South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

In 1052 A.C. Karna was thus at the height of his power. He had under his sway practically the whole Central India including the erstwhile kingdoms of the Pratīhāras, the Paramāras and the Chandēllas. In the east the Pāla and Varman kings were matrimonially allied with him. In the north his authority was recognized as far as the Kāngrā valley,¹ the ruler of which had submitted to him. In the west, the only foe worthy of his steel was Bhīma of Gujarat; but as stated already, Karna had made peace with him. In the south, he had inflicted a defeat on the Chōlas and the Chālukyas, though his campaigns do not seem to have resulted in the permanent annexation of any territory. His authority was in any case unquestioned in North India,² and if Bilhana’s account can be believed, the mere sound of his horses’ hoofs routed the forces of his enemies.³ To proclaim his attainment of the position of Chakravartin or Universal Emperor, Karna seems to have crowned himself again in the Kalachuri year 804 (1052-53 A.C.). His regnal year, mentioned in the Rewa stone inscription⁴ of his general Vappulla, is counted from this second coronation.

On account of his ambition and successful military campaigns, Karna is called Hindu Napoleon. And like the great French Emperor, he suffered serious reverses in the latter part of his career. He could not retain his hold on Malwa for a long time. Jayasimha, the successor of Bhōja, who was dethroned and driven out of Malwa, sought the Chālukya king Somēśvara I-Āhavamalla’s aid against the powerful confederacy of Bhīma and Karna. The Chālukyas and Paramāras were inveterate foes, and their hostilities continued for several generations. Āhavamalla had himself previously stormed Dhārā, from which the king Bhōja had to flee.⁵ But on this occasion Āhavamalla thought it politic to reverse his policy towards the Paramāra house; for, he realized that if Karna was allowed to retain possession of the Paramāra territory, he would become a menace to the northern frontier of the Chālukya kingdom. He, therefore, resolved to support the cause of Jayasimha, and directed his valiant son Vikramāditya to lend his aid to Jayasimha to regain his throne.⁶ It would appear that in his northern campaigns, Vikramāditya was not always successful; for, an Apabhramśa verse mentions Karna’s victory over the mighty Vikrama, evidently
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¹ See Appendix, No. 3, 1. 11.
² In his DK. (Canto IX, vv. 33 ff), Hēmachandra makes Bhīma’s ambassador Dāmōdara refer to several other victories of Karna viz., those over the rulers of Daśārna and Kalinga and the kings Bhadrabhata, Yanti, Nanti, Ganti, Hanti, Vanti and Manti. Hēmachandra seems to have distorted the names of kings to illustrate grammatical rules. It is also not unlikely that these are altogether fictitious names.
³ VDCH., Canto XVIII, v. 93. As Mr. A. Ghosh has already pointed out, tukkhāra in this verse does not mean any race, but denotes a particular breed of superior horses, probably the Tokharian horses. Ind. Cult., Vol. VII, p. 19.
⁴ No. 53. The date of this inscription is Samvat 812, Thursday, the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Māgha in the ninth regnal year. This date regularly corresponds to Thursday, January 4th, 1061 A.C. As this date fell in the ninth regnal year, Karna must have been crowned a second time in 1052 A.C. Some scholars have attempted to reconcile this date with the first coronation which occurred in 1041 A.C. (See below, pp.239 ff.) D.R. Bhandarkar thought that navame in the Rewa inscription of Vappulla was a mistake for navadaśe and that the inscription was put up in the nineteenth reganl year. But the month of Māgha in the nineteenth regnal year should fall in K. 811, not in K. 812; for Māgha of the first regnal year fell on K. 793, as the Kalachuri year began in Kārttika. A. Ghosh has suggested that the regnal year is correctly men- tioned, but the figures of the samvat were wrongly written as 812 instead of 802. This explanation also is not of any help; for, the month of Māgha in the ninth regnal should fall in K. 801, not in K. 802. We must, therefore, suppose that the second coronation of Karna did take place some time in 1052 A.C.
⁵ VDCH., Canto I, vv. 91-94.
⁶ Ibid., Canto III, v. 67.