Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 52

No. 3] MANOR PLATES OF VINAYADITYA MANGALARASA : SAKA 613 19 to note that the Surat plates of Yuvarāja Sryāśraya Siladitya of K. 443 also fall in the same year as the present record.
From the information gathered from this record as well as from other published inscriptions of the dynasty, the history of this house may be reconstructed as follows. Dharāśraya Jayasimhavarman ascended the throne in A. D. 669-70. From the very beginning of his reign his eldest son, Yuvarāja Sryāśraya Sīlāditya, was associated with him in the administration and was invested with the authority of issuing land-grants in his own name. Subsequently one of his younger sons, Vinayāditya Mangalarasa was also made a viceroy and given charge of a province together with the privilege of issuing land-grants in his own name. In A. D. 691-92 both Yuvarāja Sryabraya Silāditya and Vinayāditya Mangalarasa were simultaneously administering different portions of their father's dominion. The former held charge of its northern portion comprising the districte of southern Gujarat where the Kalachuri era was prevalent, while the latter governed the southern portion including the modern district of Thana where the Saka era was in vogue. From the omission of any reference to Sryasraya Siladitya in the later records of the dynasty, it is evident that he did not come to the throne and apparently predeceased his father sometime after A. D. 691-92, his last known date. His younger brother, Vinayāditya Mangalarasa, whose known dates range from Saka 613 to Saka 653, in all probability survived and succeeded his father as may be inferred from the following considerations. Dharāśraya Jayasimhavarman must have been at least forty years old on his accession to the throne in A. D. 669-70, as his son Yuvarāja Sryasraya Siladitya was then grown up enough to take an active part in administration. It is, therefore, extremely unlikely that he should have lived up to A. D. 731-32, the last known date of Vinayaditya Mangalarasa, unless we credit him with an unusually long life of a century. Now, even assuming that he reigned till a grand old age of eighty, he must have died sometime about A. D. 710, leaving a margin of a little over two decades during which Vinayaditya Mangalarasa ruled in his own right. This is corroborated by the testimony of the Nausari plates of his younger brother and successor Avanijanäsraya Pulakésint of K. 490 (A. D. 738-39) wherein Vinayāditya Mangalarasa is given full regal titles and mentioned as having succeeded Dharäsraya Jayasimhavarman.
In the last mentioned plates Vinayāditya Mangalarasa is given the epithet of nija-bhujaprabhāv-õpārijita-svakiya-bhümandalah. Does this epithet coupled with the omission of any reference to the contemporary Chalukya sovereign in his own grants, signify that he had ceased to owe allegiance to the paramount power? The omission, however, seems to be due to an oversight, as we find both his predecessor and successor acknowledging the authority of the suzerain power; The eulogistic references made to him in his own grants as well as in his successor's are purely conventional, and probably indicate that he was an influential and powerful prince. This is also attested by his seal being stamped on the undated Nirpan plates of Tribhuvanäsraya Nägavardhana who appears to be another younger brother of his, subservient to him.
This inscription supplies many other interesting pieces of information. Firstly, it testifies to the existence of a solar temple at Mānapura, which is identical with Manor, the findspot of the plates. The endowments recorded in this grant were specifically made for the maintenance of worship in and conservation of this temple. Secondly, this record mentions a hitherto unknown functionary called Desillaka (1.16) who appears to be connected with the administration of a dëba i.e., a district or a subdivision. Thirdly, like the Sanjan plates of Buddhavarasa, this inscription invests Vikramaditya (I) of the Western Chalukya dynasty with the surname of Kokkuli.
As regards the place-names mentioned in the inscription Mänapura is surely the present village of Manor in the Palghar taluka of Thana district where these plates were discovered. Dinaku
1 Vienna Or. Cong, p. 230 and PL. * Above, VOL XIV Pp. 149 ff. and PL.