Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 146

134
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1933
ON THE REIGN OF KRSNA II, THE RÅSTRAKŪTA.
BY NALINI NATH DAS GUPTA, M.A. SPEAKING of Prithivirama, son of Mērada, who was the first of the Rattas to attain the position of a Great Chieftain (Maha-Samanta), during the reign of the Rastrakůta king, Kranarajadêva, the Saundatti inscription of the Rattas, dated in 1096 A.D.,' incidentally refers to his Rastrakůta patron, and in doing so maintains that "seven hundred and ninety. seven years of the Saka era having elapsed, in the Manmatha samvatsara, that king caused a temple of Jina to be built in the village of Sugandhavarti and allotted to it eighteen nivar. tanas." The date referred to corresponds to 875-76 A.D., and the context, which is replete with a brilliant description of a great king, is evidently applicable in so far as the builder of the said temple is concerned, to Krenarajadêva, and not to Prithivirama, who was no 'king' at all, and hence no claimant to all those superior royal epithets. According to the following lines of the same inscription, Pșithivîrâma himself, too, had had erected shrine of Jinêndra, the locality of which, however, is not precisely known. Now, the only king of the Rastrakûța dynasty with the name of Krsnarâja who could possibly reign in or about the above date was Krşņa II, son of Amôghavarşa I, and the late Dr. Fleet, who edited this inscription, first admitted it. But since the Kanhêri inscription of 877-878 A.D.3 of Amoghavarsa I's reign appeared prima facie in conflict with the reign of his son in 875-76 A.D., he later on "applied it as furnishing a date for Krşņa II as Yuvarâja under his father Amoghavarsha I...." But that again fell short of consistency with the imperial titles that have been used of Krşņaraja. So he ultimately concluded that (1) the king who caused the temple to be erected at Sugandharvarti in 875-76 A.D. was
not Kronarja, but the Mahasamanta Prithivirama;
the very "date of A.D. 875-76 cannot be an authentic one for Prithivirama; for we know, from another of the Saundatti records, that he was the grandfather of a certain Santivarman................who was the ruling Mahâsâmanta in December, 980 A.D. and the range of a hundred and five years for the three generations is far
too great"; (3) ."the real patron and sovereign of Prithivirama must have been Krishna III",
whose earliest known date is 940 A.D., and that the Saundatti record of 1096 A.D.
"makes a confusion between Krishna III and his ancestor Krishna II."S But if two generations of kings could be on a throne in 8146 and in 911 A.D., as were Amoghavarga I and his son Krsna II, and if the Rastrakůţa Chieftain Nandaråja, or Nannar. Aja, alone could rule for a period of at least 78 years, as is evinced by his Tiwarkhed and Mult&i plates, a hundred and five years for the three generations might not be far too great. Secondly, Dr. Fleet overlooked the fact that the long reign of Amoghavarşa was not a continuous one, which is borne testimony to by the versions of the Praśnóttara-ratnamaia 8 and an inscription found at Aihôle by Fleet himself. The fourth line of this
1 Jour.Bo.Br.R.A.S., X, 194-98. 3 Ibid., p. 200. 3 1.A., XIII, 135-36.
Ibid., XXXII, 220. 5 Ibid.
• As indicated by the Sirur and Nilagunda inscriptions of the 52nd regnal year of Amoghavarşa I, and dated in 866 A.D.-1.4., XII, 216 f.; E.I. VI, 98 f.
7 1.A., XII, 222. 8 1.A., XII, 217-18, and XIX, 379. 9 1.A., XX, 114.