Epigraphia Indica Vol 20

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 98

No. 7.]
THE HATHIGUMPHA INSCRIPTION OF KHARAVELA.
19. Kalinga-nagari.—The capital of the Kalinga country, very likely now represented by Kalingapatanam in the Ganjām district. The ancient capital of Kalinga, according to the tradi. tion prevalent in the Chicacole taluk of the Ganjam district, was swallowed up by the sea. Frayments of bas-reliefs of the Maurya period with the well-known protuberance on the head-dress have been, however, discovered by RDB. in the temples of Mukhalingesvara and Kūrmēsvara in the locality. The coast from Chhatrapuram to Masulipatam is subject to great cyclones during the north-eastern monsoon and the majority of ancient sites on this coast are buried in drift sand.
20. Khibira-isi-lāla.-We have examined these two words very carefully on the rock, cs. tampages and casts. The reading is perfectly clear but no explanation seems to be possible unless Khibira is taken to be a proper nime of a Rishi who excavated the tank or lake or after whom it was named. In that case, the phrase will have to be taken as referring to a particular tank while talāga and pādiyo will refer to artifical excavations.
21. Padivo Skt. Palih. Perhaps the same as the Podhiya of Western India, cf. Pandu. lēna cave No. 10, inscription No. 10, 1. 3.1
22. Sätakamnim.--Evidently Sri Sātakarņi, the third king of the Sātavāhana dynasty, the husband of queen Nāyanikā of the Nänäghāt inscriptions in the Junnar taluk of the Poona district. [As to the Sätakarņi whose architect Vāsēthiputra Ananda gave a törana to stūpa No. I at Säñchi see J. B.O.R.S., XVI, p. 254.-K.P.J.]
23. Kasha-berin-the Sanskrit Krishnavēņi or the modern Krishna which rises near Dhom in the Sātārā district. The river flows through the Sātārā, Belgaum and Bijāpur dia. tricts and the Kolhapur and Hyderābād States into the Bay of Bengal through the Krishna district of the Madras Presidency. It forms the boundary of the Nizani's State from Alampur near Karnūl to Nandigāma in the Kistna district. The rise of the Krishna and its particulac sanctity are described in the Pūtala-khanda of the Padmapurāna. The earliest epigraphical reference is to be found in this inscription and the second in the Nāsik inscription in cave No. 10 of the Pändulēņā group where it is called Karabena. In mediæval inscriptions it is called Krishna-Vērnnā. There is no doubt about the fact that Khāravela reached the Kțishṇā somewhere in the long and erratic course of that river. It is possible that he went westwards because the term pachhima-disaṁ is expressly mentioned. But it is uncertain as to where he reached the Kțishņā.
24. Musika-nagara.--The Mūshikas are a people of Southern India as in the Mahābhārata they are mentioned along with the Vanavāsas. In the Natya-śāstra of Bharata they are probably coupled with the Tõsalas and the Košalas under the name Möśalas.? In the VishnuPurāņa the Mūsika country comes with the Stri-rājya. According to the commentary Jayamangalā on the Kamasutra of Vatsyāyana, the latter was a kingdom in the western part of the Vindhya country. There is a river Mūsi which joins the Kșishņā about the Nalgonda and the Krishņā districts. It is mentioned under the same name in the inscription of the Rāshtrakūtu
1 Ante, Vol. VIII, p. 78.
* J. B. O. R. 8., Vol. III, plate 3. As to the letter form of this inscription reference may be made to the Palaography of the Hathigumpha and Nanaghat Inscriptions, Memoirs A. S. B., Vol. X, PP. 131 ff. RDB, has proved elsewhere that later and earlier forms of the character used in an inscription depend in tie irst place on locality.
• Anandaérama edition (1894), pt. 4, VI, 113, p. 1467. Ante, Vol. VIII, p. 78. Ante, Vol. VI, p. 211.
• Bhishma-parvan, Cb. IX, 'XIII, 27. (Kavyamālā edition, p. 148.)
. Sub. Kamu-sútra, II, 6, 29.