________________
92
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXIX
these was the ruling king who issued the charter from his headquarters Kāñchipura. Its object is to record the gift of a village named Röyüru as a brahmadēya, to a Brāhmaṇa named Kumāramandaśarman who was well-versed in two Vēdas and constantly engaged in studies, by the king for the augmentation of his life, strength, victory and fortune. The donor is described as devoted to the feet of Bappa-bhattaraka. He is also called Paramabhägavata, Paramamähesvara and Paramabrahmanya.
Judging from the genealogical account given above and palaeographical considerations indicated before, it is easy to identify the above-mentioned three kings with Mahēndravarman II, Paramēģvaravarman I and Narasimhavarman II respectively, of the Simhavishņu line.
Our epigraph happens to be the only dated record of Narasimhavarinan II so far discovered. The date as cited herein is the twelfth year of the increasingly victorious reign of the king, Vaisakha, full-moon, lunar eclipse. These details, however, fall short for verification. For want of necessary data, the reign-period of this king also, like those of other rulers of this family, cannot be fixed with precision. Hence we are left to make what appears to be the most reasonable assumption on the strength of circumstantial evidence. The broad limits of Narasimhavarman II's reign are indicated by two inscriptions as follows. From the Gadvāl plates of the Western Chālukya king Vikramāditya I, dated in 674 A.C., which mention Narasimhavarman II's father Paramēśvaravarman I, we can postulate that the former succeeded his father some time after that date. Since Vikramaditya I who ruled from 565 to 680 A.C., had among his contemporaries, also Mahendravarman II and Narasimhavarman I,the father and grandfather of Paramēsvaravarman I, we are justified normally in believing that Paramēsvaravarman I was quite young by this time, i.e., 674 A.C., and that he occupied the Pallava throne at least for a decade or two after this date. Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao, has placed the first year of the reign of Paramēsvaravarman II, the son and successor of Narasimhavarman II, in 728-29 A.C. with the help of a stone inscription recently discovered by him at Ulchāla, near Kurnool. This is the outer limit. We may also observe that the Pallava ruler who exchanged embassies with the Chinese emperor in 720 A.C. has been identified with Narasimhavarman II. With these facts in view, we may examine the phenomenon of lunar eclipse which invests the above cited date with some definiteness. According to the Eclipses of the Moon in India, by Robert Sewell, the lunar eclipse occurred on the full-moon day of Vaišākha in the years 701, 702, 711 and 720 A.C., which fall within the approximate reignperiod of Narasimhavarman II. Of these the first two yield 690 or 691 A.C. as the first year of his reign. These perhaps would be too early, though there is no absurdity about them. Considering the long-range peaceful activities of this ruler, 720 A.C. which makes 709 A.C. his first year, may appear to be rather unsuitable. So we might pitch upon 711 A.C. as the date of our charter. This would show that his reign commenced in 700 A.C.'
Of more than passing interest is the description, in our epigraph, of Paramēsvaravarman I as the performer of Asvamēdha and many other kratus, i.e., Vedic sacrifices. This leads us to an enquiry into the claim. Let us see how far it is justified. The Kuram grant of Paramēsvaravarman I bimself contains no reference to the performance of the horse sacrifice, and the other
* We may as well connect these three epithets with Bappa-bhattaraka. The joint association of the first two terms with the same person here is noteworthy.
* Above, Vol. X, pp. 100 ff. • Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, part II: genealogical statement facing p. 336. . Above, Vol. X, p. 101.
Journal of Indian History, Vol. XXX, p. 291. • K. A. Nilakanta Sastri : Foreign Notices of South India, pp. 18 and 116-17.
"It is interesting to note that Mr. Lakshminarayan Rao places his initial year circa 700 A.C. by approximation, J.I.H., Vol. XXX, p. 291.
