North Indian Inscriptions

RELIGIOUS CONDITION

evidently at the sites of the twelve Jyōtirliṅgas, and named them after himself. [1] Chhittarāja began the construction of the famous temple of Śiva at Ambarnāth, which was completed in the reign of his youngest brother Mummuṇi. [2] The Khārepāṭan plates of Raṭṭarāja record certain grants made by the king for the worship of Avvēśvara, evidently Śiva installed by his father Avasara III, and named after himself. [3] Some Śilāhāras undertook pilgrimages to the well-known Śiva-khētra Sōmanātha-paṭṭana, and made grants of land in their kingdom to the god Sōmēśvara. Many Śilāhāra inscriptions state that Arikēsarin, even while he was a mere boy, went to Sōmanātha-paṭṭana as directed by his father, and there offered to that god all his victories. [4] Even ministers and common people constructed temples of Śiva and named the god after themselves. Thus Vyōmaśiva, a Rājaguru and also one of the ministers of the Śilāhāra king Aparāditya II, constructed a temple of Śiva named Vyōmēśvara, and, with the king’s permission, made a land-grant for his worship. [5] Lakshmaṇanāyaka, another minister of the same king, made certain donations of drammas out of the proceeds of a vāṭikā (orchard) at Sthānaka in favour of the god Sōmanātha in Saurāshṭra (i.e. at Sōmanātha-paṭṭana). [6] Some other names of Śiva in whose honour gifts are recorded in Śilāhāra inscriptions are Bhāiyapēśvara at Kunde in the Bhiwaṇḍī tāluka [7], Marudīśvara at Marut-kshētra (Muruḍ), [8] Uttarēśvara of Sthānaka (Ṭhāṇā), [9] Shōmpēśvara (Bhivaṇḍī tāluka), [10] Guḍālēśvara at the village Guḍālaya (Rādhānagarī tāluka), [11] Mādhavēśvara in Seḍambāḷa (Beḷgaon District) [12] etc. Sometimes, gifts are found made not to Śiva only but to the Śiva-pañchāyatana [13] (i.e. Śiva, Pārvatī, Gajānana etc.).

.. Of the two sons of Śiva, Kārttikēya had receded to the background, there being no reference to him in any Śilāhāra record. But the other son Gaṇanāyaka (i.e. Gaṇapati) came to the forefront. Though no shrines in his honour are mentioned, he is invariably praised in the beginning of almost all inscriptions of the Northern Śilāhāras. His mount, a rat, is mentioned in a passage cited from Rājānaka Śitikaṇṭha in the Aparārkaṭīkā , Vol I, p. 571.

.. Vishṇu was another popular deity, but Śilāhāra records contain very few references to grants made in his honour. There was a temple of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa at Māṇḍavalī (modern Māṇḍavī in the Ṭhāṇā District), to which a grant was made in the reign of Kēśidēva II. [14] It was constructed by Lakshmīdhara, a minister of that king. There were some other temples of that god such as that at Bramapurī [15] near Kolhāpur, erected by the Śīlāhāras and their ministers. As the Kolhāpur Śilāhāras were fervent devotees of Mahālakshmī, the maṅgala-ślōka of many of their charters is in praise of the Varāha incarnation of Vishṇu, the consort of that goddess. [16]

.. Brahmā had declined in importance. He was, of course, worshipped in the beginning
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[1] See e.g. No. 13, lines 12-14.
[2] No. 17, lines 5-6.
[3] No. 41, line 42.
[4] No. 13, lines 26-28.
[5] No. 30, lines 8-9.
[6] No. 31, lines 2-3.
[7] No. 11, line 50.
[8] No.23, lines 65-66.
[9] No. 39, lines 15.
[10] No. 36, lines 11-12.
[11] No. 45, line 36.
[12] No. 52, line 21.
[13] No. 43, lines 60-61.
[14] No. 34, line 5.
[15] No. 48, line 26.
[16] No. 46, line 1. The verse I taken from Early Chālukya records.

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