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No. 31]
ANDHAVARAM PLATES OF ANANTASAKTIVARMAN
The king is described as a devout worshipper of the lotus-fee of the god Narayana whose chest was embraced by Kamalanilaya (i.e., Lakshmi), as an ornament to Mathara-kula, and as the inheritor of the body, kingdom posperity and prowess through the devotion to the feet of the venerable Lord, the father (Bappa-bhattaraka-pada-prasād-āvapta-sarira-rajya-vibhava-pratāpaḥ). The executor or Ajñāpti of the grant was one Mahadaṇḍanayaka (Commander-in-chief) and the record was written by Matrivara who was both Dandanayaka and Desäksḥapaṭaladhikrita (Record-keeper of the desa or District ?).
Ananta-Saktivarman is already known to us by a record1 issued by him from his capital Sithhapura which registers the grant of the village Sakupaka in the Varahavartani vishaya to the brāhmaṇa brothers Nagasarman and Duggasarman in the 28th year of his reign, but no complete account of the Mathara family and the part played by them in the history of Kalinga is available. During the confusion that followed the invasion of Samudragupta, many new dynasties rose into prominence in Kalinga and of those the Mathara family appears to have acquired paramount sway over the whole of Kalinga. Saktivarman, the founder of the dynasty, seems to have annexed the kingdom of Pishtapura, supplanting Mahendra' or one of his successors.
The Ragōlus charter describes Saktivarman as an ornament of Magadha (Maṭhara ?)-kula and Lord of Kalinga. He had also the matronymic name Vasishṭhiputra, perhaps copied from the Satavahanas or Ikhākus. But no definite information is available about the successors of Saktivarman. But it can be presumed from the Sakunaka grant of Ananta-Saktivarman that the Mathara family lost its hold in the Godavari region where Pishtapura (i.e., Pithapuram) was situated and its sway was confined to North Kalinga with Simhapura as its capital. About 7 records (excluding the plates under review) pertaining to the successors of Saktivarman of Ragōlu plates have so far been discovered. They are: Sakunaka grant of Maharaja of Ananta-Saktivarman, the Tiritthāņa grant (Bobbili plates) and the Kōmartis plates of Chandavarman, the Dhavalapēta plates," the Brihatprōshtha and the Astihavera' grants of Mahäräja Umavarman and the Koroshanda plates of Mahārāja Visakhavarman. In view of the close resemblances of styles adopted in the prasasti portion of these grants and the invariable appearance of the title pitribhaktaḥ or 'devout worshipper of the father' in some form or other in all these grants, in spite of no specific reference being made to Mäthara-kula in a few among them, it has been surmised that all the kings figuring in these charters belonged to one and the same family," though it is difficult to establish a definite chronological relationship.
By inference it has been established that Saktivarman of the Ragōlu plates was the ancestor of Ananta-Saktivarman and on grounds of palaeography a time-lapse of a hundred years has been allowed between the records of these two kings. The Government Epigraphist for India, tentatively suggested in his report for the year 1934-35 that Ananta-Saktivarman was the grandson of
1 C. P. No, 24 of 1934-35; also see Annual Report on South-Indian Epigraphy, 1934-35, p. 53. This record is under publication in this journal.
Mahendra is mentioned as the ruler of Pishtapura in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta-Jayaswal: History of India (1933), pages 134.ff.; Fleet: Gupta Inscriptions (C. I. I. Vol. III) No. 1, lines 19-20. The Rigolu plates of Saktivarman of Magadha(Mäthara)-kula was issued from Pishtapura, the capital of Mahendra mentioned in the Allahabad inscription.
Above, Vol. XII, p. 2.
C. P. No. 24 of 1934-35, A. 8. I., 1934-35, page 65 and A. R. S. I. E., 1935, page 53.
C. P. No. 12 of 1934-35. Above, Vol. XXVII, p. 35 and plate.
Above, Vol. IV, pages 142 ff. and plates.
J. A. H. R. 8., Vol. X, pages 143-44 and plate; above, Vol. XXVI, pages 132 ff. and plates.
Above, Vol. XII, pages 4 f. and plate.
J. A. H. R. S., Vol. VI, pages 53-54; C. P. No. 13 of 1934-35. This record is under publication in this journal.
Above, Vol. XXI, page 23 f. and plates; J. B. O. R. 8., Vol. XIV, pages 282 ff. and plate.
A. R. 8. I. E., 1934-35, page 53. Early Dynasties of Andhra Desa, pages 387 ff.
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