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328
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXXI
The nscription commences with the word svasti and proceeds to give, as indicated above, the data which is expressed in words as Saka 726 (expired), Subhanu, Valtakha vadi 5, Taursday. According to the Southern cycle, the expired Saka year 726 corresponded to Tārana and Subhānu fell in the previous year, viz , Saka 725 expired. In the latter year, the given tithi was not Thursday 88 mentioned in the record while, in the Saka year 726 expired, it regularly corresponds to Thursday, the 4th April 804 A.D. This, therefore, appears to be the intended date of the record.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of Goyindara, the Kannada form of the name Gövinda, who, from his distinguishing epithet Prabhutavarsha as well as the date of the record, is none else than Govinda III. He also bears the usual epithets Prithvivallabha-mahārājadhirajavaramëśvara-bhatāra. We are informed in lines 5-6 that his queen (mahädēvi) was Gāmundabbe who is not known from any other source. It is not clear in what connection she is mentioned in the record. It may, however, be suggested that the king made the grant specified in the sequel at the request of his queen, though it is not so stated
Lines 7-12, refer to the conflict of the king with the Pallava ruler and the object of the record. They have been translated by Fleet as follows: "when the king), having conquered Dantiga who ruled over Kanchi, had come to levy tribute, and when his encampments were on the bank of the river Tungabhadrā, and when having at (his) first (visit) approved of the tirtha called Rāmāśvara, he came (there again) to spear the boars that had been preserved (for his sport) having seen that the tirtha was an excellent one, he allotted to the Gorava named Sivadhāri,....the grant of king Kirttivarmā to (the god) Paramēbvara."
Fleet read the words in line 7 as Dantiganame geldu and translated them as having conquered Dantiga.' But the word geļdu does not give any sense in Kannada unless one assumes that it is a mistake for geldu, the verb gel meaning to conquer'. Moreover, the emphatic e in Dantiganame does not suit the context. We propose to read the two words as Dantigana mēg=eļdu which means 'having marched against Dantiga.' Thus the sentence has to be understood in the sense that the king was on his march to Kāñchi against the Pallava king Dantiga in order to levy tribute from him and that on his way he had fixed his encampments on the bank of the river Tungabhadrā. This shows that the conquest of the Pallava king by Govinda III was not complete on the date of this record but was subsequent to it. In view of this conclusion, it would be necessary to modify the opinion of the scholars who have written on the chronology of the conquests of Govinda III and who following Fleet's translation, have understood that the conquest of the Pallava king was complete when the present plates were issued in 804 A.D.
Fleet translated the sentence Rāmēsvara emba tirtthadā modalolamepp=ikki (lines 9-10) as having at (his) first visit) approved of the tirtha 'called Rămēsvara'. He understood modalo! in the sense of at first and thought that it referred to the first visit of the king to the place. This led him to suppose that the king came there again to spear the boars referred to in the next sentence (line 10) porada pandigalan=iriyal=bandalli. He also took mepp=ikki in the sense of having approved'. Now the word meppu is not found in Kittel's Kannada-English Dictionary and the meaning given by Fleet does not suit the context. We feel that meppu may be connected with mēpu meaning grazing, pasturage" derived from the root mē or mēy 'to graze and mepp=ikki has to be taken as qualifying the following words porada pandigalan. The word modalo! in the sence of first or first visit' does not suit the preceding word tīrtthadā which is in the genitive case.
Altekar (The Rashtraku fas and their Times, p. 63) thought that Govinda III was returning from his expedition against the Pallava king when the present plates were issued. Cf. also above, Vol. XXIII, p. 215; Vol. XXXII, p. 159.
- Mēpu is used in this sense in the Kannada work Pampa-Bharata (Chapt. V, section in prose after verse 43) n the description of the hunting expedition of Arjuna.
