Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 82

47
No. 9]
MALLAR PLATES OF VYAGHRARAJA
and not of the donor Vyaghrarāja. The plates were probably engraved by Jyeshthasimha whose name appears in a sentence at the end in lines 23-24.
The inscription throws welcome light on the history of the Sarabhapuriya dynasty and raises certain interesting problems. The personal and geographical names mentioned in the record are mostly known from it for the first time.
We have referred above to the difference of the epigraph under study from the charters of the Sarabhapuriya kings in respect of the seal, palaeography and style. But the grant was issued from Prasannapura which reminds us of king Prasanna or Prasannamatra of Sarabhapura, who was the father of Jayaraja and Manamätra Durgaraja and the grandfather of Sudēvarāja and Pravararaja and flourished in the first half of the sixth century A.D. No other king named Prasanna is known to have ruled in the age and area in question. It is therefore very probable that the city of Prasannapura mentioned in our record was hamed after king Prasanna or Prasannamatra of Sarabhapura. Secondly, Vyaghraraja, the donor of our charter, claims to have been the younger brother of Pravara-bhaṭṭaraka who was the son of Jaya-bhaṭṭāraka. The names of these kings, viz. Jaya and Pravara, remind us of kings Jayaraja and Pravararaja of the Sarabhapura family and indeed kings bearing such names and belonging to any other family are not known to have flourished in the age and area concerned. It is therefore very probable that king Jaya-bhaṭṭaraka of our inscription is identical with king Jayaraja of Sarabhapura. But Pravara-bhaṭṭāraka of the present record cannot be identified with the well-known Sarabhapuriya king Pravararaja who was the son of king Durgaraja or Manamatra, the brother of Jayaraja, and was responsible for issuing the Thakurdiya and Mallar plates1 from Sripura in his third regnal year.'
Another fact that connects Vyaghrarāja with the royal house of Sarabhapura is that the land granted by the present charter was situated in the district called Purva-rashtra. It is interesting to note that the Arang plates of Jayaraja and the Raipur plates of Sudēvaraja also record grants. of land situated in the same district of Purva-rashtra.
The inscription under study therefore introduces two new names to the list of the Sarabhapuriya kings so far known. The genealogy of the Sarabha puriyas including these two names, viz. Pravara and Vyaghra, sons of Jaya, may be tabulated as follows:
4. Jaya
5. Pravara I
1. Sarabha
T
2. Narendra
3. Prasanna or Prasannamātra
6. Durga alias Mānamātra I
Vyaghra
1 See above, Vol. XXII, pp. 15 ff.; below, pp. 53-54.
If Pravara-bhattaraka of our epigraph is identified with Pravararaja of the Thakurdiya and Mallár plates, we have to assume that his father was known by no less than three names, viz., Manamatra, Durgarāja and Jayabhattaraka (Jayaraja). This seems to be less likely than the suggestion offered above.
CII, Vol. III, pp. 191 ff.
Ibid., pp. 195 ff.
7. Sudēva
8. Pravara II