South Indian Inscriptions

RELIGION

period of Indian history¹ Gupte on the other hand, who finds certain resemblances between the sculptures at Elephanta and those at Badami, would place them in the first half of the seventh century A.C.² The last view seems to be nearest to the truth. Now, the only great royal family ruling in Maharashtra and Konkan in the sixth and seventh centuries A.C. which would have financed such a magnificent work of art was that of the Kalachuris. The Mauryas, who held North Konkan in that period, were only a feudatory family which could hardly have commanded the resources necessary for such a great work, There is another circumstance which supports this conjecture. The cave temple was caused to be carved by the Pasupatas. This is indicated by the figure of Lakulisa, the founder of the Pasupata sect, in the recess at the north end of the shrine in the Western Court of the caves.³ We have seen above that the Kalachuri Emperors were followers of the Pasuptata sect, which exercised a considerable influence in their court. It would seem, therefore, that the Elephanta caves were excavated in the second half of the sixth century A.C. when the Kalachuri power was at its peak.

Śaivism must have received further support from the Sendrakas and the Early Chalukays, who succeeded the Kalachuris in Gujarat and Maharashtra ; for, they also were votaries of that cult. The Sendraka prince Allasakti made a grant of some nivartanas of land in favour of the god Alanaghyesvara whose temple was situated at Pippalakheta, modern Pimpalner in the West Khandesh District.⁴ This Alanghyesvara appears to be a name of Siva. The object of worship in this temple was probably his phallic emblem.⁵ The Chalukya prince Dharasraya-Jayasimha as well as his two sons, Sryasraya-Siladitya and Avanijanasraya-Pulakesin, were also worshippers of Siva. In the Nasik plates Jaya- Simha is described as meditating on the feet of a holy sage whose name ended in siva.⁸ and who therefore probably belonged to the Saiva, not the Pasupata sect.

Of the two sons of Siva Karttikeya and Ganesa, the former seems to have risen into prominence earlier. He is mentioned in the Mahabharata.⁷ and the Mahabhashya of Patañjali8 and is adored in the beginning of the great Nanaghat cave inscription.9 He was, it seems, a favourite god of the foreigners like the Sakas and the Kushanas who embraced Hinduism The Saka king Sridharavarman was his devotee. In the Kanakhera inscription this god is called Mahasena and Mahakumara and is described as the Commander-in-chief of the heavenly army. The Early Chalukyas believed that they owed their continuous prosperity to his grace. Ganapati, though sculptured in the panel of the Matrikas (Divine mothers) in the Elephanta caves,10 does not appear to have been separately worshipped in this period Needless to say that there is no obeisance to him in the beginning of the inscriptions of this age.

The Sun also was a popular god in this period. Many of the Early Gurjara kings were his worshippers. They are described as devoted to the feet of the sun.
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¹Hiranand Sastri A guide to Elephanta, p. 11
²Y.R. Gupte, A guide to Elephanta (Marathi),p.1.
³Hiranada Sastri, A guide to Elephanta , pp. 33 ff.
⁴No. 25,1.24.
⁵Similarly in the temple of Asramadeva to which a grant was made by the Gurjara king Jaya- Bhata IV (NO.23,1.10), the object of worship was probably the Siva-lings.
⁶No. 28, 1.11.
⁷MBH., Adhiparvan, adhyaya 60, vv. 22-23.
⁸Mahabhashya on Panini v, 3, 99.
⁹I have shown elsewhere that Kumaravara in the first line of that inscription refers to Karttikeya
J.N.S.I., Vol. XIV, pp. 29 ff. See also Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVII, p. 46, n. 4.
¹⁰Hiranand Sastri, A guide to Elephanta, p.50.