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BOMBAY-KARNATAKA
INSCRIPTIONS
VOLUME
XI - Part I
INTRODUCTION
....The
Ron inscription introduces the Ganga subordinate Mahamandalika Butayya
as the governor of Gangavadi-96,000, Belvola-300, Puligere-300 provinces
in Saka 864 (=A..D. 942) while his Kurtakoti inscription mentions the
chief as holding charge of the same provinces in Saka 868 (=A.D. 946).
In the Naregal inscription of Saka 873 (A.D. 950) Butayya Permadi
is stated to be ruling over the Gangavadi 96, 000 province extending as
far as peldore. The river
Peldore is generally identified with the river Krishna but the Gangavadi
territory is never known to have extended up to the Krishna.
It is therefore plausible that the Peldore of this record
represented the river Tungabhadra which was the northern limit of the
Gangavadi-96,000 province. From
the inscriptions cited above, it appears the Butuga was in possession of
Belvola and Purigere divisions as early as A.D. 942 and 946 in
contradiction to the statement made in the Atakur inscription (Ep.
Indi., Vol VI, p. 55) that Krishna III was pleased with the valour
of Butuga displayed in the killing of Rajaditya and presented to his
Ganga subordinate the districts of Banavase, Belvola, Purigere, Kisukadu
and Bagenadu. Since we know
that Rajaditya was killed by Butuga in the battle of Takkolam in about
A.D. 975 (Ep. Indi., Vol. IV, P. 350) that Butuga received from
Baddega these provinces except Banavse, as dowry (balivali) at
the time of his marriage with Revaka or Revakanimmadi.
The marriage must evidently have taken place before A.D. 942
since Butuga is mentioned in the records quoted above as the Bhava (brother-in-law)
of Kannaradeva. Butuga must
have held these districts unobstructed till A.D. 946; but in the
interval between A.D. 946 and 948-9, when he received them again as
presents from Krishna II (see the Atakur inscription), he must have been
deprived of this portion of his territory by his enemies, probably, his
elder brother Rachamalla, who according to the Deoli plates of A.D. 940
(Ep.Ind., Vol V, pp. 188 ff) had been ousted from Gangavadi and
in his place Butuage had been set up on the Ganga throne.
Rachamalla’s attempt to recover the territory permanently
(through he might have held it for a short while) must have ended in his
disaster; for he is stated, in the subsidiary inscription on the top of
the Atakur stone (Ep. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 55) dated Saka 872 (=A.D.
949 From the way in which this incident has been introduced, it appears
that it was an event of recent occurrence.
It is therefore not unlikely that Rachamalla’s death at the
hands of Butuga happened sometime between A.D. 946 and 949.
The
Ron inscription mentioned above records an interesting historical fact
that utayya laid seige to Rona for collecting certain incomes such as bhattaya,
perohi (?) and for establishing the right of using the village
threshing floor (kana) and that at the instance of the Mahajanas
of the place, he was opposed by Pampayya of Vaji-kula who in the
tumultuous fight lost his life. It
is not known under what circumstances Butuga had to attack Rona and
whether the disaffection at Rona had any origin in the unsettled
political conditions due perhaps to the quarrel between the rival
claimants to the throne, viz., Butuga and Rachamalla.
The Naregal inscription of A.D. 950 reveals for the first time
that Butuga had another wife Padmabbarasi besides Revakanimmadi
mentioned above. She is
stated to have constructed a basadi (Jaina temple) at Naregal to
which a dana-sala (charity house) had been attached.
In the Soratur inscription of A.D. 951, Kannaradeva is given the birudas:
Anevedanga, Madagajamalla and Chalakenallata and his
body-guard (amgaraka) Ruddapayya is stated to be administering
the village Saratavura. Another
important record for the political history of the period comes from
narasalgi according to which Chalukya-Rama Ahavamalla Tailaparasa of
the Satyasraya family was governing the Taddevadi-1,000 district as anuga-jivita
in Saka 886 (=A.D. 965). Tailaparasa
is evidently Ahavamalla Taila II who is stated in the fragmentary
inscription at Gadag of the time of Vikramaditya VI to have destroyed
some Rattas, killed Munja, taken the head of Panchaladeva, possessed
himself of the Western Chalukya territory and begun to rule from the
year Srimukha which fell exactly 10 years after the date of the
Narasalgi record. This
is the first and the only record that established the subordinate
position of the Chalukyas under the Rashtrakutas before the former
recovered their ancestral territory under Taila II.
