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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XVIII.
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the prosperous Jagattungadēva. It records that in the Saka year 793 when Amöghavarsha was staying at Mänyakhöța, his capital, he granted to four Brahmans the village of Jharivallikā from the Twenty-four-village Group adjacent to Samjana for the purpose of maintaining the bali, charu, vaisvadēva, agnihotra and atithitarpana sacrifices. The donees are all Brāhmans of the Bahvpicha-sakha. Two of them, namely, (1) Narasimha-Dikshita, son of GolaShadangavid and grandson of Sāvikūvāra, and (2) Rakshāditya-Kramavid, son of Govinda-Bhatta and grandson of Bhatta, were of the Bharadvāja-gotra. The third, Trivikrama-Shadangavid, son of Vishnu-Bhatta, grandson of Dāvadi-Gabiyasahāsa, belonged to the Vaddamukha-götra ; and the fourth and last, Kösava-Gahiya sa hāsa, son of Goväditya-Bhatta and grandson of Hari-Bhatta, was of the Vatsa-götra. They all hailed from the same district, namely, Karabada. They were probably the Karhādā Brāhmans.
Having thus disposed of the formal part of the grant, we shall now see what historical in. formation can be gleaned from the introductory metrical portion, which sets forth the genealogy. After the introductory Om, it opens with the well-known invocatory verse with which most of the Răshtrakūta records begin. The next verse is in praise of Vira-Närāyana, by whom is here to be understood not only the god Nárāyaṇa, the originator of the Rashtrakūta family, but also Amogha varsha, the Rashtrakūta king, the donor of the grant, who bore that epithet. In verse 3 we are told that in the line of the Yadus there was a king Govinda, son of Psichchhakarāja. This Govinda is, of course, Govinda I of the Rashtrakūta dynasty of Mänyakhēta. He was succeeded by Karkka, on whom nothing but conventional praise is bestowed in vv. 4-6. Verse 7 says that after him came Indrarāja, who married the daughter of a Chalukya king at Khetaka by the Rākshasa form of marriage. This clearly shows that the Rashtrakütas, in the time of Indrarāja, came first into hostile contact with the Chalukyas not of the Dekkan but of Gujarat, for the seat of this Chālukya power is mentioned as Khőtaka, the same as Kairă in North Gujarät. These Chalukyas must, therefore, be the Gujarat branch of the main dynasty ruling at Bädāmi. In this connection is worth noting the Antröli-Chhäröli (in Surat) copper-plate grant of Kakka, dated Saka 679=A.D. 757. This record mentions-(1) a Rashtrakūta prince named Karkka, (2) his son, Dhruva, (3) his son, Govinda, and (4) his son, Karkka II, with whose name are coupled the titles Mahārājādhirāja, Paramesvara and Paramabhattāraka. One feels exceedingly tempted to say that the third and fourth of these princes are identical with their namesakes who preceded Indrarāja, father of Dantidurga. One is, however, confronted with the difficulty that whereas under this supposition we have the date Saka 679 for Karkka, we have Saka 675 for his grandson, Dantidurga, supplied by his Sämangadh charter. This difficulty, however, is not insuperable, because there are reasons to doubt the genuineness of this last record. That the portion of it relating to the details of the village granted has been tampered with was pointed out long ago by Dr. Fleet when he edited the inscription. And the authenticity of the record as a whole has recently been called in question by Dr. V. S. Sukthankar on palæographic grounds. Thus the date furnished by the Sämangadh grant is not above doubt, and the identification just pointed out may hold good. We may thus take it that before the time of Dantidurga his predecessors were occupying South Gujarāt.
Verse 8 tells us that Indrarāja was succeeded by Dantidurga, of whom the next verse says that when in Ujjain the various Kshatriyas performed the ceremony, namely, the Great Gift of Hiranyagarbha, he made the Gurjara and other lords his door-keepers (pratihāra). The verse evidently means in the first place that Dantidurga either performed himself or took a
1 F. Kielhoru'. List of Inscriptions of Southern India, No. 64.
Iod. An, Vol. XI, P. 110. . Above, Vol. XIV, p. 121, n. 6, and p. 122.
