Epigraphia Indica Vol 29

SR No.: 032583
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1951
Total Pages: 432
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 201

100
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXIX
last known dates of Prithvidēva II and his son Jājalladēva II, viz., K. 915 and 919, and that thera would be no absurdity in surmising that both Dēvagana and his father Ratnasimha lived up to an advanced age and composed the two records removed by a brief interval of timo.
In his recent study of the inscriptions of the Southern Kalachuris or the Kalachuris of Karņātaka, rather inappropriately described as the Kalachuryas of Kalyani by the late Dr. Fleet, Mr. Desai has been able to detect a large number of affinities that go to establish closer ties among the southern and the northern branches of the Kalachuri stock. An inscription from Harasür attributes lunar descent to the Kalachuris of Karnataka and this claim is supported by further epigraphical evidence. Among the northern Kalachuris, those of Tripuri and Gorakhapur trace their descent from the moon. In glaring contrast with this comes the statement in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur, which commence with an invocation to the sun god who is represented as the originator of the family. It is interesting to note that solar descent is also mentioned in some inscriptions of the Southern Kalachuris. Some of their records open with an invocation to the sun god on the analogy of the inscriptions of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur. It has to be observed further that the Saivite traditions of the northern families, particularly those of Tripuri and Gorakhpur, such as intensive devotion to the god Siva and adoption of his vehicle Nandi as their royal emblem,' were preserved intact in the southern family 88. well. An inscription from Chadachana in the Bijapur District, dated 1057 A.C., introduces Bijjala I, tho grandfather of Jogama, as a subordinate of the Western Chalukya king Sõmēsvara I, and a bearing the significant title Dahala-bedanga (ornament of the Dahala country).
The donee Haridāsa belonged to a learned and respectable family. His father was Diyodāsa, Bon of Bhrigu-Pandita. These belonged to the Sārkrita götra, having the pravaras Sāmkrita, Amgirasa and Vächaspatya. After the statement of the gift in verse 19, a renowned teacher of Saivite persuasion, named Isänabiva, is eulogised in the next verse. The position held by this divine in the transaction is not made clear. It is likely that he was the royal preceptor and spiritual guide and introduced here at the behest of the king. Verse 30 contains a description of Pretirāja of the Gauda lineage, who wrote the record on the copper plates with clear letters out of natural devotion for the Brahmanas. This Pratirāja is identical with the scribe of the Pēņdrābandh plates wherein he is characterised as the light of the Record Office. The gift village Siralā may possibly be indentified with Siroli in the Janjgir Tahsil of the Bilaspur District.
1 Fleet has alluded to only two links, viz., the title Kälai jarapuravaradhisvara and reference to the Dahala country in & Harihar inscription; Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 469.
* Above, Vol. XXVIII, p. 24.
Ibid., p. 26, n. 3; Kannada Sahitya Parishat Patrike, Vol. XXXVI, Nos. 1-2, p. 107.
It is shown that there is no real contradiction in the divergent claims of lunar and solar descents by the two groups of the same family and that they can be easily reconciled ; above, Vol. XXVIII, p. 25, n. 3.
Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 448. Compare the allusion to the solar lineage of Bijjala (I) in a Šilihara in. soription; above, Vol. XXVII, p. 178.
• Two inscriptions, one from Muttigi and another from Ingalödvar in the Bijapur District; Bombay-Karnatak oollootion, No. 104 of 1929-30 and No. 11 of 1930-31.
Above, Vol. II, p. 305; Vol. VII, p. 86; Vol. XII, p. 205; Dynastic Hist. of Northern India, Vol. II, p. 742.
. The theory of Jaina leanings of Bijjala II is now thoroughly exploded and it is shown on the strength of opigraphic and literary evidence that all the members of the Southern Kalachuri family were staunchly Saivito in their persuasion. This and other topics briefly referred to above and in the article 'Harasûr Inscription of King Soma' (above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 23 ff.), have been elaborately discussed in his lectures on the Southern Kalachuris delivured by Mr. Dosai in February 1951 at the Kannada Research Institute, Dharwar. These lootures aro pub; lished in the Kannada Sahitya Parishat Patrike, Vol. XXXVI, Noe. 1-2, PP. 102 ff.
B. K. coll., No. 17 of 1937-38,