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(son of Harshavarman) and the son of the younger of the two brothers named Chakra and Arathi. Bhattacharya also suggested that Aratha (son of Arathi) was succeeded by Prälambha (father of Harjaravarman), the name of both of whom were read in the Tezpur plates of Vanamalavarman (son of Harjaravarman), Prälambha being represented there as the successor of Sriharsha (i.e. Harshavarman) of the Salastambha dynasty. But as we have suggested elsewhere, Vanamalavarman's charters really speak of Salambha as the successor of Sriharsha and of his younger brother Arathi as the father and predecessor of Harjaravarman. We have also suggested that Chakra was possibly another name of Salambha and that the name of Harshavarman's son Balavarman is omitted in Vanamalavarman's record probably because he was succeeded by Salambha after a short rule. It seems that Balavarman, son of Harshavarman, was overthrown by Salambha and that the usurper and his descendants did not recognise his claim to the throne. Thus we have the following names of the rulers of the Salastambha dynasty from Salastambha to Harjaravarman: (1) Salastambha, (2) Vijaya, son of Salastambha, (3) Palaka, (4) Kumāra, (5) Vajradova, (6) Siharsha or Harshavarman, (7) Balavarman, son of Harshavarman, (8) Chakra alias Salambha, (9) Arathi and (10) Harjaravarman, son of Arathi. It is difficult to determine whether some other kings of the family also ruled between Salastambha and Harjaravarman and whether their names are either omitted from or undecipherable in the Haiyungthal plate.
Verses 12-25 of the inscription under study describe the three kings Vanamala (verses 12-14), Jayamala alias Virabahu (verses 15-18) and Balavarman (verses 19-25), the donor of the charter, as respectively the son, grandson and great-grandson of Harjara. It is stated in verses 16-17 that Vanamala, who was a devotee of the god Mahesvara or Siva and built numerous palatial structures beautified with paintings, starved himself to death after having bestowed the white umbrella adorned with two fly-whisks (i.e. the insignia of royalty) on his son Jayamala (called Virabahu in verse 18), while verse 18 states that Virabahu (i.e. Jayamala) married Ambā (who gave birth to the donor of the grant under study) some time after his accession to the throne. Verse 21 shows that Jayamala Virabahu installed his son Balavarman on the throne when in course of time he was incapable of carrying on the administration owing to the attack of an incurable disease. Verse 25 says that Balavarman's ancestral kataka or capital stood on the Laubitys.
King Balavarman of Kamarupa, who issued the charter under study, was the second king of that name in the Salastambha family. Since, however, there was another Balavarman (about the beginning of the fifth century) in the Bhauma-Naraka dynasty of Kamarupa and Salastambha is represented in the records of his successors, even if wrongly, as a descendant of Naraka, Balavarman, donor of the present grant, may be designated as Balavarman III. The king of the same name, who was the son of Sriharsha or Harshavarman, may be called Balavarman II, while Balavarman of the Bhauma-Naraka dynasty may be regarded as Balavarman I.
The names of the three monarchs mentioned in verses 12 ff., when added to the list of the ten rulers from Salastambha to Harjaravarman, would give us only thirteen kings of the Salastambha dynasty. Only two other rulers of this family, viz. Vigrahastambha and Tyagasimha, are known from Ratnapala's charters referred to above. Thus we know the names of fifteen out of the twentyone rulers of the dynasty. Since Tyagasimha's successor Brahmapala seems to have ruled about the beginning of the eleventh century, most of the six rulers, whose names are missing, appear to have ruled in the period of about a century intervening between Balavarman III (about the close of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century) and Tyagasimha (beginning
' Ibid., pp. 54 ff.
Above, Vol. XXIX, p. 149 and note 4.
Ibid. Vol. XXX, p. 66.
