Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

Author(s): E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 29

90
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VII.
the son of the king of Orissa, who was renowned as being a good swordsman, to show his skill The prince consented, but seeing that the antagonist whom the king had chosen for him was a man of low birth, he felt greatly offended and, unable to bear such an insult, he killed himself.
The news of the death of this prince induced the king of Orissa to open fresh negotiations with Krishparkya, which in the ond led to a conclusion of peace.
Nunes generally shows himself so well informed that there is no reason to doubt that this story also is substantially correct. The only discrepancy between the chronicle and the inscription is with respect to the date whon the prince was taken captive. Whereas the Portuguese author asserts that it took place more than three months after the capture of Kondavidu, it would follow from the inscription that it was before that event. This is implied not only by the words of the text, which admit of no other interpretation, but also by the date of the inscription in verse 10, which states that in the sake year marked by the Munis (7), the towns (3), the oceans (4), and the moon (1), (i.. Saka-Samvat 1437), in the year Yuvan, on the twelfth day in the inonth Åsbadha, (the king) duly performed the gift called tulápúrusha and gave away many incomparable ugrahuras in the presence of the god Šalapåņi, who is renowned in the world as Amaresa, on the bank of the Krishnavêại, which destroys darkness. This date, although it is incomplete and cannot be verified, is without doubt identical with the date given above as that of the capture of Kondavidu, the Harivdsara mentioned there being only another term for the twelfth day of the bright half of the month Ashâdha. Whether the chronicle or the inscription is to be trusted in this case, I do not venture to decide at present. It is quite possible that the text of the inscription was composed and engraved some months after the event which it is intended to commemorate, and that the author inadvertently referred to things which had happened in the meantime. But it is equally possible that Nunes has made a slight mistake, nud that Virabhadra was taken captive on an earlier occasion.
The inscription concludes with a verse (12) invoking the blessing of Amaresa on Krishnaraya. The Amaresa mentioned here and in verse 10 is, of course, the god of the temple where the inscription is found.
TEXT. 1 THAEL ITA ][f]qvfa. 2 STATEK I Tota3 नगरारंभमूलस्तंभाय मं4 HÊ # [*] TTTT WITH UC5 fafaTTO I OKTO( 126 gfrurfu (a) yoga [l **] afer ETA7 [T]TET UTAMAFigh: 1747 s तमिवोद्भूतमप]नीततमो महः ।। ३"] तत्' 9 s alarialerta fanufa: [1] 10 anet Joey det: 11 [at]a (1 8*] [m]yahto
soe above, Vol. VI. p. 111, note 4. Read तहाम.
From inked estampages supplied to me by Dr. Hultzach. • Read art.