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52
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXVI.
The Podagadh stone inscription states that Bhavadattavarman's son restored the glory of his family and re-settled the capital Pushkari which had been devastated by the enemy. This enemy was probably none other than the Vākāțaka Prithivishēņa II.
The Podagadh stone inscription points to the south-eastern portion of Mahākõsala, comprising the Bastar State and the adjoining Jeypore Agency, as the home of the Nalas. The Purānas also state that the Nalas ruled over Kõsalawhich must be taken to mean Dakshina Kösala or Mahākosala. No predecessors of Bhavadatta were so far known, but recently in 1939 a hoard of gold coins of the Nala dynasty was discovered at the village Edenga in the Kondegion tahsil of the Bastar State. This hoard comprised coins of three kings, viz., Varäha, Bhavadatta and Arthapati. It seems that Varaha preceded Bhavadatta who was himself followed by Arthapati. From the Rithapur plates we know that Arthapati was a son of Bhavadattavarman. He evidently succeeded Bhavadatta and ruled for a time in Vidarbha, but was ultimately driven out by Prithivishēna II. Skandavarman, another son of Bhavadatta, is known from the Podāgadh inscription. He rehabilitated the fortune of his family as stated above.
As Bhavadatta, Arthapati and Skandavarman were thus contemporaries of Narēndrasēna and Prithivishēna II, they must have ruled in the south-eastern part of Mahākosala in the second half of the fifth century A.D. The Drug, Raipur and Bilaspur Districts, which lay to the north of their territory, were held by the kings of the so-called Sarabhapura dynasty; for their inscriptions have been found at Ārang, Khariar," Raipur, Sirangarh and Sirpur. These kings at first ruled from Sarabhapura, but subsequently their capital was shifted to Srīpura, modern Sirpur, about 35 miles north by east of Rūjim in the Raipur District. This dynasty was overthrown by the Early Sömavamsis.11 As I have shown elsewhere, Udayana, the founder of this dynasty wag ruling in Central India, for a stone inscription found at Kālañjar records his construction of a temple of Vishņu evidently at Kālañjara. He or his sons seem to have invaded Mahākosala probably during a campaign of their Maukhari suzerain Isvaravarman or Iśānavarman. Inscriptions of Udayana's grandson Isõnadēva and great-grandson Tivaradēva
1 Above, Vol. XXI, pp. 153 ff. Pargiter's Dynasties of the Kali Age, p. 51.
For a detailed account of this hoard, see my article in the Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, No. I, pp. 29 ff.
4 The editor of the Rithapur plates took Arthapati mentioned towards the close of the record as an epithet (meaning the lord of wealth') of Bhavadatta himself, but this is incorrect. See loc. cit. p. 33.
The name of this prince, which occurs at the end of line 5 of the Podagadh inscription is partly mutilated. It has been tentatively read as Skandararman, but the subscript members of the ligatures &k and nd are not clear and it may be suggested, in view of the close similarity in the letters & and a in the alphabet of the period, that the intended name was Arthavarman. But the reading Sri Arthararmmarà in place of Sri-Skanda. varmmand in lines 5-6 of that inscription would involve a hiatus and it appears doubtful if the name Arthapati would have been shortened into Artha or Arthavarman. I therefore take this prince to be different from Arthapati.
C.1.1., Vol. III, pp. 151 ft. Abore, Vol. IX, pp. 179 f. Ilid., Vol. III, pp. 196 ff.
lb d., Vol. IX, pp. 281 ff. and Vol. XXII, pp. 15 fi'. 10 Ir.d. Hist. Quurt., Vol. X, 12. 100 fr.
11 Hiralal was of opinion that the sonavantis prece ted the kings of Sarabhapura, but this view is not correct, see above, Vol. XXII, p. 17. n. 3.
12 Alove, Vol. XXIII, PP. 116 ff.
