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No. 33] HOWRAGHAT PLATES OF BALAVARAMAN III OF KAMARUPA, YEAR 5 285 approximately, we may suggest that the year 904 A.D. fell in Balavarman's reign. Thus Balavarman's rule may be roughly assigned to the period 885-910 A.D. and the present inscription to a date about the end of the ninth century.
The inscription bogins with a Siddham symbol which is followed by two mangala stanzas. Verse 1 prays that the lustre of Rudra (Siva) may be for the peace of the earth, while verse 2 seeks that the waters of the Lauhitya, called a väridhi or sea, may destroy the sin of men. Verse 3 introduces Naraka who was the son (born of the goddess Earth) of Upendra (Vishņu) in his Boar incarnation and was a friend of the demons. Verses 4-6 describe the career of Naraka. It is stated that he carried away Aditi's ear-rings and discredited Mahēndra (i.e. her son, the king of the gods) thereby, that he made his abode at the city of Pragjyotisha in Kamarupa, and that be wos killed by Murari (Vishnu) with the discus in a battle that was fought at his capital, i.e. Prāgiyotishapura (Sõritapura according to the Pyrāņas). Verses 7-8 state how Naraka was succeeded on the throne by his son Bhagadatta whose successor was his younger brother Vajradatta.
Verse 9 introduces Salastambha who is stated to have belonged to the dynasty of Naraka, Bhagadatta and Vajradatta, and to have become king after a number of rulers of the said family had passed away. In this connection, it is interesting to note that verses 9-10 of the copper-plate grants? of Ratnapāla of the third dynasty (i.e. the Brahmapāla family) of the rulers of Kāmarūpa or Prāgjyotisha offer a different and apparently more reliable account of the pedigree of Sālastambha. According to these, Salastambha, who was a Mlochchha king or a ruler of the Mlēchch has (Mléchchh-adhipati), obtained the kingdom of the kings of the Nāra ka dynasty as a matter of chance (vidhi-chalana-vasāt) and that, Tyāgasimha the twenty first king of Sālastambha's line having died without leaving an heir, the subjects (prakritayah) thought that a member of the Bhauma (.e. Näraka) dynasty alone was suitable to them and therefore made Brahmapala their king. This seems to suggest that Salastambha was really a ruling chief, probably of TibetoBurinan origin, under the latest ruler of the Bhauma-Nāraka dynasty of Kamarūpa and that he succeeded in occupying his master's throne under circumstances which are difficult to determine without further light on the subject. It is clear, however, that Salastambhu's descendants claimed descent from Naraka ; but the claim may have been based either on mere fiction or on a matrimonial relation Sālastambha might have contracted with the rulers of the Bhauma-Nāraka family.
Verse 10 of our inscription says that, amongst the descendants of Salastambha, Harjara became king after others like Pālaka and Vijaya had passed away. The names of all the rulers of the Sālastambha family, especially those who flourished between Sālastambha and Harjara or Harjaravarman, cannot be determined. We have seen how the charters of Ratnapāla, who belonged to the third or Brahmapäla dynasty of Prāgjyotisha rulers, ascribe 21 kings to the dynasty of Salastambha. Of these, they mention by nanie only Sālastambha (the founder of the line), Tyagasimha (the last king of the family) and Vigrabastambha who was one of the rulers flourishing between Sälastambba and Tyāgasimha. The damaged and fragmentary copper-plate grant of Harjara varman (second quarter of the ninth century) from Haiyungthal, appears to have quoted the names of most of his predecessors beginning from Sālastambha, although the section cannot be fully and satisfactorily deciphered. According to the reading and interpretation of the said section offered by Pandit P. N. Bhattacharya, Sālastambha was succeeded by his son Vijaya who was followed successively by Pälaka, Kumāra, Vajradēva, Harshavarman, Balavarman
1 See above, Vol. XXIX, p. 151 and note 3. 2 See Kamarüpa śüsandvali, p. 94.
Ibid. pp. 44 ff. Only the middle plate of a set, which originally consisted at least of three platos, has been discovered so far. The preservation of the writing is unsatisfactory.
Ibid., PP. 51-52.
