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304
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1890.
noteworthy; compare the instances quoted in Gupta Inscriptions, p. 69. In respect of orthography, the only points that call for notice are (1) the use of ri for ri in mátri, line 2, and in other instances in lines 4, 5, 11, 14, 28 and 29, though the correct vowel is used in kritakrityaḥ, line 7, kritajñas, line 8, and krishn-dhayó, line 34; (2) the doubling of dh, by d in the proper manner, before y, in anuddhyátánám, line 1, and in vinddhy-átavishv, line 33, where, however, it may optionally be attributed to the preceding anusvára (see, e. g., the instances referred to in Gupta Inscriptions, pp. 192, 197, 236, 244); and (3) the doubling of k before r, in parákkramaḥ, line 8, though not in vikrama, line 4.
The inscription is one of Vishnuvardhana I., the founder of the Eastern Branch of the Chalukya family. It is non-sectarian; the object of it being only to record the grant of a village to some Brâhmans, for the purpose of maintaining the rites of the five great sacrifices.
The village granted was Alandatirtha, which is defined as being in the district called the Srinilaya bhoga, on the north of the agrahara of Anopalya, i. e. Anopalli or Anopalli, and on the south bank of the river Bhimarathi. Alandatirtha is probably the Alundah' of the map, Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 39, in Lat. 18° 12′ and Long. 73° 59′, five miles north-east of Bhôr, the chief town of the Bhôr State, and about thirty-five north of Sâtârâ. It is not actually on the Bhima; but it is on the south (or west) bank of the Sivaganga, which is a tributary of the Nirâ, which again flows into the Bhima; and it seems, therefore, to answer the description of being on the south bank of the Bhimarathi. I can, at any rate, not find any other place, the name of which at all resembles Alandatirtha, anywhere along the Bhima itself; and I think that the name Bhimarathi, which occurs also in the Vokkalêri grant of Kirtivarman II. (ante, Vol. VIII. p. 27),1 may be taken to denote any tributary of the Bhima, as well as the principal river itself. Bal Gangadhar Shastri (loc. cit. p. 2) expressed the opinion that Alandatirtha is the modern Alandi' in the Poona District, about twelve miles north of the latter city. It is a place of some sanctity, and it is on a tributary of the Bhima, viz. the Indrayani; but it is on the north bank of the Indrayani, not the south; and, if for this reason only, it does not seem acceptable. The name of Anopalya or Anopalli is not to be traced on the map. Nor can I at present identify either the Srinilaya bhoga, or Kurumarathi, or possibly Kurumarathya, - where Vishnuvardhana I. was, when he made the grant. The former name may perhaps have some connection with the Sribhavana which is mentioned, e. g., in the Wagi grant of Govinda III. (ante, Vol. XI. p. 162).
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As regards the date of this grant, we learn from line 13 that it was made on the full-moon day of Karttika; and further, from line 35, that it was in the eighth year of "the glorious Maharaja." The Maharaja here spoken of, is the Western Chalukya king Pulikesin II., the elder brother of Vishnuvardhana I. And the date is, accordingly, Kârttika śukla 15 of SakaSamvat 539 current, in A. D. 616, or of 540 current, in A. D. 617.
In this record, the dynastic name is written Chalikya, as in the Mahâkita pillar inscription of Mangalêsa (page 7 ff. above); the only difference being that the Mahâkûta inscription uses the Dravidian, whereas here we have the ordinary Sanskrit l. The genealogy starts with Pulikesin I., who is here mentioned by his birudas of Ranavikrama and Satyasraya, as in the Mahkâûta record. His son, Kirtivarman I., is mentioned by his own proper name. Curiously enough, the actual reigning king, Pulikėsin II., is passed over in this record, even in spite of the fact that his younger brother assumes only the title of Yuvaraja; and the succession of names is taken direct from Kîrtivarman I. to his younger son Vishnuvardhana I.; as is also done in one of the grants of Vishnuvardhana II. (ante. Vol. VII. p. 191). Attached to the name of Vishnuvardhana I., there is his biruda of Vishamasiddhi, or "he who is successful under difficulties," which is explained in his other grant, shortly to be published; it is used
1 In the Brihat-Samhita, xvi. 9, the name is given as Bhimarathi, with Bhimaratbyâ as a various reading.
