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THE EASTERN CHALUKYAS
Annaprāśa of his son Vishṇuvardhana.
Journal Bhārati (Vol. XVI, pp. 613 ff) by Mr. B. V. Krishna Rao. It registers
a grant of land in the village Ēlūru in Vēṅgi-vishaya to the Brahman Śrīdhara-
śarman, son of Venneśarman and grandson of Vishṇuśarman of the Bhāradvāja-
sagōtra who was a native of Ayyāvoḷe (Aihoḷe), on the occasion of the annaprāśa ceremony of prince Vishṇuvardhana. This shows that Vishṇuvardhana should
have been born about A. D. 682. Evidently Vishṇuvardhana is the prince i. e.
the second son of Maṅgi-Yuvarāja, who came to the throne in A. D. 709 as
Vishṇuvardhana III. The present grant would thus show that he was
aged about 27 years when he ascended the throne and that he must have lived up
to the age of 64. A point not noticed by Mr. Krishna Rao needs mention here.
to the plate on its written side appears to be a palimpsest showing a few letters
of an erased grant of the same dynasty. It reveals the commencement of a
charter containing the expressions varāha-lāñchhanānām aśvamedha etc.
Guṇaga-Vijayāditya III.
12. The next inscription is of Guṇaga-Vijayāditya III engraved on a set of copper-plates (C. P. No. 2) secured for examination from the Superintendent. Government Museum Madras. This has also been
published in Bhārati (Vol. I. pp. 90ff) and in
the Journal of Andhra Historical Research Society (Vol. V, pp. 101 ff). This is said
to have been originally discovered in the village Sātulūru in the Bandar taluk of
the Kistna district. The set consists of 7 plates strung together on a ring
attached to a circular seal which is the most unique of its kind. On the counter sunk surface of the seal are cut in relief the usual figures of a varāha, an aṅkuśa, a
lotus, the Sun and the Moon and the legend Śrī Tribhuvanāṅkuśa. At the place
where the ends of the ring are secured are figures in bold relief of Gaṇēśa and
Lakshmī, back to back, and flanked on either side by a yāḷi inside the mouth of
which the ends of the ring are soldered. The bottom of the seal is shaped like a
full-blown lotus with its petals spread out all sides (See plate II). The inscription records the grant, by the king at the request of his (half) brother Nṛipakāma, of the village Śāntagrāma, free of all taxes, to 100 Brāhmaṇas on the day of a solar
eclipse. The genealogical portion of this inscription is of interest as, in addition
to the usual succession list of the king’s ancestors with the length of their reigns,
which is however slightly at variance in the case of Vishṇuvardhana III and
Vijayāditya II, and their achievements, it sums up in a statement that among
the predecessors there were five kings bearing the name Vishṇuvardhana, two
named Jayasiṁha, one named Maṅgi-Yuvarāja and that the donor himself was
the third king of the name of Vijayāditya. It is significant that the record
makes no reference to Maṅgi-Yuvarāja II (son of Kokkili), who issued the
Koṇḍukavilaṅgavāḍa grant (Ep. Rep, for 1909, p. 105). Vijayāditya III is stated
to have ruled over the Dakshiṇāpatha country together with the Trikaliṅga-dēśa.
It is also stated of this king that he planted before his palace the symbols of the
Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, the Moon and the Sun and also the pālikētana. He is
also given the biruda Vīramakaradhvaja in this inscription. The grant is very
indifferently worded. So far as we know this is among the earliest Eastern
Chālukyan grants giving a long list of Brahman donees with their gōtras and
shares.
Dānārṇava─his subordinates of the Mudugoṇḍa-Chāḷukya-vaṁsa.
12. From Mr. Manda Narasimham of Chicacole in the Vizagapatam district
was obtained a set of copper-plates (C. P. No. 26) belonging to king Dānārṇava, son of Bhīmarāja and half-brother of
Ammarāja (II) (Vijayāditya VI). Though
the date portion of the inscription is
partially mutilated, the chronogram for 892 (dvi-nava-vasu) remains intact, and we
can safely assume Śaka 892, which was the very first year of the king’s reign, as
the date of this record. The inscription also gives the names of three
more kings (or chiefs), Bṛihad-Bhīma, his son Kali-Vishṇuvardhana and his son
Bhīma, whose relationship to the king is not however clear, as the portion of
the plate containing this information is unfortunately mutilated. The last-mentioned of these is stated to have conferred, under order of the reigning king, the governorship of Pottapi-nāḍu along with certain insignia of the office, such as a
pair of parasols, etc., upon two persons named Malliyarāja, viz., that containing the
the Mudugoṇḍa-Chāūky-vaṁsa. One of the plates, viz., that containing the
date is a clear palimpsest, Mr. Narasimham has given an indifferent version of
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