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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII with the corresponding part of the copper-plate charters of Narasimha II (circa 1278-1305 A.C.), great-grandson of Anangabhima III. Of the two Puri copper-plate grants of Narasimha IV (circa 1379-1414 A.C.), the one styled B agrees more closely with our text than that styled A. It has to be noticed that the verses describing the activities of the successors of Anangabhima III up to Narasimha II are similarly found quoted in the records of Narasimha IV. In spite of the fact that we have as yet not secured copper-plate grants of all the imperial Ganga rulers, it is clear from the records at our disposal that each of these later Ganga monarchs quoted in their charters the introductory portion of the records of his predecessor and added to them some new verses describing his own activities. That this custom must have been introduced after the days of Anantavarman Chodaganga (1078-1147 A.C.) is shown by the fact that the verses cannot be traced in the introduction of the charters issued by that monarch and his predecessors. In the absence of any copperplate grant of any of the Ganga monarchs ruling between Anantavarman Chōdaganga and Anangabhima III, it is indeed difficult to determine as to who among them was actually responsible for the composition of the earlier part of the genealogy copied in later records. It may, however, be pointed out that, in the whole genealogy as found in so many records, only the description of Kamarnava (circa 1147-56 A.C.), the immediate successor of Anantavarman Chōdaganga, gives astronomical details about the date of the king's accession. This fact singles him out amongst the successors of Anantavarman Chōdaganga in the genealogy under discussion and may suggest that it was the poet at his court who composed the earlier part of the genealogy that was copied in the copper-plate grants of his successors.
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The mythical genealogy from the moon to Kōlahala-Anantavarman given in a prose passage between verses 6 and 7, in lines 12-16, of our record was drawn on the basis of the later records of Anantavarman Chodaganga. We know that the records of Vajrahasta III, grandfather of Anantavarman Chodaganga, offer the following genealogy :
In the Ganga family belonging to the Atreya götra:
1. Gunamahārnava (i.e., Guparnava) who acquired the glory of sāmṛājya.
2. Vajrahasta I who united the earth that had been divided into five kingdoms and ruled for 44 years.
3. Gundama I (3 years)
4. Kämärņava I
(35 years)
6. Vajrahasta II Aniyankabhima (Anan abhima I) (35 years)
7. Kämärṇava II who married the Vaidumba princess Vinayamahādēvi
year)
8. Gundams II (3 years)
5. Vinayiditys (3 years)
9. Madhukamärṇava (19 years)
10. Vajrahasta III (1038-68 A.D.)
Cf. J. A. 8. B., Vol. LXV, Part I, 1896, pp. 235 ff. Unfortunately the text published by N. N. Vasu is not free
from mistakes.
Ibid., Vol. LXIV, Part I, 1895, pp. 136 ff.
Of, wach records as the Korni and Vizagapatam plates of Anantavarman Chodaganga (J. A. H. R.8., Vol. I, pp. 40-48;113-24; Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, pp. 161-76) and the Narasapatam, Nadagam and Madras Museum plates of his grandfather Vajrahasta III (above, Vol: XI, pp. 147-58, Vol. IV, pp. 183-93, Vol. IX, pp. 94-98). Only verse 14 four record appear to have been copied from Chodaganga's grants. Verse 15 is found not only in the charters of Chodaganga but also in those of his father and grandfather.
