________________
No. 29.]
JIRJINGI PLATES OF GANGA INDRAVARMAN : YEAR 39.
283
of this grant with Adhiraja Indra, who, as recorded in the Godavari plates of Prithivimüla, is said to have overthrown in battle one Indrabhattarakal. This latter potentate has been equated by Dr. J. F. Fleet with the Eastern Chalukya king of the same name who was the younger brother of Jayasimha I and father of Vishnuvardhana II: while according to Drs. Kielhorn and Jouveau-Dubreuil,. Indrabhattāraka should rather belong to the Vishnukundin dynasty. We along with Mr. Subba Raos are inclined provisionally to subscribe to this latter view.
It seems that the Vishnukundins being hard pressed by the Eastern Chalukya kings pushed further northward from their original home in the Kistna district of the Madras presidency. Their chief opponents in this direction were the Ganga kings of Kalinga who had then only recently eked out an independent principality in and about the Ganjam district. The two contending armies seem to have met each other in the heart of the delta of the Godavari, possibly somewhere near the modern town of Rajahmundry. As bas been claimed in the Gödāvari plates, victory rested for the time being with the Kalinga forces. And it is quite probable that IndraVarman returned in triumph to his capital at Dantapura. The victory over the Vishņukuņdins further prompted him to assume the (then rather anomalous) title of Lord of Trikalinga' (Trikalingādhipati), seeing that his hold over the three contiguous districts of Gödāvari, Vizagapatam and Ganjam' now became practically undisputed. To this victory may also be attributed his description in our inscription as the thousand-rayed (sun) in the firmament of the spotless family of the Gangas'. Indeed, the might of Indravarman may be said to have dispelled the threatening clouds of a dangerous foreign offensive.
At this point it becomes necessary for us to take into consideration a number of kings whose records should be placed on palæographical grounds in the period A.D. 400-500, roughly indicating the interval between the southern campaign of Samudragupta and the rise of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. These are Anantavarman of the Srungavarapukota and Siripuramo plates, Saktivarman of the Ragölu plates, Umavarman of the Brihatpröshtha", Dhavalapēta" and Tekkalit plates, Chandavarman of the Kömarti" and Tiritthānals plates, Ananta-Saktivarman
J. B. B. R. 4.8., Vol. XVI, p. 119. Dr. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, however, assumes on the evidence of the Rāmatirtham plates that it was the Vishnukundin monarch who emerged triumphant from this struggle (Ancient History of the Deccan, p. 91).
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 120. . Above, Vol. IV, p. 195.
Ancient History of the Deccan, pp. 76 and 91.
• In an earlier study (J. A. H. R. 8., Vol. II, p. 159), Mr. Subba Rao held that Adhiraja Indra of the Godi. vari plates should be identified with Indravarman of the Achyutapuram (above, Vol. III, pp. 128 ff.) and Parla. Kimedi (Ind. Ant., Vol. XVI, pp. 131 ff.) plates. Dr. Fleet, on the other hand, was inclined to identify Adhiraja Indra with the Indravarman of the Chicacole plates of the Years 128 and 146 (Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, pp. 120 ff.).
• Above, Vol. IV, p. 195.
However, no inscriptions of Indravarman expressly under his own name have turned up yet from either of the districts of Godavari and Vizagapatam. The Ganjam district on the contrary remained the stronghold of the Eastern Gangas throughout their history, as can be judged from the imposing array of copper-plate inscriptions beginning from the Jirjingi plates onwards.
& Above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 56 ff. . Ibid., Vol. XXIV, pp. 47 ff. 1. Ibid., Vol. XII, pp. 1 ff. 11 Ibid., pp. 4 ff. 11 J. A. H. R. S., Vol. X, pp. 143 f. 1a An. Rep. on South Indian Epigraphy (1934-35), C. P. No. 13. 16 Above, Vol. IV, pp. 142 ff. 1. An. Rep. on South Indian Epigraphy (1934-35), C. P. No. 12.
