Epigraphia Indica Vol 31

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

Page 83

48
Gundama I (939-42 A. D.)
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
Vajrahasta I (44 years, 895-939 A. D.)
Kämärṇava (35 years, 942-77 A. D., 25 years according to some inscriptions) I Vajrahasta II Aniyankabhima (35 years, 980-1015 A. D.)
Kāmārņava (6 months, 1016 A. D.) Vajrabasta III Anantavarman (according to some accounts, son of Madhukāmārņava, 30 or 32 years, 1038 to 1070 or 1068 A. D.) Rājarāja I Dēvēndravarman (8 years, 1068-76 or 1070-78 A. D.)
I
I
Anantavarman Chōdaganga (70 years, 10761146 or 1078-1148 A. D.)
Kämärṇava or Madhu-Kämärņava (10 years, 1146-56 A. D. or 1148-58 A. D.)
Gundama II (3 years, 1016-19 A. D.)
[VOL. XXXI
Vinayaditya (977-80 A. D.)
Madhukāmārņava (19 years, 1019-38 A. D.)
As already noted above, king Anantavarman and his son Dēvēndravarman, mentioned in the Mandasa plates and Simhipura grant, were unanimously taken to be kings of the Ganga family, and, on the assumption that the Mandasa plates are dated in Saka 913 or 917, Anantavarman. was identified with Vajrahasta II Aniyankabhima, and his son Devendravarman with Madhukamārṇava, though neither of these two Ganga kings is known to have borne these names. As I took the date of the Mandasa plates to be Saka 967 or 976, I identified king Anantavarman mentioned in it with Vajrahasta III who was known as Anantavarman and had a son called Devendravarman (Rajaraja).
The present grant was issued in Saka 988 (1066 A. D.) during the reign of Devendravarman. According to the accepted chronology, Rajaraja Devendravarman, son of Anantavarman Vajra hasta III, ascended the throne in 1068 or 1070 A. D. and it is said in some records that his coronation took place in Saka 992 (1070 A. D.). This presents an obvious difficulty in identifying Devendravarman and his father Anantavarman, mentioned as suzerains in the grants of the Kadamba rulers, with the kings of the same names in the Ganga family.
There are, however, several considerations which should be kept in view before we definitely discard the identifications.
1. There is the close proximity of dates. The present grant is dated only two or four years before the generally accepted date of Devendravarman's accession to the throne. It must be very singular indeed, if two sets of kings, bearing identical names and imperial titles, were ruling in the same locality and at the same time.
2. The above argument is further strengthened if we remember that there are some discrepancies in the reign-periods of different kings even in the official records of the family. Such discrepancies are probably due, at least in part, to the well-known fact that the kings of the Ganga dynasty adopted Anka years for the calculation of their regnal periods, which made a substantial difference between the actual year of the reign and the number given for the same. This might easily prove a source of confusion to later writers who might take the Anka for actual years or vice-versa. In view of all these a definite date of a king found in his epigraphic record should
1 It is otherwise difficult to explain how even the reign-period of Vajrahasta III is given as 33 in one and 30 in another record of his grandson. Similarly the date of coronation of Vajrahasta III (960 Saka) and that of Devendravarman (992 Saka) need not necessarily imply the beginnings of their reigns, for we know that the coronation of Kämärṇava took place in Saka 1064 while his father was ruling till Saka 1069.