Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

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

Page 39

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. VIL.
situated in the Khotaka district of the Laţa country (11. 52-54). It is to record the grant of this village that the present charter was issued. The donee was a Brahman of the name of Någamarya, son of Mahadevayya, a member of the Mathara gôtra and a student of the V&jiKapva sakha (11. 51-52). He is described as staying at Månyakheta and subsisting on the feet of Vallabhanarendradêva, s.6. Govinda IV. himself, but is said to have originally resided at Kåvika.
The grant is dated, both in words and figures, in Saka-Samvat 852 expired, in the current cyclic year of Khera, on Monday, the tenth tithi of the bright half of Jyaishtha, when the non was near the constellation Hasta (11. 44-46). Professor Kielhorn kindly contributes the following remarks: -"This date, for Saka-Samvat 852 expired, regularly corresponds to Monday, the 10th May A.D. 930, when the tenth tithi of the bright half endod 12 h. 3 m., and the nakshatra was Hasta, by the equal space system and according to Garga for 22 h. 59 m., and by the Brahma-siddhanta for 19 h. 42 m., after mean sunrise. By the northern luni-solar and strict mean-sign systems the day fell in the year Khara, which lasted from the 23rd December A.D. 929 to the 19th December A.D. 930. [By the southern system the year would have been Vikṣita.] ”
Having thus disposed of the formal part of the grant, I shall now give an account of the thirty-one versos, descriptive of genealogy, and of the preamble of the prose passages that follow. After the introductory ôm svasti, the inscription opens with a verse (well known to us from other Rashtrakůța records), invoking the protection of Vishnu and Siva. The next verse is in honour of the Samaveda, and the two verses following it (3-4) contain invocations to Vishnu and Sêsha. In verse 5 we are told that from the Moon was descended the race of the Yadus, to the glorification of which the next verse is devoted. After thus bestowing praise on the Yadus, Dantidurgaraja is mentioned in verse 7 as having arisen in the spotless race of the Yadus, as the moon in the clear sky. He was succeeded on the throne by his paternal uncle Krishnaraja (I.), who is represented to have destroyed the Chalukya race, as the sun dispels darkness (v. 8). After Krishparaja I. his eldest son Gôvindaraja (II.) came to the throne, and after Govindardja II. his younger brother, who bore the appellation Nirupama (vv. 9-10). Dr. Fleet, who strongly holds that Govindaraja II. did not obtain sovereignty, brings forward the argument, anong others in support of his view, that the Sångli charter, though it places Govindaraja II. between Krishna I, and (Dhruva-) Nirupama, "does not make any assertion that he reigned." This statement can only be understood to mean that verse 6 of the Sangli grant, which is identical with verse 9 of our grant, does not explicitly speak of Govindaraja II. as having become a king, but that his name occurs between those of Křishnaraja I. and (Dhruva-)Nirupama. If this is what Dr. Fleet means, then we shall have to suppose that Jagattunga(-Govinda III.) and Amághavarsha (I.) also did not reign. For verses 11 and 12, in which their names are mentioned, do not tell us in explicit words that they became kings, but simply place them between (Dhruva-) Nirupama and A kalavarsha(-Krishọa II.). Hence, if Jagattunga (-Govinda III.) and Amoghavarsha I. are to be supposed to have reigned, Govindaraja II. too must, for the same reason, be regarded as having sat on the throne.
(Dhruva-) Nirupama was succeeded by his son Jagattunga(-Govinda III.), on whom nothing but conventional praise is bestowed (v. 11). After Jagattunga-Govinda III.), Amoghavarsha (I.) became king, who, in the first half of verse 12, is said to have gratified the god Yama at Vingavalli with unprecedented morsels of cakes, which were the Chalukyas. This means that he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Eastern Chalukyas at Vingavalli, which, I think, probably signifies the vengimandala, the territory over which they ruled. The second half of the verse, if I have rightly understood it, seems to mention & reservoir or some such thing,
See above, Vol. VI. p. 170 f., where Dr. Fleet meets the objections I brought against his view in my paper in J. Bo. Br. R. 4. 8. Vol. XX. p. 138 f.