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No. 24]
THE NALA INSCRIPTION AT PODAGADH; 12TH YEAR.
miniature ma written after the previous letter and near its bottom, e.g., siddham in line 1, Pushkarim in line 4, etc. The jihvämüliya is employed in one case, viz., in jananyak-kritina (1.4). The upadhmaniya is employed in the compound words pituh-pitämaha (1. 4), maḥ pārtthiva° (1. 10) and [bhartu]h-pri° (1. 13). The consonant following the repha is, in some cases1, doubled as in almost all early records but aspirates following it are left single. The consonant preceding the repha is also doubled in a few instances (e.g., vikkrama in 1. 2; vyatikkramed-yo in 1. 10). The word mukhya is written as mukkhya (1. 2).
The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it is the first stone record of the Nala dynasty hitherto discovered. The Nalas have been known directly only from the Rithapur copper-plates of Bhavattavarman and indirectly by the mention of their defeat by the early Chalukyas of the 6th and 7th centuries of the Christian Era. The Western Chalukya king Kirtivarman I (A.D. 567-597) claims to have destroyed them. He is also stated to have destroyed the residence (nilaya) of the Nalas. They are described as the traditional enemies of the Chalukyas at whose hands they suffered defeat like the Mauryas of the Kōnkan.
Sir R. G. Bhandarkar speaking of the family of Nalas defeated by Kirtivarman I remarks over what province it ruled we do not know'. Dr. Fleet depending upon the mention of the Nalaväḍi-vishaya made in a copper-plate grant of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya I of about A.D. 657 thinks that there is a probable indication that the territory of the Nalas lay in the direction of the Bellary and Karnül districts." The mention of the Nalas in the Aihole inscription may be taken to indicate that they were the enemies of the Chalukyas on the northeast while the Mauryas of Konkan and the Kadambas of Vaijayanti were their enemies on the north-west and the south-west respectively. The provenance of this inscription and of the Rithapur plates localises them in the southern part of the Central Provinces and Berar including the Bastar State. On the extreme east the kingdom might have included the northern part of the Jeypore Agency (Vizagapatam district) from which our inscription comes.
The town Pushkari mentioned in the inscription (probably the capital of the Nalas) cannot be identified.
TEXT.
1 सितम्
हरिया जितं जयति म भगवा [a]
2 जयो जेतव्यं चाधिजेता [च] [["] ॥ [१] fir: []
155
जेष्यती[]षा गुणस्तुतिर्ब्र[हि सा] [*]
3 नृपतेर्भवदत्तस्य सत्पुत्रेचान्यसंखिताम् ॥ [२] 4 शून्यामावास्य पुष्करम् [1] पितु पितामहानाच्च
चीनसान्वय कल्पस्व श्रीनलान्वय मुल्यस्य विजृमचपित
भ्रष्टामाशय राजि
जनन्या ४ क्रि ( अ ) तिना [तत: ] []
rajarddhim (1. 3), päjärttham (1. 6), sarvvaśaḥ (1. 8), visarjjitam (1.8). mripater-Bhavadattasya (1. 3) and dharmmarthanë (1.5); but of. püjärttham in the above note, Above, Vol. XIX, pp. 100 ft.
Above, Vol. VI, p. 4.
Ep. Carn., Vol. XI, Davangere No. 1; Ind. Ant., Vol. VIII, p. 11. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, Part II, p. 181. Ibid, p. 282.
From inked estampages prepared by myself. • 3b is also possible to road as सत्पुत्रेयान्यवसिताम्
