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No. 34)
PRINCE OF WALES MUSEUM PLATES OF GOVINDARAJA
251
Indra was succeeded by his eldest son Karkka Suvarnavarsha. It appears that he ruled jointly with his yonger brother Govindarāja or at least deputed him to govern some parts of Gujarāt. The position of Govindarāja, in this respect, has always been a vexed question.
On account of the difficulty of two rulers granting villages in the same territory, it was formerly conjectured that some sort of enmity existed between the two brothers and probably Govindarāja came to the throne as a usurper. The praise of Karkka Suvarņavarsha in our plates, as well as in other grants of Govindarāja, establishes the harmony between the two brothers. Dr. Altekar thinks that Govindarāja may have been a "princely regent" appointed by Karkka, but the view that he was entrusted with the administration of Gujarat in the absence of Karkka during the hostilities regarding the installation of Amõghavarsha I on his throne, or during his minority, is now hardly tenable from the early date of our record. That Govinda III was still living when our plates were issued, is indicated by the dates of an unpublished plates (Saka 733), the Lõhāra grant (Saka 734) and the suspected to be spurious Kadaba plates (Saka 735). According to Prof. Mirashi, Amõghavarsha I was a fairly grown up boy of sixteen, when he came to the throne in circa Saka 736. The reason why Karkka wanted to rule in company with Govindarāja should, therefore, be sought somewhere else than in his absence from Gujarāt to help Amõghavarsha I. It is also noteworthy to see that Karkka does not think of his own son Rājaputra Dantivarman as the probable candidate for the governorship of Gujarāt, who appears as the dutaka in his Baroda plates' issued only two years after the date of our record. We have to take it, therefore, that both the brothers were ruling jointly or at least either of them had the full authority to make donation of lands without each other's consent.
Unfortunately, our plates do not throw any additional light on the history of the Rashtrakūtas. Many verses of these plates have occurred in various Rashtrakūta records. Six of them, viz., (2, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 14) and (2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11) are repeated in the Tõrkhēdes and Kävi plates of Govindaraja respectively, but most of them can be read together in the Kāpadvanaj plateslu of Krishna II, where they follow the same order as is found in our plates. The only new verse occurring in this grant (v. 15) describes Govindarāja in the usual panegyric terms and is not important historically.
As regards the geographical names occurring in the grant, Vāhāula, which was the headquarters of the division consisting of eighty-four villages including the donated village, may be identified with Vähoră, a village about 4 miles south-east of Bhilodia, the find-spot of the plates, in the Baroda State. The village Charmmanihauha, where the donee was residing, is probably identical with Chamarwārā, about midway between Bhilodia and Váhorā, and the donated village Usauņaka with Wäsan, about 2 miles north-east of Chämarwārā. Both Chāmarwārā and Wāsan are on the right bank of the Hiran river which is a tributary of the Orsang. 11 The Gauda country from where the donee came is obviously the eastern part of Bengal.
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 180; ibid., Vol. XIV, p. 197. 2 Above, Vol. XXII, p. 68. * Noticed by Diskalkar, J. B. B. R. A. S. (N. S.), III, p. 187.
Above, Vol. XXIII, p. 212. 5 Above, Vol. IV, p. 332. 6 Above, Vol. XXIII, p. 217. ? Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 156. 8 Above, Vol. II, p. 53.
Ind. Ant., Vol. V, p. 145. 10 Above, Vol. I, p. 53. u I am obliged to Prof. Mirashi for the identification of Charmmanihauha and Uganda
