North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

AKALTARA STONE INSCRIPTION OF RATNADEVA II

Dēvapāṇi. It is not dated, but it is evidently earlier than Vallabharāja's Kugdā inscription^¹ of the Kalachuri year 893 (1141-42 A.C.) which belongs to the reign of Pṛithvīdēva II.

By way of introduction the inscription traces the genealogy of the Kalachuri rulers of Ratanpur from Ratnadēva I down to Ratnadēvā II. Verse 8 mentions Lāchchhalladēvī who was the wife of Jājalladēva I and the mother of Ratnadēva II. Otherwise, the description of these princes is quite conventional and altogether devoid of historical interest.

The inscription next traces the genealogy of Vallabharāja. A feudatory chief of the Vaiśya lineage, named Dēvarāja, was a devoted servant of the ancestors of Ratnadēva II. His son was Rāghava who served his liege-lord as his councillor. His son was Harigaṇa who is described as the principal support of the Kalachuri throne in the attainment of victory. Harigaṇa's son, Vallabharāja, is next glorified in seven verses. He is said to have helped his lord in humbling the king of Gauḍa, the lord of elephants, and to have used his capital like the Vindhya tract for the capture of elephants. The next three verses (18-20) described a fierce battle in which Vallabharāja distinguished himself. We then have, in verses 21-24, a description of the temple of Rēvanta, the son of Saptāśva or the Sun, which Vallabharāja built, and the tank he excavated with a palace of pleasure in the middle of it^² on the outskirts of the town. By erecting the former, Vallabharāja is said to have adorned, as with an ornament, the earth which was the crowned queen of his lord, the king. Verse 24 contains an interesting comparison, based on double entendre, of the tank with the Buddhist doctrine (Saugata-mata).

As shown above, the present inscription was incised during the reign of Ratna- dēva II. The fierce battle in which Vallabharāja distinguished himself was probably that in which Anantavarman-Chōḍagaṅga was defeated. It seems to have been fought towards the close of Ratanadēva II's reign. Two other inscriptions of Vallabharāja refer themselves to the reign of Pṛithvīdēva II. Vallabharāja seems, therefore, to have flourished towards the close of the reign of Ratnadēva II and in the beginning of that of Pṛithvī dēva II from circa K. 880 to K. 915.

There are no places mentioned in the present record^³, but from the Ratanpur inscrip tion of Vallabharāja we know that both the temple of Rēvanta and the tank were situated in Vikarṇapura, which was probably identical with Kōṭgaḍh.

¹No. 87, below.
² Even now at Kōṭgaḍh there is a large oval-shaped tank, in the middle of which projected from the west there is a raised earthen spot which was probably the site of this pleasure-mansion. Cousens took it to be the site of the temple of Rēvanta ( P. R. A. S. W. I. for 1903-4, p. 30.)
³ D. R. Bhandarkar and following him, Hiralal take laḍaha in verse 15 as the name of a country overrun by Vallabharāja. The former points out (P. R. A. S. W. I. for 1903-4, p. 51, n.) that it is coupled with Aśmaka in the Bṛihatsaṁhitā and places it in the Deccan, while the latter identifies it with the southern tracts of the Bilaspur District. I. C. P. B., p. 121. But laḍaha in v. 15 has the simple sense of 'beautiful'. See below, p. 435, n. 1.
⁴ From the original stone and inked estampages.
⁵ Metre of this and the following verse: Anushṭubh.
⁶ Read सद्‌व्रह्मणे