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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XI.
The subsequent history of this feudatory family is not altogether devoid of interest. How long Vikramaditya II. continued to rule, we have at present no means of ascertaining. Either he or his successor must have been conquered by the Chōla king Parantaka I. in or before A.D. 92122. The latter claims to have uprooted by force two lords of the Baņa kings. We are not, however, told whether he uprooted two Bana kings in succession or simultaneously. Anyhow, he made over the Bana kingdom to his Ganga feudatory Prithivipati II. Hastimalla in or before A.D. 915-16 and called him Sembiyan Mavalivaṇarayan, i.e. " the Mahavalivagaraja (who was a feudatory) of the Chola king." At Yedarur in the Kōlar District of the Mysore State is a stone inscription dated in Saka-Samvat 883 corresponding to A.D. 961 which mentions a Bapa chief named Sambayya as a feudatory of Iriva-Nolamba. Again at Sannamüru in the Podili division of the Nellore District is another stone inscription of the Bapa family. I have read the date tentatively as Saka-Samvat 890 (corresponding to A.D. 968) and the name of the Bapa chief as Aggaparaju. The latter does not mention any overlord and this may be taken to show that he was semi-independent. The date falls into the reign of the Eastern Chalukya king Amma II.6 and is a few years prior to the interregnum in the Vengi country.7 What part, if any, this Bapa king played in the interregnum we have at present no means of ascertaining. We shall not be far wrong if we suppose that the Churaballiraju, who figures in a stone inscription at Konidena (near Narsaraopet in the Guntur District)s was a descendant of Aggaparaju. The inscription of Charaballiraju is dated in Saka-Samvat 1073, corresponding to A.D. 1150-51, which falls into the reign of the Chalukya king Rājarāja II."
In the Tamil districts of the Madras Presidency, the history of the Bapas does not come to an end with their conquest by Parautaka and the transfer of their dominions to their rivals, the Gangas. It has been surmised that the Baņas were originally settled in the Telugu country and that at a later stage in their history they moved into the northern part of the modern North Arcot District but retained the original designation of their territory. After Perumbapappaḍi was transferred to the Gangas, or perhaps at an earlier period in their history, 10 the Banns seem to have moved further south, crossed the river Pålår which seems to have been originally the southern boundary of their territory, and settled on the banks of the river Southern Pennar, calling the new province Vaṇakoppaḍi or Vanagappaḍi. In A.D. 948-9, the Rashtrakuta king
1 South-Ind. Insers. Vol. II. p. 387, verse 9.
2 The Sholinghur rock inscription which refers to this event (above, Vol. IV. p. 225, verse 5) is dated in the 9th year of Parantaka I. corresponding to A.D. 915-6.
3 South-Ind. Insers. Vol. II. p. 389.
Ep. Carn. Vol. X. Introduction, p. viii.
5 Nellore Inscriptions by Messrs. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, p. 1201 ff.
He reigned from A.D. 945 to 970.
7 Above, Vol. VI. p. 349.
Madras Epigraphical Report for 1899-00, paragraph 85. The description of Churaballiraju is as follows: -Sakala-sur-äsur-adhiscara-Paramesvara-pratikarikrita-(Prikrita)-Vafishta-götra-krishna
(krishna)dhraja.
Paisachika-patu-pataha-ghoshana-vrishabha(vrishabha)-la mehchana(lanchhana)-Nandagirinatha Parvi.
puravar-adhisvara-kärmmukha(kärmuka)-Rama-monage-mumkolva-ahita-Dhananjaya-patikitabharaṇa-sahaja.
biyakara-saranagata-vajraprākāra-samaraikamärtta[nda*]-yubhayaraya-kaṭakamu
ne]rva-chelranegal-a gaja
danamalla-kirttigenalla Viraper bba[na]-frimanmahamandalisvara-Churaballiraju.
A later reference to the Banas occurs in the Sanskrit work Prataparudraya sobhushana of Vidyanaths. But this does not throw any light on the history of the family.
10 The name Vanaküvaraiyar occurs already in two inscriptions of the 17th year of the Ganga-Pallava king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman (above, Vol. VII. p. 139 and No. 302 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1902). Perhaps a small colony of the Bunas moved out of Perumbanappadi soon after the decline of the Pallavas of Conjecreram.
In the time of Rajendra-Chola I, Vanagappadi or Vadagarai. Vanagappadi was called Madurantaka-val. anadu and Kajendra-valanadu during the reign of Kulottunga I; Madras Epigraphical Report for 1906-7, Part II, paragraph 46.
