Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

SR No.: 032588
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 384
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 109

66
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIV
in the sense of a posture of standing with a bend in the knee, the waist and the neck, while Tribhanga (i.e., one standing with a bend in the three limbs referred to above) is a popular name or epithet of the god Vishnu-Krishna in Eastern India.1
The second half of the same stanza speaks of a person proficient in the Vedanta. The name of this person is lost; but there is little doubt that he was the ancestor of the hero of the prasasti, with whom the description of the hero's ancestry began. As our analys's of the following stanzas will show, he was apparently the grandfather of Auchanarva, the hero of the eulogy, introduced in the last verse on the first side of the pillar.
Verse 2 states that the person responsible for the installation of the deity in question also constructed a temple probably for enshrining the same god. The following stanza (verse 3) says that the said person adorned the city called Mantrakuta-nagar! (i.e. modern Manthani where the inscription under study has been found) with a garland of pearls, which was a row of new buildings The expression saudha-pali-nava-mauktika-sraja, 'by a garland (i.e. necklace) of pearls, which was a row of new buildings', is endowed with the epithets suribhir-manibhir-utprakasaya and krishna-nayakasanathaya. The first of the two epithets shows that the word sraj (literally, a garland ') has been used in the sense of ' a necklace' since its jewels are compared with the learned men adorning the houses in the row. In the second epithet, the expression krishna-nayaka seems to have a double entendre, viz. 'a black jewel as the central gem' (in relation to the necklace), and 'lord Krishna [in one of the buildings in the row]' (in relation to the row of buildings). The verse further suggests that the deity in question (i.e. a form of the god Vishnu-Krishna) was installed in a temple at Mantrakuta or Manthani. It is not impossible that this is the deity called Mantrakuta-Gopijanavallabha both in the present record at the beginning and in the Gaya inscription. Lines 23-24 on the third face of the pillar probably mention the same deity as Mantrakuta-Gopinatha. It is very probable that the god was named after the person who installed him. It may thus be conjectured that the name of the person was Gopinatha, Gōpijanavallabha being rather too big for a personal name.
Verse 4 introduces Mallikarjuna as the son of the person referred to in verses 1-3 of this section from the latter's wife Jakkamamba. The next two stanzas (verses 5-6) describe the learned Mallikarjuna as a great teacher of the Advaita philosophy. Verse 6 seems to refer to Mallikarjuna as dead, the following stanza (verse 7) stating that his younger brother Kesava-sari was still living as a reflected image of his [deceased] elder brother. These two stanzas appear to make it clear that Mallikarjuna was dead at the time the inscription was composed and engraved during the early years of reign of Kakatiya Ganapati. As we have elsewhere 'seen, the Gaya inscription represents Mallikarjuna as the preceptor of Ganapati's uncle Prataparudra I (1163-95 A.D.) and records the performance of his fräddha ceremony at Gaya.
The last stanza (verse 8) on the second side of the pillar, the concluding part of which is broken away, refers to a scholar who was apparently another member of the same family representing the generation following that of the brothers Mallikarjuna and Kesava, that is to say, he was a son of either of the two brothers.
Third Side
With the only verse at the beginning of this section, the first few letters of which are broken away with the concluding part of the second side, the introductory part of the inscription concludes,
1 Cf. the name Tribhangamurări in Bengali and Assamese lexicons. Cf. the Gay& inscription, text line 27 (above, Vol. XXXIII, p. 108). Cf. the name of his grandson Gopala below.
Above, Vol. XXXIII, p. 104.