South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI OF TRIPURI

and Khairhā plates of Yaśahkarna state that Karna himself crowned his son Yaśahkarna.¹ We do not know why he abdicated the throne in favour of his son. It may be because of discomfiture at the failure of his schemes to bring the whole of India under one royal umbrella; or, he may have been forced to do so by the powerful rulers of Malwa, Jajjhauti and Gujarat, all of whom were now up in arms against him. His reign seems to have come to an end in 1073 A.C.; for, the earlier of the two known grants of his son Yaśahkarna was made in 1076 A.C.² As it mentions Yaśahkarna’s expedition against an Andhra king, the Kalachuri emperor must have come to the throne at least two or three years earlier.

We may, therefore, place his accession and the abdication of his father in circa 1073 A.C. Karna was the greatest king of the Kalachuri dynasty. In the early part of his career, he seems to have carried everything before him and to have become the undisputed Chakravartin of North India.³ In the Goharwa plates, which he issued in the seventh regnal year (1047 A.C.), he is seen to have assumed, besides the usual imperial titles, Paramabhattaraka, Maharajadhiraja and Paramesvara, two high-sounding ones, viz., Trikalingadhipati (Lord of the Three Kalingas) and Nijabhuj-oparjit-asvapati-gajapati-narapati-raja-tray-adhipati(tya), (he who by his arms has acquired overlordship over the three rajas, viz., the lord of horses, the lord of elephants and the lord of men). Of these two titles, Trikalingadhipati seems to have been first assumed by his ancestor Yuvarajadeva I.⁴ It may have been revived by Gangeyadeva after his conquest of Utkala;⁵ for, some contemporary kings of the Somavamsi dynasty ruling over Kosala and Utkala proudly mention this title in their records. ⁶ The other title ‘Overlord of the three Rajas etc.’ was for the first time assumed by Karna.⁷ It continued to be used not only by his descendants⁸ but by several kings of other dynasties also, such as the Gahadavalas,⁹ the Senas¹⁰ and the Chandellas.¹¹ Originally, its seems to
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¹ Nos. 56 and 57, verse 16. This seems to conflict with the statement in the latter part of the Udaipur praśasti which speaks of the total destruction of Karna by Udayāditya. Karna may have been killed on the battlefield.
² The plates give the date (K.) 823; but the details do not work out satisfactorily, and it seems that their correct date is (K.) 827. Besides, if Yaśahkarna really made the grant in K. 823 (1172 A. C.), we shall have to suppose that Sōmēśvara II’s accession, his alliance with Karna and invasion of Malwa, the devastation of Dhārā and killing of Jayasimha, the defeat of the allies by Udayāditya, Karna’s abdication of the throne, Yaśahkarna's coronation and subsequent invasion of the Andhra country––all these events happened in the brief period of four years from 1068 A.C. (the accession of Sōmēśvara II) to 1072 A.C. (the supposed date of the Khairhā plates). This seems to be extremely unlikely.
³ He is called the seventh Chakravartin of the world in the Gōpālpur stone inscription. Appendix, No. 5, 1. 9.
⁴ See above, p. lxxviii.
⁵ See above, p. xc.
⁶ See, e.g., the Sonpur grant of Mahāśivagupta (J. B. O. R. S., Vol. II, pp. 45 ff.). This grant describes the king as the self-chosen lord of Kalinga, Kōngōda, Utkala and Kōsala, and further as the lord of Trikalinga which he conquered with his own arms. This makes it clear that Trikalinga was different from the other countries named in it. According to R. C. Majumdar, Trikalinga denoted ‘the hilly tract to the west of Kalinga.’ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, pp. 69-70. He has drawn attention to some passages in which Trikalinga (or Trikalingātavī) has been coupled with Vēngī. A similar expression (viz., sa-Kalinga-trayām Vēmgīm) occurs in the Parbhani plates (Ś. 888) of Arikēsarin (G. H. Khare’s S. M. H. D., Vol. II, p. 49).
⁷ Prof. Rapson, who has examined this question in detail (W. C. V., pp. 196 ff.), has come to the conclusion that ‘during the period of its use from c. 1040 to 1240, it (i.e., the title) denoted the overload of the Allahabad District, the region of the once famous kingdom of Kauśāmbī, and that it passed by conquest from one possessor of this region to the next.’ It may, however, be noted that Karna’s own Banaras plates, dated K. 1042, do not mention this title though he undoubtedly held Allahabad at the time.
⁸ See, e. g., No. 56, 11. 23 ff; No. 61, 11. 3 ff; No. 63, 1. 21.
⁹ See, e. g., Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 100. The Gāhadavāla kings from Gōvindachandra to Hariśchandra used this title.
¹⁰ The Sēna kings Lakshmanasēna and his two sons Viśvarūpasēna and Kēśavasēna adopted this title.
¹¹ The Chandēlla king Trailōkyavarman bore this title. Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, p. 232.