Indian Antiquary Vol 48

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

Page 138

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ August, 1919
is mentioned as a warrior of great courage. Therefore Vikramaditya must have been of fighting age in A.D. 1047 and even a warrior distinguished enough to have been specially made mention of by the Chola enemies. He must then have been at least 16 years of age and therefore born at the latest in A.D. 1031. Be it remembered that Vikramaditya was but the second son and had an elder brother in Somêsvara who must have been born a year or two earlier still in A.D. 1030 or 1029. Therefore it is certain that Somêávara and Vikramaditya, the first two sons of Åhavamalla, must have been born at least a dozen years prior to Ahavamalla's accession in A.D. 1042. The third son Jayasimha,ctherwise known as Singapan and Siugi in the Chola and Châlukya records respectively, is first made mention of only in the 2nd year inséription 79 of Virarajêndra of A.D. 1063-4 and so it may be that he was born a few years after Ahavamalla's accession to the throne. What, then, was the motive of Bilhana in bringing forward a penanoe story that is historically untenable ! There can be no other explanation but this, viz., that occasionally as in this instance, the poet in him prevailed over the historian and he was carried away with a desire, so natural among bards, especially oriental, to cast a halo of divinity around his patron and hero so much gifted with head and heart.
Closely connected with the birth of the brothers there is another question, viz., whether they were uterine brothers or not. Rice80 infers from their Ganga birudas that Somebvara and Vikramaditya were the sons of a Ganga princess and Jayasimba of a Pallava one, and calls them always half-brothers. But this inference is neither necessary nor correct. The attribution of special birudas in each case can be explained as belonging to the ancient rulers of the provinces which they happened to be in charge of. Such investitures were not uncommon even among their Chola contemporaries. 81 Moreover, Bilhana's Vikra maikad évacharita8 [0 King this your wife (mark the singular)] is decisive on the point and warrants us to infer that all the three were the sons of the same mother. Fleet has placed before us an inscription,83 which while confirming the fact that the three were uterine brothers, gives us in addition the name of the common mother as Bachaladevi, who would appear to be Ahavamalla's first wife. To what family did Bâchaladhvi belong? Was she a Ganga or Pallava princess? In Dêùr inscription84 Jayasimha is given not only Pallava birudas but is described as Maha-Pallav-Anvayu, i.e., belonging to the great Pallava lineage, and this. would suggest that Bâchaladevi came of Pallava stock. Vikramaditya's magnanimous refusal of the Yuvaraja-ship and the appointment of
Somebyara as heir-apparent. When Vikramaditya had come of age and become well-versed in all sciences, especially in military and administrative state-craft, Ahavamalla thought of making one of his sons yuvardja and thereby designating his successor as was the custom among Hindu rdjas-partly to be relieved of the burden of bearing the toil and turmoil of the kingdom all alone in old age and partly to initiate the would be successor in all the mysteries of state-craft, 80 as to enable him to maintain the prestige and continue the traditions of the family. Bilhana 85
T9 111A of 1896, Epi. Rep. SII., III, No. 20. Karuvar insoription. 80 Epi. Carn., VII, Sk. 136, Dg. 133, C1. 12. * SII., III, part I. See also Prof. S. Krishnaswami Ayyangar's Anciens India, 114. # Vik. Charita, II, 51. 88 Bom. Gaz., IV, 438, n. 1. Ind. Ant., II, 297. Gadag insoription. # Bom. Gar., IV, 440, n. 6. Carnata. Deja Inscriptions, I, 173. # Vik. Charita, III, 26–59.