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JANUARY, 1884.)
GRANT OF VIKRAMADITYA II.
11
to have the distinction of being his birthplace ;1° on the anniversary of his defeat by Vâmana the Brâhmans annually renew their sacred thread;" and the first day of the month of Kartika is observed as the anniversary of his coronation as monarch of PAtala."
Bâņa, the eldest of the hundred sons of Bali,"* occupies a place in the legends of ancient India almost as conspicuous as that of his father. The story of the loves of Aniruddha, the grandson of Vishņa, in his incarnation as Krishna, and Usha, the daughter of Bâņa, is told in several of the Puranas; and só also is the history of the terrible war, which resulted from it, between Vishnu and Bana, in which Bâna was ultimately defeated and his thousand arms cut off by the discus of Vishņu, notwithstanding the mighty assistance of Siva, whom Bâņa worshipped, who bronght all his now supernatural forces to his aid in this war."
Intermediate between these two illustrious founders of this royal line and the series of consecutive kings who immediately preceded the donor of the present grant, the inscription interposes another prince who bore the great name of the son of Bali, B &ņa adhira ja, of whom nothing more is known than the generalities which are mentioned here. He was preceded and succeeded by several unnamed princes.
The remainder of the pedigree of the donor is recorded in verses 6 to 15 of the inscription. It contains the following names :
Bâņa adhiraja. Jayanandivarma.
Vijayaditya I. Sri Malladêva, alias Jagadêkamalla.
Śri Bâņa Vidyadhara. Prabhn Mêrudêva.
Vikramaditya I. Vijayaditya II, alias Pukalavippavaganda.
Vikramaditya II, Vijaya-bahn. This pedigree presents us with a series of
eight princes in direct succession. Their reigns may therefore be regarded as covering about two centuries and a half of time.
The position of the territory of these princes is indicated in the following general terms in the seventh verse of the inscription :-“That unrivalled hero, mighty in strength, ruled the earth to the west of the Andhra country." By "the Andhra country," we are to understand the country in which the Telugu language is spoken. We are then to look for the situation of the Bâņa kingdom, or the territory of the Maha-bali-Bâņa kings, along the southwestern boundary of the Telugu-speaking districts upon the borders of the Tamil country; because the Tamil-Grantha character in which this inscription is written, necessitates the conclusion that some portion of the dominions of these kings was in the neighbourhood of the Tamil-speaking country, in which alone this character was in use. We are therefore to look for it not far from the middle basin of the Pálår. The situation of the village of U dayên du mangala, as described in other inscriptions of this group," renders this conclusion still more certain and definite.
The western boundary line of the Telugu language, after crossing the river Tungabhadra sonth wards, runs throngh the neighbourhood of Å doni," and strikes the left water-parting of the Northern Penner near the elbow where that river changes its course from the northward to the eastward direction. It then runs up the line of that water-parting southwards, crossing the boundary of the present Maisur territory, until it reaches Nandidurg. From this important hydrographical centre this language-limit coincides in a general way with the left water-parting of the Palár, running in & south-easterly direction as far as the western boundary of the present district of North Arcot, and continuing onwards through the hills which lie along that boundary As far as the left bank of the Pâlâ r, near that point in its course where it enters the district of Salom."
10 As. Res. Vol. IX, p. 83.
Forbes's pie Maa, vol. II, p. 329 ; Calcutta Review, vol. XXIII, p. 177.
15 As. Res. vol. III, p. 265. 13 See verse 4 of the inscription. 2. Wilson's Vish. Pur. p. 147, or Hall's ed. vol. II, p. 69. 18 Wilson's Vish. Pur. p. 591ff. 16 Verses 5 and 6 of the grant.
I See Ind. Ant. vol. VIII, pp. 167 and 273, and enother to be published hereafter. See also Plate IIIb,
line 11.
1s Compare Wilks' Myrore, vol. I, p. 3, for the conterminous boundary of the Canarese language.
1 There are immigrant Telugu-speaking people. sonttored amongst the indigenous inhabitants of some portions of the country considerably to the south and west of the general limit here indicated. (Compare Rioe's Mysore and Coorg, vol. I, p. 893, and Cox's Manual of North Arcot, p. 257.)