Kottigadeva
the last king of the family is represented in the volume by four
inscription ranging in date between Saka 891 and 893.
The Nagavi inscription of Saka 891 mentions his subordinate
Satyavakya-Permanadigal, i.e., Marasimha II and the latter’s officer
Boluga who is described as
the crest –jewel of Papakalla-kula.
The record was composed by poet Samiyanna ‘in sweet and chaste
Kannada’. His Savadi
inscription refers to the same Ganga chief and records a gift to the
temple of Bhagavati made by Sunkada-Ballayya.
The record was composed by the ‘born poet’ Narana and
engraved by naganaraya ‘in swift hand’.
Samiyanna and Narana were two early kannada poets not hitherto
known, who flourished in the reign of Kottigadeva, but whether they were
the authors of any literarily works is not disclosed.
THE
WESTERN CHALUKYAS OF KALYANA:
The
earliest inscription of the Western Chalukya dynasty in the volume comes
from Kurhatti (No. 45) in the Navalgund taluk of the Dharwar district.
It refers itself to the reign of Ahavamalla (Nurmadi-Taila II)
and is dated in Saka 902,
Vikrama (=A.D. 980). We
have seen above that Ahvamalla Taila figured as a subordinate of
Rashtrakuta Krisha II in Saka 886 (=A.D. 965).
This state is pushed back by seven years in a record recently
food at karjol (B.K. No. 178 of 1933-34) which introduces the chief as
an officer of Krishna III in Saka 879.
The latest year for Taila II is contained in the Hosur
Inscription of Saka 915 which shows that his political career lasted for
at least 36 years though it
is possible that he should have commenced to rule sometime b before Saka
879 and that his last year should have terminated sometime before Saka
924, the earliest known date of his son and successor Irivabedanga
Satyasraya. The Kurhatti
inscription mentioned above records and interesting historical fact that
the local chief kalidhurandhara had pleased Kannaradeva by his valour.
This kannaradeva is apparently Rashtrakuta Krishna III under whom
Taila was an officer. This
shows that the subordinates of the Rashtrakutas transferred allegiance
to their new masters, ie., the Chalukyas, without resistance, on the
overthrows of the former. Koralgunda, the Manneya of Mulugunda-12 and a scion of
the Sindarace and Kunnala family was a subordinate officer under Taila
II (No. 47). The districts
of Belvola and Purigere were, during his rule, subject to the
administration of Sobhanarasa who according to the Nilgund inscription
of Saka 904 succeeded is elder brother Kannapa sometime before
that date. When
exactly the latter event took place is not certain though it is known
that Sobhanarasawas already a governor of the provinces in Saka 902 (No.
45). Sobhanarasa was
succeeded by Dandanayaka Kesavarasa sometime between Saka 926 the latest
known year for the former and Saka 934 the earliest known date for the
latter (Kotavumachgi inscription). While editing the Kotavumachgi inscription of Saka 934, Mr.
R.S. Panchamukhi has shown that the Belvola and Purigere districts were
successively held by Kannapa, his younger brother Sobhanarasa,
Kesavarasa and his son Vavanarasa in the 10th and the 11th
centuries of the Christian era, under the Chalukyas.
(Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, page 64).
It may be noted that Sobhanarasa whose territory originally
consisted of three provinces, viz., Banavasi, Two-Six hundreds
and Kogali (Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, pp. 206 ff), is described in the
Gadag inscription of Saka 924 as the governor of the Belvola-300,
Purigere-300, Kundu-500 and Kukkanur-30 (No. 49), while the Yalisirur
inscription of Saka 926 adds Halasige-12, 000 but omits to specify the
Kundur and Kukkanur divisions (No. 50).
Taila
II was succeeded by his son Irivabedanga Satyasraya for whom the
earliest record in the volume bears a date in Saka 924 (No. 48).
The Yalisirur inscription (No.
50) contains an interesting information that this charter which had been
conferred in Saka 926 having been broken away, was renewed in the 13th
year of the reign of Bhulokamalla Somesvara II showing thereby how the
charitable endowments of the previous kings were maintained during the
period of the Western Chalukyas. The
renewed chart3r is called a Pratisasana.
Another
important inscription of the reign of this king is found at Lakkundi.
It is dated in Saka 929 and states that Danachintamani Attiyabbe
preferred a request to the king soon ‘after the latter’s conquest of
the entire Gurjara (country)’, for endowing a gift to the
Brahmajinalaya which she had constructed at Lokkigundi.
