Epigraphia Indica Vol 24

SR No.: 032578
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1937
Total Pages: 472
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 129

104
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XXIV.
The latter gives the following description of Gangēyadēva's achievementsFrom him (ie. Kökalla II) was (born) Gangeyadēva who threw into the cage of a prison the king of Kira, who looked radiant with the mass of wealth of the king of) Anya, who was fond of defeating (the king of) Kuntale in a clever) manner, and who, strong as he was in the action of breaking open the frontal globes of the best of elephants, made his own arm a pillar of victory on the shore of the eastern) ocean after vanquishing the king of) Utkala'. Most of the statements regarding these victories are substantiated by other evidence. We do not of course know if Gangeyadēva succeeded in actually extending his dominions as far as the Kira country which comprised the territory round Baijnath in the east of the Kängrā District; for, references to victories over the king of the Kira country and even a pun on his name are found in other records, which show that such descriptions were more or less conventional. But Gängeyadēva had certainly the Doab under his control. He fixed his residence at the holy city of Prayāga (Allahābād) where he lived to the last. It is not therefore unlikely that he extended his sway in the North-West up to the Kāngrā valley, on the downfall of the Gurjara-Pratihara king Trilochana pāla some time after 1. D. 1027° His victory over the king of Anga seems to be a historical fact; for, from the colophon of a manuscript of the Rāmāyana in the Durbar Library, Nepal', he seems to have established himself in Tirabhukti as early as A. D. 1019 and this country he must have wrested from the contemporary ruler of Anga and Magadha, who was probably Mahipāla I. It seems that there was another expedition against the king of Magadha towards the close of Gangéyadeva's reign. This expedition was led by his son Karna Tibetan tradition tells us that some time before A. D. 1040, which is the approximate date of Atiśa-Dipankara's departure for Tibet, there was an invasion of Navapāla's territory by king Karnya of the West, who is obviously none other than the Kalachuri Karna. As Gangeyadēva was ruling till A. D. 1040, this invasion cannot be placed in the reign of Karna himself. It seems to have taken place towards the end of Gangēyadēva's reign. In that case Karna may have been obliged to patch up a peace with the king of Magadha as his presence was required elsewhere by the approaching end of Gangēyadēva. From the description in v. 18 Gãngéyadēva seems to have exacted a heavy tribute from his vanquished adversary.
Gängéyadeva's victory over the king of Kuntala is also referred to in other records. Both the Khairha and Jabalpur? plates state that wishing to run away in haste from him the king of Kuntala ceased to wield his spear. Kuntala included the Southern Maratha country and
Above, Vol. I, p. 97. 2 See e.y. Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 217: above, Vol. II, p. 188. * Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, pp. 33 ff. . Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Durbar Library of Nepal, p. 18.
• Lévi, Le Nepal, Vol. II, p. 189. Babu Sarat Chandra Das gives A. D. 1038 as the clate of Atsa's visit to Tibet. J. 4. S. B., Vol. LX, p. 51. . Above, Vol. XII, p. 211, v. 11.
Ibid., Vol. II, p. 6. CATCH T OH
: wat (W) (v. 11). Kielhorn's reading of the hemistich was incorrect probably owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the impressions supplied to him. The correct reading was first viven by R. B. Hiralal while editing the Khairhã plates. But his translation 'wishing to run away from whom with dishevelled hair (the king of Kuntala) who was deprived of his country came to possess it again' (above, Vol. XII. p. 215) and his conjecture based on it that Gängėyadēva restored the Kuntala country to its king who was defeated (ibid., p. 205), do not seem to be correct. The hemistich apparently means wishing to run away from whom, the Kuntala ceased to be the Kuntala'. This involves contradiction, but it is only apparent, the figure being virõdhabhasa ; for the words really mean wishing to run away suddenly from whom the king of Kuntala ceased to wield his spear. There is a pun on the second word kuntala here, (1) the king of Kuntala and (2) one who wields his spear, kuntan lal-iti. For the second meaning compare a similar derivation of kusala (one who handles kuba) referred to in Mammata's Kavyaprakasa (II, 9). [The term in question is better explained by taking it as a compound of kunta and lata on the analogy of asi-lata.-Ed.] There is therefore no reference here to the deposition or reinstatement of the king of Kuntala.