Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

Author(s): Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 21

YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN OULTURE
Somadeva goes on to say that the Kāvya, that is, Yasastilaka was composed in Saka 881 (959 A. D.), the cyclic year being Siddhartha, on the Madana-trayodasi day of the month of Caitra, when Krşņarājadeva was extending his sway at Melpātī, after having vanquished the Pāņdya, Cola, Cerama (i. e. Cera), Ceylonese and other kings. Somadeva's statement is remarkable for its historical accuracy, as it is corroborated by the Karhād plates of the great Rāştrakūța emperor Krşņa III, issued on the 9th March, 959 A, D., at Melpāți, a few weeks earlier than the completion of Somadeva's Yasastilaka. The subject of the inscription is the grant of a village in Karahāta (Karhād in Satara district) to a Saiva ascetic, but the record was issued at Melpāți (Melpāļi in North Arcot district), where the emperor was encamped with his victorious army for establishing his followers in the southern provinces, for taking possession of the estates of the provincial chiefs and for constructing certain temples '.3 The inscription, like Somadeya, refers to Krşņa III's victories over the Colas and the kings of the Ceranma (i. e. Cera), Pāņdya and other countries as well as Ceylon, and tells us, besides, that he erected a pillar of victory at Rāmeśvara. The emperor states in the record that he issues the order, having established his victorious camp at Melpāți' (melpāți-samāvāsita-srimadvijaya-kațakena mayā).
The victory over the Colas was the most important, as Krsna III is known to have occupied Tondaimaņdalam (to the north of the Kaveri), and appears to have annexed the northern part of the Cola dominions to his empire, sometime after the decisive battle of Takkolam in 949 A. D., when the Cola crown-prince Rājāditya, the son of Parāntaka I, was killed on the battlefield by Krşņa's tributary and ally, the Ganga ruler Būtuga II. The Karhād grant of 959 A. D. shows the Rāştrakūta emperor in his camp at Melpāți at the close of his victorious southern campaigns. As a recent authority on Cola history says, “there can be no question that the effect on the Cola empire was ruinous, and that as a consequence of the blow in
1 'शकनृपकालातीतसंवत्सरशतेष्वष्टस्वेकाशीत्यधिकेषु गतेषु (अतः ८८१) सिद्धार्थसंवत्सरान्तर्गतचैत्रमासमदनत्रयो
दश्यां...."मेल्पाटीप्रवर्धमानराज्यप्रभावे श्रीकृष्णराजदेवे सति ।. 2 Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV, parts VI and VII. "The date of the grant was
Wednesday, the thirteenth tithi of the dark fortnight of Phālguņa of the cyclic year
Kalayukta, the Śaka year being 880 past (1. 56 f.)." 3 Ibid., p. 281.
Somadeva says: पाण्ड्यसिंहलचोलचेरमप्रभृतीन महीपतीन् प्रसाध्य. The inseription says: कृत्वा दक्षिणदिग्जयोद्यतधिया चौलान्वयोन्मूलनं, तद्भूमिं निजभृत्यवर्गपरितश्चेरन्मपाण्ड्यादिकान् । येनोच्चैः सह सिंहलेन
करदान् सन्मण्डलाधीश्वरान् , न्यस्तः कीर्तिलतांकुरप्रति कृतिस्तम्भश्च रामेश्वरे ।। 5 Altekar:The Rāstrakūtas and their times, p. 117 ff., Poona 1934.