Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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106
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
also known by the appellations 'Vajrâditya, Udayâditya, and Lalitâditya.'
Iassen understands the last two verses, quoted and translated above, to indicate that Pratâpâditya had seven sons, whose names were Chandrapida, Târâpida, Avimuktâpida, Muktâpida, Vajrâditya, Udayâditya, and Lalitâditya. But that interpretation is inadmissible on philological grounds, and is refuted by the summary of the Kashmirian history in the eighth Taranga, as well as by an independent Chinese account of some of the Karkota kings. For a Chinese writer, first brought to light by Klaproth,† states that Chentolopili of Kashmir sent several embassies to the Chinese Court in order to ask for help against the Thibetans, and received the title king' from the emperor. The same authority asserts that Chentolopili's successor Mutopi likewise sent an embassy. Lassen has pointed out the identity of the names Chentolopili-Chandrâpida, and Mutopi-Muktapida. He has also shown that the embassy said to have been sent by Mutopi did fall in the times of Lalitâditya. Though, after what has been said above, it is impossible to agree with him in assuming that Muktâpîḍa might have been the foreign-secretary of Lalitâditya, and for this reason might have been considered by the Chinese the sender of the embassy,|| his arguments that the embassy of Mutopi was sent in Lalitâditya's times, go towards confirming my view, viz. hat the two names belong to the same person.
If, then, Saktisvamin lived under Lalitâditya, his tenure of office must have fallen in the second quarter of the 8th century A.D. According to Troyer's, Lassen's, and Cunningham's calculations, the beginning of Lalitâditya's reign is placed in the last decade of the seventh century, in 695 or 693, while H. H. Wilson fixed it in 713.§ None of these dates is, however, tenable, as the Chinese historian states that Chandrapida's first embassy arrived at Pekin in 713, and that the same king received the grant of his title in 720. It must be considered a settled principle for Indian historians that dates given by Chinese writers are to be
Ind. Alt. III. 992. + Lassen, Ind. Alt. III. 993, note 1. Lassen, Ind. Alt. III. 996. il Ind. Alt. III. 996.
[APRIL, 1873.
relied on in preference to any calculations based on the statements of Hindu chroniclers. Hence General Cunningham has lately corrected his. former adjustment of the chronology of the Karkotas. He now admits that if a title was granted to Chandrapida in 720, that prince-even if due allowance is made for the time wl: ch the transmission of the intelligence of his death from Kashmir to Pekin would require-must have been alive in 719. Consequently Târâpida's death and Lalitâditya's accession cannot have taken place before 724.
But to return to Abhinanda's family, his father Jayanta also seems to have been a person of some note. He was a poet and a commentator, probably, of the Sûtras of the Asvalâyanaśâkhâ of the Rigveda. For a Jayanta is quoted in an Advalâyanagrihy a karikâ, and some years ago, in a list of MSS. from Nasik, I came across a Jay antavṛitti on the Âśvalâyanasutras. Unfortunately I did not secure the book. But it would be worth while to look out for it, as Ja yant a is certainly older than any other known commentator of Aévalâyana.
As regards A b h in and a himself, he cannot be placed later than 830-850 A.D. The duration of a generation in India is little more than 26 years. If, therefore, Abhinanda's fourth ancestor, Śaktisvâ min, lived under Muktapida about 725, we shall have to add, say, 110 years to that date in order to obtain our poet's age. Abhinanda seems to have lived not in Kashmir, but in Gauda, the country of his forefathers. This is indicated by his surname, 'the Gauda,' and by the fact that the name of the ancestor of his patron, Dharmapala, is not to be found among the Kashmirian kings, but belongs to a powerful monarch of the Pala dynasty of Gauda. Lassen places this Dharma pâla about 815. I am unable to trace the Yuvaraja Hâravarsha the compiler of a Kosa of poetical extracts, as well as his father, Vikramasila.
Lastly, I may mention that Abhinanda was apparently a Vaishnava, as he invokes Sauri in the Mangalacharana of the Kádam
barikathására.
§ See Prinsep's Useful Tables, p. 245. Anc. Geog. p. 91.
Aufrecht, Oaf, Cat. 405a.