Epigraphia Indica Vol 22

SR No.: 032576
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1933
Total Pages: 408
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 205

162
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXII.
event could be settled approximately if the latter king could be satisfactorily identified, But we have no means of doing so at present. We also do not know the reason of this war. From the Korni plates of Anantavarman Chödaganga dated Saka 1034 (A.D. 1113) we learn that he reinstated the king of Utkala who had been deposed. The name of his enemy has not been mentioned, but it is likely that he was Jājalladēva 1%., the ambitious father of Ratnadēva II., whose friendship was sought by the kings of Kaņauj and Jējābhuktika and who had defeated Sõmēsvara and made the rulers of Kõsala, Andhra, Khimidi, Vairāgara, etc., pay tribute. Jājalladēva seems to have tried to extend his empire in the cast by deposing the king of Utkala. The latter's cause was however espoused by Anantavarman-Chōdaganga who succeeded in reinstating him before A. D. 1113. This event must have occurred during the reign of Jājalladēva ; for his Ratanpur inscription was incised in the Chēdi year 866 (A.D. 1114). It is likely that this defeat of Chōdaganga occurred towards the end of his career, when he was engaged in making conquests in the north, west and south, and bringing the whole country lying between the Ganges and the Godāvari under his firm control as stated in an inscription dated A. D. 1135 at the Kūrmēšvara temple in the Ganjām District. It seems that this whirlwind campaign of Anantavarman-Chodaganga received a check in the west by the prowess of Ratnadēva II. The Malhär Stone inscription of the time of his grandson Jājalladēva II. describes him as 'a fierce cloud putting out the continuously raging flames of the enormous spreading fire of the valour of king Chodaganga'. The hostilities continued in the next generation also, for the Kharod inscription mentions that Ratnadēva's son Pțithvidēva II. defeated Chodaganga's son Jatēśvara alias Madhukāmārņava.?
It is also interesting to note the occasion for making the grant. It seems that the other astronomers of Ratnadēva's court were using older methods of astronomical calculations. Their predictions of eclipses were not accurate and did not, therefore, come true. Padmanābha, the grantee of the present plates, discovered the mistakes in the older methods and, making the neces
1 Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao has kindly drawn my attention to two records which mention a prince named Gokarna. The first of these was incised at the temple of Madhukēśvara in Kalinganagara in Saka 1013 (=109192 A. D.) and apparently mentions a king named Gökarna 'who was expert in the diksha of the extermination of the multitude of his foes'. It is, however, doubtful if this Gokarna oould be identified with the one mentioned in the plates of Pratapamalle : for, Jajalladeva I., the father of Ratnadeva II., was reigning in 1114 A. D. fsee his Ratanpur Inscription, above, Vol. I, pp. 32 f.). Even supposing that Ratnadeva came to the throne in the very next year and the battle with Chodaganga and Gokarna was fought in the same year (both of which suppositions are unwarranted), there would be difference of 24 years between the date of the above record and Ratna. dēva's victory over the Ganga king and Gokarna. The second insoription is at Gudiwāda in the Bimlipatam taluka of the Vizagapatam district. It refers to a grant by a certain Gokarnarăja who was a subordinate of Anantavar. man. Even if we suppose that this Anantavarman is identical with Chodaganga, it does not seem likely that a poet would refer to Ratnadēva's victory over Chodaganga and his feudatory in the same breath. Besides, the record is not useful for our purpose, as it is undated. The Kharod inscription (1.7) seems to mention Jatēśvara as associated with his father Chodaganga in this war. If so, Gokarna may have been another name of Jate vara. This would also make it probable that the battle was fought in the latter part of Chodaganga's reign. [There is nothing against the victory over the overlord and his feudatory or feudatories being mentioned together, cf. for example, the Tirumukkudal Insoription of Virarājēndra (above, Vol. XXI, p. 241) where his victory over Ahavamalla and his feudatories is described.--Ed.1
J. A. H. R. 8., Vol. I, pp. 106-124.
$ The Kharod inscription mentions Jājalladēva's vlotory over Bhujabala, the lord of Suvarnapura (madera Sonpur), who was evidently a feudatory of the king of Orissa.
. Above, Vol. I, pp. 32 ff. 88. 1. I., Vol. V, No. 1335; cf. J. A. H. B. 8., Vol. VII, p. 57.
Above, Vol. I, p. 39. * Above, Vol. XXI, p. 162