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No. 26.)
SANJAN PLATES OF AMOGHAVARSHA I; SAKA-SAMVAT 793.
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is evidently the same as Mahārāja Sarvan, and Srbhavana must be the capital of the principality of this ruler where Govinda III was encamped for the rainy season and where his son Amoghavarsha was born.
Verse 29 makes mention of the two titles which were borne by Govinda III, namely, Prabhätavarsha and Jagattunga; and the two verses following inform us that from this encampment in the Vindhyas he afterwards set out to attack and humble the Dravida kings. Who these Dravida kings were is made clear in verse 32, and it appears that in this expedition to the south he vanquished the Kērala, Pandya, Chaulika (Chõla) and Pallava. With these are also coupled in the same verse the rulers of Kalinga and Magadha and the Gurjara to show that he was rightfully styled Vikrama. Then we are told that, presumably in this excursion, he chained and put to death certain Ganga princes who had become disaffected (v. 33). They apparently do not include the Ganga ruler referred to in verse 18 above, and probably belonged to more than one Ganga family. Which these were exactly it is difficult to say. One of these was certainly the Western Ganga dynasty ruling over the Gangavādi province, and the other is probably what is called the Ganga-Pallava family. The second half of verse 33 informs us that he made his campground free of dust through the lords of mandalas by compensating them if they were friendly and by subjecting them to forced labour if they were otherwise, such as the Vëngi ruler was. This fact is also mentioned in the Rādhanpur charter of that king. Where this camp is to be located is not certain, but it seems to be Hēlāpurs of the next verse,-a place from where he is represented to have enforced the obedience of the king of Larkā (Ceylon) and his minister. As a result of this obedience he seems to have received two statues apparently of Rāvana, its most ancient and traditional ruler, which he, however, transferred to Kāñchi, and put up as two columns of fame before the temple of Siva. Where can this Hēlāpura be located ? According to the Rādhan. pur grant he was then encamped either on or near the Tungabhadra. Can this Heläpura be thus Vēlāpura or Bölūrs in the Hassan District of the Mysore State ?
Verses 35-36 speak of the death of Govinda III and the accession of his son, Amöghavarsha, to sovereignty. The subsequent four verses inform us that just when Amoghavarsha came to the throne, some of his feudatories, ministers and even relatives became disa ffected and raised the standard of revolt. But it was through the help of one Arya Pätālamalla that he succeeded in quelling the rebellion (v. 41). Nothing is known about this Pātāla malla from other records. One Sravana-Belgoļa inscription, no doubt, speaks of one Pätäla malla, elder brother of Vajjala dēva, a contemporary of the Rāshtrakūta king Indra IV. But this Pätälamalla would be a little too posterior to Amõghavarsha I in time. Then follow five 'verses, which are purely laudatory. And from verse 47 it appears that to ward off some public calamity the king who is here called Vira-Nārāyana cut off his left finger and dedicated it to the goddess, Mahālakshmi. What this public calamity was it is impossible to tell, but Mahālakshmi appears to be the same as that of Kolhāpur, which is described in one unpublished inscription as the adya-pitha, or original seat of that goddess.? The same goddess,
1 Rice' Mysore and Coorg, p. 60.
• Fleet takes it to be Månyakhēta which about this time became the capital of the Rashtrakūta dynasty (Dyn. Kan. Distr., pp. 396 and 402-3). But this has no foundation. The Karhad, Deoli and Kardå grants, again, say that the city of Manyakbēta was constructed (not merely completed), not by Govinda III, but by his son and successor, Amoghavarsha I. See above, Vol. IV, p. 287 ; Ibid., Vol. V, p. 193 ; and Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 268.
[Or perhaps of the king who reigned at the time and some other potentato connected with him. See Amir. • Khuro's Chronicle quoted in Mr. K. V. S. Iyer's Historic Sketches of Ancient Decoan, p. 300.-Ed.) . Above, Vol. VI. p. 250.
Dyn. Kan. Distr., p. 491, • Kielhorn's List of Macriptions of Southern India, No. 136. * Dyn. Kan, Distr., p. 540, note,
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