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105
No. 20)
INSCRIPTIONS FROM GAYA Verse 12 in lines 26-29 gives some interesting information about Gauri, wife of Mallikarjuna. It is stated that formerly she had been passing her days playfully at the feet of the god Göpinātha described as the lord of the Kandammati family, but that at the time being her residence was Manikarnika. As regards her later residence, the place appears to be the same as the famous Manikarnika Ghat at Banāras. But the location of the deity Göpinātha worshipped by the members of the Kandammați family is difficult to determine, although Kandammaţi seems to be the name of a locality from which the family derived its name. Gaurl's relationship with the said family is not stated in the inscription. We may conjecture that she was born in the Kandammați family. It is, however, very interesting to note Gauri's devotion to the god Göpinātha, undoubtedly a form of Vishnu. Thus she was a Vaishnava,' while her husband Mallikarjuna was a staunch devotee of the god Siva. The document ends with an adoration of the god Gopijanavallabha, the same as Göpinātha: But, while the latter is described as the lord of the Kandammaţi family, the former is called Mantrakūta-Gõpijanatallabha, apparently meaning Göpijanavallabha of Mantrakūta', even if the two appear to be one and the same deity. It is possible to think that the Kandammati family, which originally hailed from the village of Kandammati and to which Gauri seems to have belonged, was at a later date living at the locality called Mantrakūta. In that case, Kadammali-kul-üdhiệa Göpinātha may of course be safely identified with Mantrakūta. Sopījanavallabha .
There is no obvious clue in the inscription to help us in identifying king Pratāparudra and his preceptor Tribhuvani-tidyā-chakravartin Mallikarjuna. As regards the king, who appears to have been an imperial ruler, we can only think of Pratāparudra I (generally called Rudra) and Prataparudra II of the Kakatiya dynasty, who flourished respectively in the periods 1163-95 A.D. and 1291-1330 A.D., and the king of the same name who belonged to the Suryavamsi Gajapati family of Orissa and ruled in the period 1496-1539 A.D. Of these three rulers, Gajapati Pratāparudra of Orissa was a great devotee of the god Purushottama-Jagannātha of Puri and was therefore a devout Vaishnava. It is thus extremely doubtful if he could have had a staunch Saiva teacher like Mallikarjuna of our inscription as his preceptor. On the other hand, we know the Saiva leanings of most of the Kakatiya rulers who are described as paramamahësvara in the records of their time and some of whom are known to have received initiation from Saiva religious teachers. This fact leads us to the suggestion that king Prataparudra mentioned in the inscription under review may be identical with either of the Kakatiya monarchs bearing that name: Of the two Kūkatiya kings of the same name, viz. Pratāparudra I and Pratāparudra II, the former is described in several records as paramamāhēsvara and Svayambhu-pada-padm-ārādhaka and there can bu no doubt that he was a devout Saiva. Kakatiya Pratāparudra II has not, however, been called it parumamiheśvara in any of the numerous records of his time and does not appear to have been
For the importance of Banaras as a holy place, see the Malaya Purana, chapters 181-85 ; Kane, op. cit., pp. 018 ff. Manikarnika is one of the five holiest spots at Banaras, the others being Dababvamēdha, Lolarka, Kesava and Bindumüdbava (Vulsya Purana, Chapter 186, verses 65-68).
* The inscription does not say that Gauri was devoted to both Vishnu and Siva.
Bota II and probably also his grandson Prola II claimed Ramosvara-pandita of the Mallikarjuna-matba on the Sriéaila as their diksha-yuru (Hyd. Arch. Ser., No. 13, p. 25, Ins. No. 7; p. 55, Ins. No. 12; cf. Bharati, Vol. XVIII, Part II, p. 194). Mahidēvu is known to have learnt the Saiva siddhantas from his preceptor Dhru.
vara-nuntiare (Ilyd. Arch. Ser., No. 13, p. 02, Ins. No. 15) while his son Ganapati was a disciple of a celebrated Saiva teacher named Visvēšvarasambhu who was also revered by his daughter Rudrāmba (SI1, Vol. X, No. 395, 21.203; JAHRS, Vol. IV, pp. 147 ff.).
The Kakatiya queen Rudrāmba was often mentioned as Rudradeva in the masculine ; but she was not called Prataparudra.
fee. ... SII, Vol. X, p. 122, No. 241, text lines 5-6.
Cf. Teleuam Inscriptions, Nos. 46 ff. 811, Vol. X, No. 319 (p. 281) apparently belongs to the reign of Pratáparudra I.
