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JAMAN I SOUTH INDIA
sokereiguty had lost its importance by this time. We may, however, trace therein an echo of the long-drawn hostilities that subsisted between the Pallavas of Kanohi on the one hand and the earlier line of Chālukya rulers of Karnataka on the other, during the 7th and 8th centuries A. D.
Three places of geographical interest are mentioned in the record. Two of these, viz., Jayantipura (1. 6) and Sēờimba (11. 29, 33, 36, 43), are rospectively identical with the present-day Banavāsi in the North Kanara District and Sodam or Seram, the headquarters of the taluk of the name, where the inscription was found. The third Virapura has been noticed before. In verse 4 there is a reference to the following three places of mythological fame; viz., Khāņdava (forest), Lanka (the island of Ceylon) and Traipura (three aorial cities built by a demon).
The epigraph merits some attention as a piece of literary composition. A major part of the record is written in good prose embellished with figures of speech and poetic descriptions bearing on the Jaina teacher Prabhāchandra and the Three Hundred Mahājanas of Sėdimba. The inscription contains one verse (No. 4) in the Mattābhavikrīạita metre, which is devoted to the praise of the strong and well-fortified town of Sēdimba. Though overdrawn on the conventional model of the age, still the imagery conceived in the verse, is pleasing and presents a charming picture of the theme. The closing verse in Kannada dealing with the imprecation is also in the above metre. The two Sanskrit verses of benediction and imprecation are in the Anushțubh metre. The two Sanskrit verses (2-3), inserted in the body of the record to describe the Jaina teachers, are in the Aryā metre. Their composition, however, is not quite up to the mark.
A few words of lexical interest may be noted here. The phrase nirvanavági in 1. 37 is used in the sense of consummation. It is derived from the Sanskrit word nirvahana and its usage in such a context deserves attention. The expression padisalisi märpantāgi in 11. 42-43 refers to the alterations necessitated in the repairing process of the temple and conveys the sense of reconstructing on the same original model, retaining its appearance', so that the harmony and symmetry of the structure might not be disturbed. The word pratipatti in the expression vritti-pratipatti in l. 48 means solemn undertaking'. This expression is met with in a similar context in an inscription from Hosur in the Gadag taluk, Dharwar Dt.
| Bomb, Karn. Insoriptions, Vol. I, pt, ih, p. 190, 1. 18.
