Epigraphia Indica Vol 02

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 19

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
is throughout denoted by the sign for v, and the dental sibilant is frequently employed instead of the palatal; besides, é is used for in the word sárddhan, in line 21, and ; for y in trijámá, in line 15.
The metrical portion of the inscription, after mentioning, like the Kumbhi and other Chedi inscriptions, a number of divine and semi-divine beings, gives the usual genealogy of the Kalachuri (or Chedi) kings of Tripuri, from Yuvarajade va down to the reigning king Yasah karnadeva (Yuvarajadeva; Kokalla; Gangeya deva, also called Vikramaditya; Karnadeva, who married the Hûna princess Âvalladevi; and Yasah karnadeva). And, in addition to the well-known facts that Gangeya deva with his hundred wives obtained final salvation at Prayaga, and that Karņadeva founded the town of Karnavati, it only records in verse 13) that Karna also built a magnificent temple at Käsi or Benares, where evidently verse 13 was composed ; and (in verse 23) that Yasaḥkarna defeated the ruler of Andhra, in the vicinity of the river Godavari.
Of the prose portion of the inscription only a few words remain. But from these words—and this... Paramabhattáraka, Maharajadhiraja, and Paramešvara, who [meditates on the feet of the illustrious Våmadeva," - it is clear that the inscription must have recorded a grant made by, or during the reign of, the king who in the metrical portion is mentioned last, i.e., Yaśaḥ karņadeva. And it is fortunate that the Nagpur Museum transcript, inaccurate as it is in other respects, enables us to ascer. tain the time when this grant was made, in my opinion, with certainty. We know that Yaśaḥkarņa was succeeded by his son Gayakarņadeva, and we possess an inscription of this Gaya karna which must have been put up towards the end of his reign and which bears a date corresponding to the 17th June, A. D. 1151. Yasah karna would therefore have ceased to reign some time before, and probably at such a distance from, A. D. 1151, as would suit the relation to each other of father and son. Now according to the Någpur Museum transcript of the present inscription the grant recorded in it was made at the time of the Makara-samkranti, on Monday, the 10th of the waning moon of Magha.' And during the sixty years preceding A. D. 1151, the only year which fulfils these conditions is A. D. 1122. For in that year the 10th of the dark half of Mâgha fell by the púrnimánta scheme on Monday, the 25th December, when the 10th tithi of the dark half ended 8 h. 39 m. after mean sunrise; and in the same year the Makara-samkranti took place 15 minutes before mean sunrise of, or for religious purposes on, the same Monday. And I have no doubt that Monday, the 25th December A.D. 1122, corresponding, with my epoch of the Chedi era, to Mágha. badi 10 of Chedi-samvat 874, is the true date of the grant, and that this is a reliable date for Yaśaḥ karņadeva, whose reign probably ended shortly afterwards.
Compare Indian Antiquary, vol. XVII, p. 225. • See ib., vol. XVIII, p. 210. . See Sir A. Cunningham's Archeological Survey of India, vol. IX, p. 88.
7 See Indian Antiquary, vol. XVII, p. 218. After I had made the necorary calculations regarding the above date for my paper on the epoch of the Chedi era and found the above result, I learnt from Mr. Fleet that, according to Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit's calculations, in the century Saka-samvat 1000 to 1100 (A. D. 1078-1178) the only year in which the Makarasarnkranti occurred on Monday, which was the 10th lunar or solar day of the month Magha, was Saka-samvat 1044 expired (A. D. 1122-23).