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Study of Civakacintamani
The Mallisepa Prajasti also contains the following eulogy, supposed to have been. composed by Dandin in praise of Srivardhadeva, the author of the Cadamani. ya evam upilokito dandin
jahnoḥ kanyam jata(gre)-na babhara paranesvaraḥ | irivarddhadeva samdhotse jihvagrena sarasvatim 1
(He was thus praised in verse by Dardin:
"Paramelvara Siva] bore Jahnu's daughter (Ganga] on the top of this matted hair. Thou, O Srivarddha ! bearest Sarasvati [the goodess of speech
of [thy] tongue.")
Though there have been some uncertainties regarding the poet Dandin s date and identity, it is generally believed that he was in the court of King Rajasimha of the Pallava dynasty. This king reigned during the period A.D. 700 to 728. Dandin is also said to have been the great grandson of Damodara, a friend of Bharavi, who is mentioned in the Aihole inscription (A.D. 634). This will put Dandin, and hence Śri arddhadeva mentioned in the Mallisena Prajasti, around A.D. 700 750. However the date of Dandin as well as the authenticity of verses attributed to him are far from being satisfactorily ascertained.
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(iv) The Tirumaküḍju Narasipur Taluq inscription of 1183 also refers to the authors. of Cintamani and Cudamapi in the following two stanzas:
kritva cintamanim kavyam abhişyartha-samartthanam cintamanir abhän nämna bhavya-cinta-maņir gguruḥ] vidvac-cuda-manli cüdamani-kavya-kṛte.. cudamani-samakhys bhul laksya-lakja..lakṣaṇaḥ 10
(Having composed the poem Cintamani, able to satisfy all desires was the guru. Cintamani, a wishing-stone (Cintamani) to the blessed (the Jains))
(A head-jewel (Cudamani) of the wise, author of the poem Cadamani, he was called Cadamapi, the exhibitor of all the ornaments of composition.)"
It also refers to Kumarasena and Mahesvara and Akalanka before and after them respectively and one more person named Säntideva is also mentioned. Nothing appears. to be known about Maheśvara and Säntideva.
From these two inscriptions, one might roughly take the authors of Cintamani and Culamani referred to in them to helong to the period of Kumarasena and Akalanka (i.e. middle of 8th Century A.D. onwards). This is not far from agreement with the
1 Epigraphia Indica. Vol; III, Sravana Belgola Epitaph of Mallisena, v. 17. p; 191:
2 Translated by E. Hultzsch. Ibid, loc. cit. p. 207.
3 K. A. Nilakanta Sastri. op. cit. p. 153;
4 Ibid, p. 153.
5 Ibid, p. 345.
6 Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol, III, Part I, Incriptions in the Mysore District, p. 171.
7 Translated by Lewis Rice, Ibid, Translations, p. 89.
8 L. D. Swamikkannu has examined the astrological references which occur in the Cc. in the work An Indian Ephemeris. It is interesting to note that all the references are satisfied for the year A.D. 813 only. An Indian Ephemeris, Vol. I, Part I, Appendix iii, pp. 469-470.
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