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294
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
copyist or of the engraver. The spelling is simply execrable. The corrections in the notes to the text rectify only the worst cases. The smaller mistakes, which will be familiar to every student who has read bad manuscripts, have not been touched.
The inscription contains a second-hand copy of Sripala's eulogy on the rampart of Nagara-Anandapura, built in Vikrama Samvat 1208, by the Chaulukya king Kumarapala, and two additional verses, composed by the writer of the copy, which was made on the restoration of the rampart in Vikrama Samvat 1689. Sripala's poem opens with a prose invocation to Siva and a mangala addressed to Brahman (verse 1). The next seventeen verses (2-18) give an account of the origin of Chulukya, the heros eponymos of the Chauluky a race, and of the first eight Chaulukya rulers of Gujarat. The list agrees with those known from other sources :
1. Malaraja.
2. His son Chamunḍaraja.
3. His son Vallabharaja.
4. His brother Durlabharaja.
5. Bhimadeva.
6. His son Karna.
7. His son Jayasimba-Siddharaja.
8. Kumarapala.
The historical notes, appended to the names of the several kings, furnish not much that is new, but are of value on account of the age of the inscription, which is about as old as the oldest Prabandha, Hemachandra's Doyáérayakávya. Of Malaraja we hear (verse 5), that "he made the Fortuna of the kingdom of the Chapotkata princes, whom be took captive at his will, an object of enjoyment for the multitude of the learned, of his relatives, of Brahmans, bards, and servants." This statement agrees with that contained in Malaraja's land grant (Indian Antiquary, vol. VI, p. 192), where it is asserted that "he conquered the province watered by the river Sarasvati through the strength of his arm," and furnishes an additional argument for assuming that the first Chaulukya gained Gujarat by conquest, not, as the Prabandhas narrate, by the treacherous murder of the last Chapotkata, his near relative. Verse 6 speaks of a successful war, waged by Chamunda, against the king of Sindh. This point is not mentioned in any other document, but is not incredible, as Sindh formed the western border of the Chaulukya kingdom, and as somewhat later both Bhimadeva and his son Karna were at feud with its rulers. With respect to Vallabharaja the inscription asserts (verse 7), that he made an inroad into Malava, which the Kirtikaumudi (ii, 11), the Sukritasamkirtana (ii, 18), and some later Prabandhas, likewise report, while Hemachandra is silent regarding it. So long as Somesvara's and Arisimha's testimony was not supported by earlier evidence, the point remained at least doubtful. Now the case is different, and it becomes difficult to assail the authenticity of the tradition. Durlabharâja, we are told, conquered Lâța, which feat is not mentioned in the other sources. Usually the annexation of central Gujarat to the Chaulukya kingdom is ascribed to Malarkja. Equally interesting is the fact that our Prasasti (verse 9) ascribes to Bhimadeva the conquest of Dhârâ. This likewise agrees with the statements of the Kirtikaumudi (ii, 17-18), of the Sukritasamkirtana (ii, 17-19), and of the later Prabandhas, which assert that Bhima caused the destruction of Bhoja. Hemachandra's omitting to notice it now loses its
