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MARRIAGE OF KHĀRAVELA
312 In the Inscription of Khāravela's Chief Queen,' she has been represented as rājino lālākasa Hathisimha sampanātasa dhūtā'--the daughter of the high-souled king Hastisimha of rising glory. In this reading and rendering, it is difficult to ascertain whether Lālāka® is a royal epithet derived from the name of the kingdom of which Hastisimha was the ruler or it is just a title of praise similar to Yasalālaka in the name of Yasalālaka-Tissa, a king of Ceylon mentioned in the Malāvamśa. If it be a royal epithet derived from the name of the kingdom, it is easy to understand, firstly, that Hastisimha was the king of Lāla (or · Lālāka ?) and, secondly, that the royal families of Kalinga and Lāla were united by a matrimonial alliance. In accordance with the location suggested in the Mahāvamsa, Lāla was a kingilom situated between Kalinga and Magadha, in which case Lāla cannot but be identified with Lādha or Rādha. Accepting the other interpretation of Lālāka, it cannot be understood of what kingdom Hastisimha was the ruler. Whatever the correct interpretation, it is certain that Khāravela's Chief Queen was a princess born of a distinguished royal family.
1. Luder's List No. 1346 ; Sircar, SI, Vol. I, pp. 213.14. 2. As per Barua's translation in OBI, p. 57.
3. Lālāka or Lālārka means 'glorious like the rising sun', apparently as an earlier synonym of Būlāditya'. For the use of Lālāka as a viruda Ct. Yasalalaka-Tibe& occuring in the Mahāvamsa (Ch. XXXV, p. 50) as the name of a king of Ceylon. But it may not be going too far, suggests Parua (OBI, p. 249) to troat Lalika as a local epithet signifying that Hastisinha was the Sun of Lāla'.
4. Ch. XXXV, p. 50. 5, Ch. VỊ.
6. Prof. S. K. Chat terji favours the identification of Lāla or Lāla with Lāta in westorn India (Gujarat)-The Origin & Development of the Bengali Language, Vol. I, p. 72. fn. 1.
7. Drs. Raychnudbari (PHAI, pp. 418f) and D. C. Sircar (AIU, p. 213) also hold the same view.
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