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 131

106
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIV.
as the ruler of the Vangāla-déba. He was defeated in circa A. D. 1021 by Rajendra I, the illustrious Chola Emperor (A. D. 1012-44). Either this prince or his successor was on the throne when Karna invaded Eastern Bengal. After the overthrow of the Chandra prince, Karna seems to have placed Vajravarman in charge of the newly acquired territory and given his daughter Virasri to his son Jātavarman to cement the political alliance. The latter seems to have distinguished himself in the Anga country in one of the later campaigns of Karna. The present inscription which is definitely dated shows that the dynastic revolution must have been effected before A. D. 1048-9 and thus furnishes us with a landmark in the medieval history of Bengal.
Verse 25 refers to Karna's conquests in the South. Overrunning the district of Kāñchi he thoroughly enjoyed the Southern direction, in which the fortune of the Kuntala was shaken by forcible seizure and the low Pallavas were destroyed, as though covering the hips of a woman he was ravishing her, the beauty of whose hair was marred by forcible seizure and whose tender lower lip was wounded (in kissing).' The description here is evidently dictated by the poet's penchant for double entendre. The earliest verse of this type is traditionally ascribed to Mayūra and is taken by some scholars to contain references to Harsha's expedition in the South. In later times poets composed such verses containing puns on names of countries to flatter their patrons in utter disregard of historical facts. For instance, three such verses, besides the aforementioned one ascribed to Mayūra, have been collected in the Saduktikarnāmpita of Sridharadāsa. It is, therefore, difficult to say how far the description in v. 25 of the present inscription can be taken to be historically true. Besides, the Pallavas, over whom a decisive victory is claimed for Karna in the present verse, had long before ceased to be supreme in the South, their kingdom having been annexed by the Chõlas in about A. D. 8905. A branch of the Pallavas, no doubt, continued to rule in the Nolambavādi 32000 down to the eleventh century A. D.', but they had no control over the territory round Kāñchi and a victory over them would not have brought much glory to Karna's arms. Besides, Karna's victory over the Pallavas is not referred to in the fairly long lists of his conquests intimated in the records of his descendants. So far as the reference to the Pallavas is concerned, the description in the present verse appears to be more fanciful than real.
The reference to the invasion of the district of Kāñchi is perhaps intended to signify the defeat of the Chõlas; for, though the capital of the Cholas had been removed to Gangāpuri or Gangaikondacholapuram since its foundation by Rajendra Chõla I, Sanskrit poets continued to mention Kāñchi as the Chola capital'. Karna's victory over a Chola king is intimated in a verse in the Karanbēl inscription of Jayasinhadēva'. R. D. Banerji conjecturally identified the Chola king defeated by Karna with Virarajēndra Rājakēšarivarman, who was reigning between A. D. 1062 and 1067'. The reference to the invasion of Kāñchi in v. 25 of the present inscription, if historically true, would show that the victory had already been attained in A. D. 1048-9. Karna's adversary must therefore be identified with Rājādhirāja I, the son and successor of Rajondra Chola I, who ruled from A. D. 1018 to 1054.
IN. G. Majumdar, Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 20.
* See No. 2515 of the Subhashitavalt (Bom. Sk. series), p. 429. See also Kavindra racham-sa muchchaya (Bibl. Ind.), Introd., p. 68. The verse is ascribed to the poetess Vidya in the Saduktikarwamrita (Punj. Or. Series), p. 196.
Ind. His. Quart., Vol. II, pp. 788-89. See p. 197. Two of these are ascribed to the poets Sabdârnava and Jayadeva. 5 K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, The Coļas, Vol. I, p. 136. . Sewell, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (ed. S. K. Aiyangar), pp. 371-2.
See, e.g. Bilhana's Vikramankadēvacharita I, 115; III, 76; IV, 28, etc. Bilhana mentions GangaKundapura also as a Chola Capital. Ibid., VI, 21-24.
• Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 217. Prof. K. A. Nilakanto Sustri gives A. D. 1063-1069 as the period of his rule. See The Coas, Vol. I, p. 293.