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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
KALACHURI OF TRIPURI Vikramāditya VI, the son of Somēśvara I-Āhavamalla.1 However, Vikramāditya eventually succeeded in placing Jayasimha on the throne of Malwa. He carried his victorious arms even as far as Gauda and Kāmarūpa,2 for which he must have overturn the Chēdi country. These encounters must have occurred before 1055 A.C.; for, we find Jayasimha secure on the throne in the month Āshādha of that year.3 The Chandēlla kingdom also soon slipped out of Karna’s hands. Kīrtivarman, the brother of Dēvavarman, soon succeeded in regaining his ancestral territory. Verse 26 of a Chandēlla inscription discovered at Mahōbā4 records the victory Kīrtivarman over Lakshmīkarna in the following words––“Just as Purushōttama (Vishnu), having produced the nectar by churning, with the mountain (Mandara), the rolling (milk) ocean, whose high waves had swallowed many mountains, obtained (the goddess) Lakshmī together with the elephants (of the eight regions),––he (viz., Kīrtivarman), having acquired fame by crushing with his strong arm the haughty Lakshmīkarna, whose armies had destroyed many princes, obtained splendour in this world together with elephants.” Lakshmīkarna is, no doubt, identical with the Kalachuri Karna. In the Ajayagadh rock inscription5 of the Chandēlla Vīravarman (dated V. 1317), Kīrtivarman is described as the pitcher-born (Agastya) in swallowing the ocean in the form of Karna, and as the lord of Creatures (Brahmā) in creating anew (his) kingdom. The Prabōdhachandrōdaya, which also refers to this event in its prologue, calls this Karna Chēdipati (Lord of the Chēdi country).
From this work
we learn that Kīrtivarman’s victory was mainly due to the bravery of his Brāhmana general,
Gōpāla. The play was performed before Kīrtivarman to commemorate this brilliant
victory of the Chandēllas. In the prologue of the play, Gōpāla is eulogised as the Great
Boar who raised the earth which was submerged in the great ocean of world-destruction
in the form of a multitude of powerful kings.6 In another passage he is said to have
obtained the goddess of victory after exterminating the army of Karna, even as Vishnu
obtained Lakshmī by churning the ocean of milk.7 In a third passage, Gōpāla’s anger is
said to have been roused to re-establish on the earth the sovereignty of the kings of the
lunar race, which (sovereignty) had been uprooted by the lord of Chēdi who was Rudra
and Kālāgni (the Fire of world-destruction) to the families of all kings.8 In a subsequent
passage of the same prologue, Gōpāla is said to have caused the rise of the illustrious
Kīrtivarman after vanquishing the powerful Karna, even as discrimination leads to right
knowledge after dispelling strong delusion.9 The multiplicity of references to this victory
suggests the stupendous nature of the task accomplished by Gōpāla. Another chief who
also claimed credit for saving Kīrtivarman from Karna was mentioned in a fragmentary
inscription10 found at Jhānsi; but, unfortunately, his name is lost.
The date of the restoration of Chandēlla power cannot be definitely fixed; for, the
only known date of Kīrtivarman’s reign is that furnished by a rock inscription at the Deogarh
Fort, viz., V. 1154 (1098 A.C.).11 This inscription states that Vatsaraja, the chief
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