Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 62

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MARCH, 1913.
the hill. A long flight of stairs leads to the courtyard of this temple. Just where these stairs end are the shafts of two pairs of columns one in front of the other, which were no doubt once surmounted by a torana and formed the arched entrance, as stated in the verse. A little further on, on a raised terrace is an old marble image of Nandi, once no doubt placed in a pavilion, of which the plinth only has survived. This is unquestionably the bull referred to in the inscription. It also says that there were other structures on the sides of the temple, and that in one of them were the images of the Pandavas and Vikatâ. That there were these structures is clearly proved by the ruins of the subsidiary shrines on the south and north-west. The images of Pandavas also may be easily recognised in the ruins on the north-east. Here are six colossal images, which were originally, when whole and entire, as high as seven feet almost, and which are to this day said by the people to be those of the Pândava brothers and Draupadi. I do not know whether Vikatâ stands here for the ogress Hidimbâ. The figure here is, however, that of an ordinary woman, and not that of an ogress. But Hidimbâ, it must be remembered, had changed herself into a beautiful woman and then married Dhima. And the figure in question may represent Hidimba when she had assumed this form.
Verses 13-27 celebrate a line of princes belonging to the Chahamana family. The first of these is:
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1 Gavaka I., who was famous as a hero in the assembly of the sovereign Nâgâvaloka and built the temple of Harshadeva (v. 13). The temple of Harshadeva bere alluded to is no doubt the one where the inscription stone was found, and the fact seems to be that this temple was originally constracted by Guvaka I. and simply repaired and renovated by Allata, as we shall see further on. In verse 27 Harshadeva is said to have been the family-deity of the Châhamâna kings, and his temple could not, therefore, have been for the first time erected by Allata so late as in the reign of Vigraharaja. The prince Nâgâvaloka, who was the overlord of Gûvaka, is, as I have shown elsewhere, to be identified with Nagabhata II. of the Imperial Pratihara dynasty. Gûvaka's son was
2 Chandraraja (v. 14); and his son
3 Gavaka II. (v. 14); and his son
4 Chandana, who slew in battle the Tomara prince, Rudra2 (v. 14). His son was
5 Vakpatiraja, who, if I have understood verse 16 properly, at first harassed the prince Tantrapâla because he was coming haughtily towards the Ananta province with the behests of his overlord. It appears that to check the haughtiness of Tantrapâla, Vâkpatirâja did not at first meet him. And Tantrapâla, with his fagged elephants, could not overtake Vâkpati with his fleet horses, and so was struck with shame at not having been able to deliver his overlord's orders to him. But when Tantrapâla's haughtiness was curbed down, Vâkpatirâja met him and propitiated him. This verse also, like verse 9, was, we are informed, composed by Sûra. Vâkpati's son and
successor was
6 Simharaja, who, according to verse 18, seems to have set up the gold shell (andaka) of the spire of the temple no doubt referred to in verse 12 above. Verse 19 states that having subdued Salavana, the Tomara leader,3a he captured and put to flight the princes that had gathered under his generalship. And these captured princes were kept in his prison till his overlord, who belonged to the family of Raghu, did not come to his house in person to liberate them. We have seen above that Gavaka was a fendatory of Nagabhata II. of the Imperial Pratihâra dynasty, and these Pratihâras continued to be supreme rulers till at least A.D. 960. Hence the overlord or overlords
1 Ante, Vol. XL., p. 239.
2 Prof. Kielhorn takes this name to be Budrens. But I think it is natural to split it into two words: (1) Rudra and (2) ina, the first as the name of the Tomara king and the second as an adjective of bhapa and thus corresponding exactly to pravara which precedes nripa in v. 13.
2a Or it may be that he subdued the Tomara leader together with his accomplice Lavana, as Kielhorn takes it.