruling family was supplanted and the kingdom was either annexed by Karna or placed in charge of his own nominee. As a matter of fact, we find the Vermans supplanting the Chandras in Eastern Bengal in the eleventh century A.C. Gōvindachandra, the last king of the Chandra dynasty known from inscriptions found in Bengal,⁴ is also mentioned in the Tirumalai rock inscription⁵ of Rājēndra Chōla I as the ruler of Vangāla-dēśa. He was defeated in circa 1021 A.C. by Rājēndra I, the illustrious Chōla Emperor (1014-1044 A.C.). When Karna invaded Eastern Bengal, either this prince or his successor was on the throne. After the overthrow of the Chandra king, Karna placed Vajravarman in charge of the newly acquired territory and gave his daughter Vīraśrī in marriage to his son Jātavarman to cement the political alliance. The latter distinguished himself in one of the later campaigns of Karna in the country of Anga.⁶ The Rewa inscription shows that the dynastic revolution must have been effected in any case before 1048-49 A.C.

Karna next turned his attention to the south. Verse 25 of the aforementioned Rewa inscription describes Karna’s southern campaigns in a figurative style. It states that ‘overrunning the district of Kāñchī, he thoroughly enjoyed the southern direction in which the fortune of the Kuntala was shaken by forcible seizure and the low Pallavas were destroyed, as though covering the hips of a woman he was ravishing her, the beauty of whose hair was marred by forcible seizure and whose tender lower lip was wounded (by kissing).’ It is difficult to say how far this figurative description correctly represents historical facts. Besides, the Pallavas, over whom a decisive victory is claimed for Karna in this verse, had long ceased to be supreme in the south, their kingdom having been annexed by the Chōlas in 890 A.C.⁷ A branch of the Pallavas, no doubt, continued to rule in the Nōlamba-
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¹ J. N. S. I., Vol. III, p. 26.
² No. 51.
³ No. 60, 1. 10.
⁴ H. B., Vol. I, p. 196. See the Paikpārā inscription of his reign Ind. Cul., Vol. VII, pp. 405 ff.
⁵ S. I. I., Vol. 1, p. 99.
⁶ I. B., Vol. III, p. 20.
⁷ K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, The Chōlas, Vol. I, p. 136.