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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXV.
side of the southern wall in the mandapa of the Amarēsvara Temple at Māndhātā on the left bank of the river Narmadā in the Nimar District of the Central Provinces is carved a stotra called the Halāyudha-stötra (vide Hiralal, Inscriptions in the C. P. and Berar (2nd ed.), p. 84, No. 151). Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, the Government Epigraphist for India, has been good enough to send me an impression of this stötra. There are several manuscripts of the Halāyudha-stötra in the Madras Government Oriental Manuscripts Library (D. Nos. 11271 to 11278). A critical edition of the Halāyudha-stötra, using the text as appearing on the Amarēsvara temple wall as the basic text ( * ) and giving variant readings from three other manuscripts of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library is appended to this note. The record at the Amarēsvara temple is dated Samvat 1120, Kārttika-vadi 13 or A. D. 1063.
From the stötra above referred to, we are sure that its author Halayudha must have been & staunch devotee of Siva.' We agree with Dr. Chakravarti that as the stötra-record is dated 1063 A.D., the author of the stötra must have lived prior to the 11th century and could not therefore be identical with the famous Halayudha who adorned the court of King Lakshmanasēna of Bengal and who is the author of several sarvasvas like Brāhmaṇasarvasva, Panditasarvasva, Mimarsāsarvasva, etc.
The Telugu poet Pālkuriki Sōmanātha who lived about 1190 A.D., refers in his Dvipada Basava purāna to a Halāyudha, a follower of the Saiva cult, and who was a native of Navagrāma. The last verse of the stötra in the Amarēsvara temple distinctly refers to its author as a native of the village Navagrāma. We are therefore on sure ground if we identify the author of the stötra with the Halayudha referred to by Sömanātha as an ardent devotee of Siva. The last stanza above referred to reads as follows:
Dvijo dakshiņa-Rādbiyo Navagrāma-vinirggatah
Halāyudha-vu(bu)dhas-Sambhõr=imāṁ stutim=arirachat || (v. 64) Of the works listed under the name Halayudha by Aufrecht, the Abhidhānaratnamālā deserves our attention. In stanza 25, p. 4, of the work edited by Aufrecht in 1861 we find that among the several names of Vishnu, Sambhu' also is given as one. This is rather interesting as it reveals the mentality of the author. No other lexicographer has given the name Sambhu as synonymous with Vishnu. And only & staunch Virasaiva, who believes that every word should ultimately denote only Siva' as Siva is all-pervasive, could have allowed himself to use Sambhu' as a synonym of Vishnu. Thus, it is not too much to assume the identity of authorship between the author of the Abhidhānaratnamālā and the Halāyudha-stötra.
In his instructive introduction, Dr. Aufrecht bas argued that Halayudha the lexicographer should be assigned to a date earlier than the eleventh century A.D. And we find that the author of the Abhidhānaratnamālā should be identical with the author of the Kavirahasya as the last stanza of the last mentioned work reads as follows:
Iti samāptam=avāpta-gun-odayam Kavirahasyam-idam rasika-priyam
sad-abhidhāna-nidhāna-Halāyudha-dvija-varasya kritiḥ suksit-ātmanaḥ || The third quarter is indeed an indirect reference, in accepted poetic style, to the author's other work, his lexicon, Abhidhänaratnamäla. Dr. Keith has fixed the date of Haläyudha, the author of Kavirahasya as contemporaneous with his patron the Rashtrakūta King Krishna III.
We therefore conclude that the author of the Halāyudha-stötra should be identical with Halayadha, the author of the Kavirahasya and the Abhidhänaratnamālā and should have flourished in the latter half of the tenth century A.D.
