Epigraphia Indica Vol 30

SR No.: 032584
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 490
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 27 MB

Page 79

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXX Buddhist trinity, viz., Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, worshipped there. There are instances of kings granting land in favour of the ratna-traya. Thus the expression ratnatraya-bahiḥ of Dommapapala's inscription means to say that the village in question was granted with the exclusion of the area around the Buddhist establishment in it or better the area in the possession of a Buddhist establishment. Similarly, ratnatraya-rajasambhoga varjita of the Manahali plate means "excluding lands enjoyed by the Buddhist establishment and those belonging to the king's Khas Mahal"
7. Saugor Inscription of Sankaragana
Prof. V. V. Mirashi has recently published the Saugor inscription of Sankaragana in this journal, Vol. XXVII, pp. 163 ff. According to his reading, Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Paramesvara Sankaragana, during whose reign the inscription was incised, has been described in the record as paramabhaṭṭāraka-mahārājādhirāja-paramē svara-éri-Vāmarājadeva-päd-änudhyāta, although what has been read as Vämarāja appears to me from the published facsimile to be only Vävaraja. The inscription has been assigned on palaeographic grounds to the middle of the eighth century. In view of this date of the record, kings Vamaraja and Sankaragana, who would appear to have belonged to the Kalachuri family, have been regarded, without any reason whatever, as ancestors of the Kalachuri emperors of Tripuri. Similarly, without any convincing argument, Vamaraja has been placed a few generations earlier than Sankaragana, roughly about the second half of the seventh century. It is well known that the Kalachuris of Tripuri, from the time of Karna (1041-71 A.C.), described themselves in their official charters as paramabhaṭṭāraka-maharäjädhirāja-paramēśvara-paramamāhēsvara-sri-Vāmadēva-pad-änudhyāta. Professor Mirashi now thinks that Vamadeva mentioned in the records of the Kalachuris of Tripuri is no other than the king of the Saugor inscription of the eighth century, whose name is Vamarāja according to his reading.
Professor Mirashi refers to the Malkapuram inscription of Saka 1183 (1261-62 A.C.) which speaks of the Saiva pontiff Vamasambhu as the third (not second as maintained by the Professor) in spiritual descent from Sadbhavasambhu who founded the Gōlaki matha in the Dahala or Chedi country with the help received from the Kalachuri king Yuvaraja (either Yuvaraja I who reigned about the middle of the tenth century or his grandson Yuvaraja II who flourished about the end of the same century as he is known to have been defeated by Paramara Muñja, (974-96 A.C.) and incidentally says that even now' the Kalachuri kings are honoured for worshipping Vämasambhu's feet. He further refers to my paper in the Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. XV, 1938, pp. 96 ff., and says, " Dr. D. C. Sircar has recently suggested that this Vāmasambhu was the spiritual preceptor of the Kalachuri king Karna and flourished in the middle of the eleventh century A.D. The description in the Malkapuram inscription that even then (i.e., in the middle of the thirteenth century
1 Cf. N. G. Majumdar, A Guide to the Sculptures in the Indian Museum, Part II, pp. 74-75.
Hiralal read the name as Vägharaja. But the disputed akshara is not gha, and apparently also not ma as suggested by Professor Mirashi who thinks that the loop of ma, not to be found on the facsimile, is still visible on the stone. It will be seen from the facsimile of the inscription that the upper and lower left strokes of ma join its loop in an acute angle, whereas the back of the letter in question is fully rounded exactly as in the preceding vä. Indeed much has been made on the slender basis of the reading of the letter as ma, which appears to be merely conjectural. For other references to the word Väva or Båva in inscriptions, see paramabhattaraka-sri-Bava-padänudhyata in the Lohata plate (IHQ, Vol. XXV, p. 288) and paramabhaṭṭäraka-mahārajādhiraja-parumēbvara. bri-Bava-pad-anudhyata in the Maitraka records (Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. III, p. 186, note). The use of the word has to be compared with that of Bappa in epigraphic passages like mahārāja-Bappa-svamin (Sel. Ins., p. 438], paramabhaffäraka-mahārājädhiraja-Paramesvara-bri-Bappa-pad-anudhyata and Bappa-bhaṭṭāraka-māhārāja-bripad-änudhyāta (Corp. Ins. Ind., loc. cit.). Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao who has also carefully examined the letter agrees with me that the reading of the name is not Vamaraja. He thinks that it may be Vaparaja or V[6]paraja.
See above, Vol. II, pp. 5, 309, etc.