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No. 26.]
DANAVULAPADU PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF SRIVIJAYA.
149
and 11. 65 to 67 state that the writer of the record was Gunavarma, the clerk (sēnabōva) of Anupamakavi.
It thus appears from an examination of the contents that the only name in the record which may be of bistorical interest is that of king Indra (or Narendra) whose subordinate was the dandanayaka Śrīvijaya. And, to judge from the characters, king Indra will have to be identified with the Rashtrakuta Nityavarsha-Indra III, for whom we have the dates A.D. 915 and 916-7, or with Indra IV., the grandson of Krishna III., who died in A.D. 982.1 Before attempting to decide which of the two kings could be intended here, it may be useful to mention the existence of a record of the Rashtrakuta king Nityavarsha in the Jaina ruins of Danavulapaḍu, quite close to where the subjoined pillar was dug up. It is engraved round the rim of a stone pedestal and consists of a single Sanskrit verse which has been translated on p. 121 f. of the Director General's Annual for 1905-6. Here, again, it is doubtful if Nityavarsha is identical with Indra III. or Khottiga, both of whom bore that suruame. As, however, the pedestal record and the subjoined pillar inscription are found in the same ruins and the characters, except for the flourishes used in the former, are almost of the same type, there is a strong presumption in favour of identifying Nityavarsha of the pedestal record with king Indra of the Śrivijaya inscription and of assigning both the epigraphs to the time of Nityavarsha Indra III., .e. to the beginning of the 10th century A.D. In support of this identification it may be stated that in verse 3 of the subjoined record, Śrivijaya is stated to have been the commander of the forces of Narendra. The context requires us here, to interpret narendra not as a general synonym for king,' but as a proper name. Dr. Fleet in dealing with the appellations of the Rasbṭrakuṭa kings, has drawn attention to the honorific Narendradeva with which the surname Nityavarsha of Iudra III. occurs combined, in the Nausäri grants. Although the word narendra (or narendradeva) may admit of the translation 'His Majesty' as Dr. Fleet has taken it, still in the light of what has been stated above, it appears to me that Narendra must be taken, at least in the subjoined record, as a hitherto unknown surname of Indra III.
Dandanayaka Srivijaya is not mentioned in any published inscriptions. His identification, if satisfactorily made out, would be of much interest to students of Kanarese literature; for, his surnames Arivingoja and Anupamakavi have, apparently, a special. reference to his literary acquirements; while Sarvavikramatunga indicates his military prowess. Two persons of literary fame both bearing.the name Śrivijaya are known to Kanarese literature. The colophon at the end of each of the three chapters of the Kavirajamarga describes that work as having been the production of Srivijaya on the lines laid down by king Nṛipatunga. This king who is also called Atisayadhavala and Amoghavarsha in the body of the work, has been identified with the Rashtrakuta Amoghavarsha I. (A.D. 814-5 to 877-8). If the Kavirajamarga was actually written by Srivijaya, who is stated to have been the court poet of Nripatunga and to have borne the surname Kavisvara, his time would fall into the beginning of the ninth century A.D. Another Śrivijaya is referred to in the body of the same work (Kavirājamārga) as an earlier author whose writings were looked upon as the standard type of
1 Dr. Fleet's Dyn. Kan, Distr. p. 386, Table.
2 No. 331 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1905.
Ep. Ind. Vol. VI. p. 176.
The word literally means 'the teacher of knowledge.' A similar title in Kannada literature is Negaltegōja assumed by Nagavarma the author of the Chhandas; see the Karnataka-Kavioharite by Messrs. R. Narasimha. char, M.A., M.R.A.S., and S. G. Narasimhachar, Vol. I. pp. 46 and 50.
5 I.e. the matchless poet;' compare the titles Kavitagunarnava of Pampa, Kavirajabamsa of Nagavarma and Kaviratna and Kavichakravarti of Ranna.
We learn from literature that the Kannada poets Pampa, Chavuṇḍaraya and Nagavarma were also once in military service and had established their names on the battle-field.