This is the first epigraphical reference to the conquest of the
Gurjaras by Irivabedangadeva which from the wording of the inscription
appears to have taken place a little before Saka 929, when the gift
recorded therein was made. Attiyabbe
is credited with having constructed one thousand and five hundred
Jaina temples in different parts of the territory.
Her charity and generosity are highly extolled in the
inscription. She was the daughter of mallpayya and the wife of Nagadeva,
son of Dhalla of the Vaji family and her son was Padevala Taila who at
the time of the record was governing the Maseyavadi-140 division. These details are happily corroborated by the classical poems
Ajitapurana and Gadayauddha of the poet-laurate Ranna who
flourished in the Chalukya court towards the end of the 10th
century A.D. The Ajitapurana
which, as the author declares, was composed at the instance of
Attiyabbe, the homonymous lady of the present inscription, narrates that
Mallapa evidently Mallapayya mentioned above, was the general of Taila
II, and had two of his daughters namely Attimabbe and Gundamabbe married
to Nagadeva, son of the great minister Dhalla.
To the former was born Padevala Taila whose proper name was
Anniegadeva. On the death
of the Nagedeva. Gundamabbe
ascended the pyre of her husband and died by the rite of sahagamana while
Attimabbe spent the rest of her life in piety by installing 1, 500 Jaina
images and, by her gifts, acquired the title Danachintamani.
The Gadayuddha describes the valour of Irivabedanga in
scaring away the army of the elephants of the Gurjara king, in verse 16
of the first asvasa, which fact is mentioned in the present
inscription by the expression Sakala-Gurjara-vijaya (1.52). The Lakkundi record was copied by Bahubali, son of Siripala
Setti. Its author, by the
spontaneity dignity and the majesty of style, must have been no mean
poet of his time and could very well be classed in the rank of poets
like Ranna, the author of the Gaddayuddha.
It may be noted that in the eulogy of Attimabbe given in the
present record, occurs a verse beginning with ‘Unnata-Kukkutesvara-Jinesvaranama’,
which is verbatim found in the Ajitapurana (asvasa I,
verse 61) Since this poem had been completed, as recorded in it, by Saka
915, the composer of the inscription must have been greatly influenced
by the works of his contemporary poet Ranna and copied in toto
the verse referred to above, from the Ajitapurana.
The epithet Konkana-bhayankara applied to Sobhanara,
in the House record of Saka 915 has perhaps a reference to the defeat by
Irivabedanga of Aparadita* a coastal chief, evidently of Konkan (Thana),
(Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, Part II, History of the Konkan, p. 15)
described in Chapter I, vv. 22-28 of the Gadayuddha.
It is noteworthy that Irivabedanga is given in this record the
epithet Ahavamalla which clearly shows that it was not a distinguishing biruda
of Taila II as supposed hitherto but was borne by more than one king
of the family.
After
Irivabedanga, his nephew Tribuvanamalla Vikramaditya V succeeded
to the Cahlukya throne. He is represented by two inscriptions dated in Saka 932 and
934, respectively. He was
succeeded by his younger brother Jayasimha II whose inscriptions in the
volume range in date from Saka 941 to 964.
They disclose the names of the several officers of the king
ruling over different parts of his kingdom, of whom mention may
be made of the following: - Nagavarmayya, a trusted servant of
Mahamandalesvara Bhimadeva of the Rashtrakuta family who was the
governor of the banavasi, Santalige and Kisukadu districts (No. 57)- the
family name of Bhimadeva had hitherto not been known; Mahasamanta
Dasarasa governing Maseyavadi-140 in Saka 944 (No 58); Ghateyankakara
apparently Irivanolambadhiraja Ghateyankakara, who according to the Alur
inscription of Saka 933 had married a daughter of Irivabedangadeva (Ep.
Indi., Vol. XVI, p. 27) governing Nolambavadi and Karividi-30; her
name is given here (No. 61) as Mahadevi who in Saka 946 was
administering Maravolal; Vavanarasa, son of Dandanayaka Kesava governing
the Belvola and Purigere districts in Saka 950 (No. 65);
Mahasamanta Nagavarmarasa called also Yadavanarayana in Saka 957
(No. 66); Mahasamanta Mailaraa administering pagalatti in Saka 954 (No.
