South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

Karna¹ and the Karnāta king (Sōmēśvara II)² as stated in the Nagpur Museum inscription. The third member of the confederacy was probably the Western Ganga king Udayāditya. From several records in the Kanarese country, we know that this Udayāditya and his feudatory, the valiant Hōysala prince Ereyanga joined Sōmēśvara II in his attack on Malwa. Ereyanga in particular, is said to have trampled down the Mālava army, plundered the Mālava king’s fort, and burnt and devastated Dhārā.³

Jayasimha succumbed to this attack, and for a time it seemed as if the Paramāra kingdom had been completely wiped out. The terrible disaster which befell the Mālava country at this time is graphically described in the Nagpur Museum inscription, which likens it to the catastrophe of the destruction of the world when mighty oceans sweep over and submerge the earth. The Udaipur praśasti compares it to the dense darkness which envelopes the world when the sun sets.⁴ Both the similes indicate the gloom of despondency which had then overpowered the adherents of the Paramāra family. This invasion of Malwa occurred early in the reign of Somesvara II (1069-1075 A.C.), in circa 1070 A.C.

It is not known how the invaders divided the spoils. Karna may have annexed Malwa and given the country to the south of the Narmada to Somesvara II.⁵ The Kalachuri Emperor could not, however, retain his hold on Malwa for a long time. Udayaditya, one of the brothers of Bhoja,⁶ rescued the country from the grip of Karna. The Nagpur Museum inscription compares him with the primeval Boar who uplifted the earth at the time of pralaya. The Udaipur prasasti describes him as another Sun, as it were, who, destroying the dense darkness, namely, the exalted foes, with the rays issuing from his strong sword, gladdened the hearts of the people by his splendour. In the latter half of the prasasti recently discovered at Udaipur, Udayaditya is credited with the total destruction (samhara) of the king of Dahala (Dahaladhisa), who is plainly the Kalachuri Karna.⁷ The restoration of the Paramara rule in Malwa may be dated in circa 1073 A.C.⁸ The Jabalpur
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¹ Latterly the view has been advanced that he was the Chaulukya king Karna of Gujarat, the successor of Bhīma. Some late Sanskrit works, no doubt, state that the Chaulukya Karna defeated a king of Malwa, but they do not state that the latter was Jayasimha. On the other hand, the Kalachuri Karna’s extermination of the royal family of a Malwa is mentioned in an Apabhramśa verse citied in the Prākrita-Paingala. This view is again corroborated by the latter part of the recently discovered Udaipur praśasti which states that Udayāditya inflicted a crushing defeat on the lord of Dāhala. D. C. Ganguli’s statement that Udayāditya, by defeating Gurjara Karna, obtained Mālava (H. P. D., p. 132 and I. H. Q., Vol. XVIII, p. 266) is based on a wrong interpretation of a verse in the Prithvīrājavijaya.
² The Sudi stone inscription dated Śaka 996 (1075 A.C.) mentions Sōmēśvara II as a blazing fire to the ocean which is the race of the Mālavyas. The reference is clearly to his extermination of the Paramāra Jayasimha.
³ H. P. D., pp. 128-29.
⁴ Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 236.
⁵ Sīyaka seems to have extended his kingdom to the south of the Narmadā. In the time of Muñja the Gōdāvarī was the southern boundary of the Paramāra dominion, and though Tailapa may have annexed some territory to the north of this river, it was soon recovered by Sidhurāja as stated in the NSCH., Canto I, v. 74. A copper-plate inscription of Bhōja’s feudatory Yaśōvarman has been found at Kalvan in the Nasik District (Ep. Ind., Vol. XIX, pp. 69 ff), indicating that the country continued to be held by the Paramāras. After this time no records of the Paramāras except those of Jagaddēva have been found in Mahārāshtra. Jagaddēva is now known to have been a feudatory of Vikramāditya VI. Ibid., Vol. XXVI, pp. 177 ff.
⁶ It was believed for a long time that Udayāditya was a distant relative of Bhōja; but the Dōñgargaon inscription, which calls him the bhrātā of Bhōja, has put the matter beyond doubt.
⁷ A. R. A. D. G. S. (1925-26), p. 13.
⁸ The earliest known date of Udayāditya is V. 1137 (1080-81 A.C.) furnished by the Udaipur inscription (Ind. Ant., Vol. XX, p. 83). An earlier date (V. 1116) of the king also occurs at the same place; but it is given by a very late record of the 16th century A. C., which Dr. F. E. Hall calls ‘a horribly incorrect scrawl’ (J. A. O. S., Vol. VII, p. 35).