Epigraphia Indica Vol 13

Author(s): Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 59

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XIII.
is probably due to a similar phonetic cause. The upadhmaniya sound is represented once only, and here with the character for t, viz. payah-püra (1. 44); on this, which is perbaps a merely graphic feature, see above, vol. 12, p. 271. Lastly, we may note that the prose parts of both documents shew fluctuation in the use of initial p and its derivative h: thus we find here paduvulu, 1. 80, porh and ponna, 1. 83, and pana, 1. 83, by the side of hoda, 1. 77, hola", 1. 77, haduval, 1. 78, haļļa, 1. 78, hattu, 1. 78, hanneradu, 1. 83...
The inscription begins with salutations to Siva and other deities, and verses in praise of Śiva, Vishnu, and Brahman. It then gives some Puranic geneslogical and other matter, by way of an introduction to the real pedigree of the Western Chalukyas, one of whom, Vikramaditya VI, was reigning when it was written.
It deals first with the race of Manu (verses 6-14), because the Chalukyns were affiliated to the Mänavya Götra. The son of the god Brahman was Manu Svāyambhuva; his son was Priyavrata; his seven sons were Agaidhra, Mēdhātithi, Vapushmat, Jyotishmat, Dyutimat, Havyana, and Savana, who reigned over the seven dvipas or concentric islands of the Hindû cosmos. Agnidhra was succeeded by his son Nābhi. Then follows a geography, also in the Puranic vein, after which our poet goes back to his genealogy, telling us that Nabhi's eldest son was Rishabha, and the son of the latter was Bharata, the eponym of the land known as the Bhārata-varsha. The author then makes a passing mention of the "emperor Vikrama" (verse 15), that is, Vikramaditya VI, who, he tells us, was an ornament of the Chalukya race, a scion of the race of Manu, and a very Vishņuvardhana, "an increaser of Vishnu," with allusion, no doubt, to the fact that the Chālakyas had Vishna as their family god, and the boar, typifying one of his incarnations, as their crest.
The inscription then introduces the Solar Race (prose after verse 15). We are told first that the Manus Svayambhuva, Svárochisha, Auttami, Tāmasa, Raivata, and Chakshusha had each in succession ruled the earth for seventy-one cycles of the four ages : this means that six manvantaras or patriarchates have elapsed in the current kalpa or pon. There is then introduced the seventh Manu, Vaivasvata, who presides over the manuantara in which we are now: he was a son of Vivasvanta, i.e. Vivasvat, the Sun, who was a son of the Prajapati Kasyapa by Aditi, daughter of the Prajā pati Daksha, and to him there was born Ikshvaku, whose daughter was Ilā.
The Lunar Race, to which the Chalukyas really claimed to belong, by paternal descent, is introduced at this point (verse 16); the previous matter having been given with a view to adding glory to this race by showing an intermarriage of it with the Race of the Sun. The mind-born son of the god Brahman was the great sage Atri. His son, born from the pupil of his eye, was the Moon. The Moon's son was Budha, who had as his wife Ilā, the daughter of Iksh vāka, mentioned just above. And their son was Parīravas, "an increaser of the Lunar Race." Pariravas begat Hariti Pañchasikha (verse 17); this person, we may remark, was obviously invented because the early Chalukyas of Bādāmi were Härtti-patras, descendants of an original ancestress of the Harita Gotra. In descent from the sons of Håriti there arose the Chalukya race (verse 18). In this race the record mentions first Satyāśrays (verse 21), meaning Pulakësin II (A.D. 609-42), whom it styles, without any real foundation," lord of Ayodhya ".5 in this connection the family was also known as the family of Satyäsraya. It then (verse 22)
1 Compare Bhagavata-Puriņa, V, i. f., and Visbņu-Poriņa, II, i. * Compare Bhagavats, V, Xvi; Vishnu, II, i.
About this matter see Dr. Fleet's paper on the Kaliyuga in Jours. R. As. Soc., 1911, p. 482.
• There is no mention in this record of Hariti's water-pot (chulka, ebuluka, chaluka) from which some other records funcifully derive the name Chalukya: see Dr. Fleet's Dynasties of the Kanaren Districts, in the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. 1, part 2, p. 389.
See Dys. Kan. Districts, ut supra, page 339.