67); Ereyamma of the Ratta family (No. 74) in Saka 962 and Jagadekamalla
Nolamba-Pallava Permanadi governing five villages in Maseyavadi140, in
Saka 964 (No. 75). In one
of the records (No. 68), king Jayasimha is given the epithets
Trailokyamalla and Vikramasimha, not known hitherto as having been borne
by him. We know that his
son Somesvara I assumed by more than one king of the family and that the
occurrence of mere epithets could not be considered as a criterion in
fixing the period of undated records (see above under Rashtrakutas, p.v)
Of the 29 records belonging to the reign of Trailokyamalla
Ahavamalla (Somesvara I), the earliest bears the Saka date 966 while the
latest is dated in Saka 989. The
following important points are gathered from these epigraphs.
The Mugad inscription (No.
78) of Mahamandalesvara Cha tayyadeva of the Kadamba family extends the
period of the chief’s rule up to atleast Saka 966 (=A.D. 1044) i.e.,
nearly 36 years beyond the latest known date for him, ie., A.D. 1008
(Fleet’s Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 565).
The Bagevadi inscription (No. 93) mentions the king as ruling
from Vagghapura in
Karahada-nadu and introduces Mailaladevi as his senior queen in Saka
971, i.e., A.D. 1048-49. Since
Chandrikadevi was the chief queen of the king till A.D. 1047-48, it is
possible that Mailaladevi was raised to that position on the death of
the former which must probably have taken place in about A.D. 1048. An
inscription (No. 85) at Sirur in the bagalkot talk of the Nijapur
district, dated in Saka 971 opens with the praise of the goddess of
mahalakshmi at Kollapura (Kolhapur) and describes the deity as riding
over the lion-vehicle. It
introduces a hitherto unknown queen of Trailokyamalla by name Liladevi
and states that her mother’s guruvara (probably father) was
Marasingha-prabhu, a descendant of Prabhu Rajavarman who was a votary of
the goddess Mahalakshmi. Thus
Trialokyamalla had five wives of whom four are already brought to our
notice, viz., Bachaladevi, Chandrikadevi, Mailaladevi, and
Ketaladevi (Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 438).
Whether Marasimgha was her grandfather or a preceptor (guru)
of her mother is not clear though the latter alternative is precluded by
his description as an administrator (prabhu) and not as a
spiritual personage. He
also figures in another mutilated and damaged epigraph of the same
place, dated in Saka 985 (No. 99)
The
Nandavadige inscription of this king (No. 103) introduces a chief with
the epithets Mahamandalesvara and Bhavana-Gandhavarana and states
that the latter constructed several temples and basadis in
different parts of the Chalukya Empire, of which mention may be made of
the Mahasrimanta-basadi which was apparently constructed to perpetuate
the memory of Mahasrimanta or Mahasirivanta, an officer under
Rashtrakuta Krishna II mentioned above.
It is worthy of note that the inscription records among other
gifts, an endowment of 40 mattar of land to Dhoroja for
panchamahasabha. From
ties, it is evident that the pancha-mahasabda was a rare
privilege enjoyed by persons of high rank and office and that it
consisted in the sounding of five great sounds by pipers, etc.,
corresponding to the modern ‘salute of guns’ enjoyed by Chiefs,
Governors, Governor-General, etc.,
Accordingly Dhoroja who, as the context suggests, was a piper,
was given land to maintain this honour for the chief.
Among
the records of Bhuvanaikamalladeva published here it may be
mentioned that the Pattadakal inscription (No. 110) discloses the fact
that the early Chalukya kinds celebrated their patta-bandha
ceremony at the town of Kisuvolal in consequence of which the place
became famous. It thus
explains the modern appellation of Pattadakal given to it.
The Nidgundi inscription (No. 117) which is dated in the last
year of his reign, i.e., Saka 998 reveals the existence of a Chalukya
princess named Suggaladevi, the daughter of Ahavamalla Somesvara I and
younger sister of Bhuvanaikamalla, who was married to Mahamandalesvara
Singannadeva, the Governor of Kisukadu-70 division.
Suggaladevi is introduced as administering the agrahara Nidugundi
in Kisukadu-70.
In
this brief historical introduction, attention has been drawn only to the
main political and historical details referred to in the inscriptions.
Though the important points connected with these inscriptions
have already been placed before the scholars in the Archaeological
Survey Reports for the years 1926-30, there is still a wide scope
for the study of these records in regard to the religious, social and
educational activities that were current in the early period and it is
hoped that the scholarly public will derive benefit by a careful and
detailed study of these epigraphs.
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