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No. 34) MUDHOL PLATES OF PUGAVARMAN
295 This was Sriprithivivallabha-mahārāja. As Vallabha, Srivallabha, Prithivivallabha and Sriprithivīvallabha are all identical, being recognized specially as Western Chalukya appellations and the title Mahārāja conveying the status of a paramount sovereign is almost invariably and for the first time applied to Pulakēsin I in all the formal charters of the family, we are fully justified in identifying Sriprithivivallabha of our charter with Pulakösin I. This identification is further strengthened by his description as the performer of Agvamëdha, Agnishoma, Agnichayana and other sacrifices ; for, Pulakēsin I, as known from many records of the family, performed all these sacrifices and a few more. The mention of Aśvamēdha in this connection is an overwhelming evidence in favour of this identification, since, except for a few Kadamba rulers whose consideration is out of question in the present context, no other monarch in this part of the country is ever credited with such a supreme achievement.
This much about the positive side of the question.
In regard to its negative side, it has to be noted that the non-mention of certain ideas and expressions in the prakasti can in no way be cited as contrary evidence. As I have shown elsewhere, the Chalukya prasasti was still in the formative stage at this time and not yet standardized. The conventional prasasti of the Chalukya house is met with for the first time in the charters of Pulakēsin II, commencing with the Hyderabad grant.
Now who is this Pügavarman ? He was not known previously and is introduced for the first -time by the present charter. His description as agra-sūnu shows that he was the first and the eldest son of Pulakēģin I. As he is not endowed with royal titles we have to surmise that he was governing the province as his father's deputy and issued the charter in this capacity. This leads to another surmise that Pulakösin I was ruling at this time. If the identification of [Mala]köţaka suggested in the sequel is correct, Pügavarman's authority might have extended over the present Gulbarga District.
It is well-known that Pulakasin I had two more sons, the elder of whom, viz. Kirtivarman, succeeded his father on the Chālukya throne. In his Godachi plates, Kirtivarman is referred to as his father's favourite son. In the Mahākūţa inscription of Mangaļīsa who succeeded Kirtivarman, it is said that Pulakēsin I had two sons and that Kirtivarman was the senior. These state-ments do not preclude the possibility of the existence of yet another son being the seniormost. This possibility is borne out by the present record. The fact that Pulakosin I was succeeded by Kirtivarman can be explained on the assumption of Pügavarman's demise before his father.
Assuming that Pulakēsin I started his independent rule a few years prior to the date of the Bādāmi inscription, we may place the commencement of his reign roughly about 535 A.D. His
1 Cf. Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part II, 345 and noto 1 ; above, Vol. XXVII, p. 6.
* Bomb. Gaz., op. cit., p. 344; above, Vol. XXVII, pp. 8-9, and n. 1. As in the Bädāmi inscription of S. 466, the present record also describes the king as Hiranyagarbhasamblata, i.e. one who performed the Hiranyagarbha. mahadana.
. Above, Vol. XXVIII, p. 60 and 1. 10. Some scholars are not prepared to assign tho presont charter to the Clälukya family (4.R.Ep, 1949-50, p. 2). "The arguments against this view are set forth in the above discussion.
It is unnecessary to suggest the identity of Pügavarman with Kirtivarman, as they connote two distinct names. Contra. Panchamukhi, op. cit., p. 70.
Cf. The Classical Age. p. 231.
