Epigraphia Indica Vol 03

SR No.: 032557
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 472
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 219

172
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. III.
after A.D. 1022. The Chola Purâpic genealogy is, apparently, first met with in the KalisgattuParani, which was composed in the reign of the Eastern Chalukya king Kulôttunga-Chôdadêva L. (A.D. 1063 to 1112).' And the Puriņic genealogy of the Eastern Gangas of Kalinganagara is first made known by a grant of A.D. 1118-19.3 The Western Ganga prince Marasimha, who has been already mentioned, and who was a feudatory, - probably half independent, - of the last three Rashtrakůta kings, Krishna III., Khottiga, and Kakka II., was a person of no small rank and power. Nothing is more likely than that he should follow the general example that was then prevailing. And I think that the Lakshmêshwar inscription, dated in A.D. 988-89, which actually represents him as the younger brother of a H&rivarman who is plainly the person of that name who stands in the third generation in the Table on page 161 above, indicates that he did so, and fixes very closely the time when the Western Ganga genealogy, exHibited in the spurious records, was invented; the inscription in question seems to me to represent, in a rudimentary form, the beginning of a longer genealogy which was elaborated subsequently.
I will, in conclusion, state the exact position which I take up in respect of these spurious Western Ganga records, and of Mr. Rice's writings in opnnection with them. I believe that any critical mind will admit that my position is the only sound and logical one. And I lay stress on the matter, because, though Mr. Rice has an opportunity in Mysore, such as few people can enjoy, of turning out most valuable historical and antiquarian results, he is spoiling everything that he produces, bearing upon early times, by the manner in which he makes all his results conform to the statements of the spurious records and mistaken traditions that abound in that part of the country; if his writings are to meet with the appreciation and carry the weight that they might easily deserve and bear, it is necessary for him to discard these spurious records and false traditions altogether, and strike ont everything that is based on them, and to put forward as history nothing but what rests on authorities that cannot be questioned.
id. Vol. XIV. p. 48, and Vol XX. p. 274. . Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. p. 329, and Vol. XX. p. 278. id. VoL XVIII. p. 165.
• Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 101.- Doubts have been suggested as to the authenticity of this record; on the grounds (see Coorg Inscriptions, Introd. p. 9) that it is followed, on the same stone, by two others which refer themselves to earlier time I am not prepared to discuss the matter fully; now, at least. But the Gangs record of A.D. 968-69 is in genuine characters of the period; and the only suspicious point about it, to my mind, is that, mentioning Konganivarman, Madbara L, and Harivarman, it representa Marasimba as the younger brother of the latter. It is to the following two records which stand after it, written in characters of the same period, that doubt attaches; as to how far they may be true copies of early originals which were probably on copper-plates : Sir Walter Elliot has suggested that they were put on this stone for "the unification of the titles" (Coins of Southern India, p. 114).
The other Lakshmeshwar inscription of Marasimha, dated in the same year, the Vibbaya sanatsara, SakaSamvat 890 expired (Ind. Ant. Vol. VII. p. 112; the third part of the record), only mentions Konganivarman, and says that in bis linenge (tad-antayd) there was Marasiths.
I am not writing in any unfriendly spirit; and I hope not in an unfriendly style. Also, it does not affect my personal life and surroundings, whether the early Western Ganges of the sparious grants existed or not. But, like others, I have been engaged for a long time in working at the ancient history of India. It seems to me that, if the subject is worth working at at all, it deserves to be treated critically and on sound bases. And what I say as to the effect of Mr. Rice's writings on the period sopposed to be covered by the sparious Western Ganga grants, is simply the plain and incontestable truth. The fact is, be did not commence work very auspiciously; baving had the misfortune to commence with these spurious records. I feel confident that if, like me, he had had the good luck to start with genuine records, he would not have failed to recognise, eventnally if not at once, the worthlessness of the Western Gangs grants, and of some others in respect of which he has similarly gone astray. I readily admit that I myself did not at first detect the sparious nature of the Western Gangs grants. But, for very many years past, the difficulty to me, in connection with them, has been, not the recognition of their true nature, but to put myself in the frame of mind from which they can be imagined to be genuine and to require serious discussion to disprove that view.-Sparious copper-plate grants are not confined to Mysore and its neighbourbood;