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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
KALACHURI OF TRIPURI the munificence of Karna Dahāriā are current in Banaras.1 Bilhana, the well-known Sanskrit poet of Kashmir, received a great honour in his court. He says that he defeated one Gangādhara and composed a beautiful kāvya in praise of Rāma while at Karna’s court.2 Other poets of Karna’s court, known from Sanskrit anthologies, are Vallana, Nāchirāja, Karpūra and Vidyāpati. Several verses of these poets are included in the Kavīndravachana- samuchchaya and other anthologies.3 Karna patronised Prakrit poets also. Some anonymous Mahārāshtrī and Apabhramśa verses in praise of him are cited in the Prākrita-Paingala.4 Kanakāmara, the author of the Apabhramśa kāvya Karakandachariu, says in his concluding verses that he used to delight, by his verses, the mind of the king Karna.5 Karna married a Hūna princess named Āvalladēvī.6 Hūna kings are known from references in the records of several kings. They appear to have been ruling somewhere in Central India; for, there are occasional references to defeats inflicted on them by Pratīhāra, Paramāra, Pāla and Kalachuri kings or their feudatories. But the exact location of their kingdom has not been fixed. Karna had, from Āvalladēvi, a son named Yaśahkarna, who succeeded him. Two of his daughters Vīraśrī and Yauvanaśrī are also known. The former, who is named in the Bēlāvā plates of Bhōjavarman,7 married Jātavarman of Eastern Bengal. Yauvanaśrī is mentioned as the wife of Vigrahapāla of North-East Bengal in the Rāmacharita of Sandhyākaranandin.8
Yaśahkarna succeeded his father in circa 1073 A.C. Only two records of his reign
are known, viz., the Khairhā9 and the Jabalpur plates.10 Both contain an identical eulogistic
portion which was first drafted in Banaras. The only historical event which they mention
is Yaśahkarna’s invasion of the Andhra country. Verse 23 of these grants says that
‘extirpating with ease the lord of Andhra, the graceful movements of whose arms were
flawless, he (i.e., Yaśahkarna) worshipped, with the offerings of many ornaments, the
holy Bhīmēśvara, near whom the Gōdāvarī with her dancing eye-brows of waves sings
his glory with the seven notes of her streams, sweet with the cries of intoxicated swans.’
There are several temples of Bhīmēśvara in the Gōdāvarī District, but the foregoing description
suits especially the temple at Drākshārām in the Rāmchandrapuram tālukā, which
contains a particularly big Śiva-linga, fourteen or fifteen feet high. The temple is not on
the bank of the Gōdāvarī as suggested in the above verse, but the reference may be to the
tank at Drākshārām which is called Sapta-Gōdāvarī and which is popularly supposed to
contain the waters of the seven mouths of the Gōdāvarī. The Andhra king defeated by
Yaśahkarna was probably Vijayāditya VII, who ruled from 1061 to 1076 A.C. In this
campaign, Yaśahkarna seems to have been aided by Jājalladēva I of the Ratanpur branch
of the Kalachuri dynasty ruling over Dakshina Kōsala; for, the latter in his Ratanpur 1For an interesting story about Karna which Sir G. Grierson heard in Banaras, see Ind. Ant., Vol.
XVI, pp. 46 ff.
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