South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY CHALUKYAS OF GUJARAT

Jayasinha-, 1.14 and –chatvārinśad-, 1.36; and the consonant following r and that preceding y and r are doubled in some places, see Kārmmaņēyō-, 1.3, -anuddhyātō, 1.11 and –chakkra-, 1.15

‘The plates were issued by the Yuvaraja Sryasraya-Siladitya from his victorious camp at Kusumesvara near Karmaneya. The record opens with the verse in praise of the boar incarnation of Vishnu, which generally occurs at the beginning of the inscriptions of the Early Chalukyas. The next verse eulogizes Satyasrayavallabha, the illustrious Vinayaditya. In the prose portion which follows, we are told that in the family of the Chalukyas¹ there was the Maharaja Satyasraya, the illustrious Pulakesivallabha, whose head was sanctified by the avabhritha bath in the Bahusuvarnaka and Asvamedha sacrifices, and who obtained the war-standard of the illustrious Harshavardhana, the lord of the entire Uttarapatha (North India). His son was the Maharaja, the illustrious Vikramaditya-Satyasrayavallabha, who exterminated the family of the Pallava ruler of Kañchi, and conquered the three kingdoms.² His son was the illustrious Prithivivallabha, Maharajadhiraja, Paramesvara, Bhattaraka Vinayaditya-Satyasraya. His paternal uncle was Dharasraya, the illustrious Jayasimha, who attained pure fame by his victories in many battels, and who was a devout worshipper of Mahesvara. His son was the Yuvaraja Sryasraya-Siladitya who made the present grant.

The first three princes mentioned in ll.3-12 of the present inscription with the title Mahārāja or Mahārājādhirāja are evidently Pulakēśin II, his son and successor, Vikramāditya I, and the son and successor of the latter, Vinayāditya, of the Early Chālukya Dynasty. The last of these, who is identical with the Vinayāditya glorified in the second verse in the beginning of this record, was clearly the suzerain of Dharāśraya-Jayasimha and his son the crown prince Śryāśraya-Śīlāditya, when the present grant was made. The title Yuvarāja of the latter prince and the legend Śrī-Dharāśraya on the seal indicate that Jayasimha was then living and Śryāśraya was making the grant on his behalf.

The object of the present inscription is to record the grant of a field situated on the eastern boundary of the village Ōsumbhalā in the āhāra and vishaya of Kārmaņēya to the Brāhmaņa, the dīkshita Matrīśvara, the son of the Brāhmaņa Naņņasvāmin, who belonged to Sāņdilya gōtra and the community of the Chaturvēdins of Kārmaņēya and was a religious student of the Kāņva sākhā of the Adhvaryu, i.e., Yajurvēda. In connection with the boundaries of the field is mentioned the village Allūraka. The purpose of the grant was to provide for the maintenance of the five great sacrifices. The Dūtaka was the Balādhikrita Ammagōpa. The charter was written by Balādhikŗita Chella.

The grant is dated in ll.36-3, both in words and numerical symbols, on the fifteenth tithi (paurņamāsī) of the bright fortnight of Śrāvaņa in the year 443 of an unspecified era. As the known dates of Vinayāditya range from 687 to 695 A.C., the date of the present grant must be referred to the Kalachuri era. According to the epoch of 248-49 A.C., it would correspond, for the expired3 year 443, to the 23rd July 693 A.C. It does not admit of verification for want of the necessary details.

Of the localities mentioned in the present grant, Kārmaņēya was identified by Pandit Bhagvanlal⁴ with Kamrēj, about 10 m. north-east of Surat. Further, Dr. Bühler has shown⁵ that Ōsumbhalā is modern Umbhēl, about 7 miles south of Kamrēj, and
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¹ The dynastic name occurs as Chalukya in this and the next grant (No. 30).
² These were the Chēra, Chōla and Pāņdya kingdoms of South India.
³ If the year is applied as current, the date would correspond to the 2nd August 692 A.C.
⁴ P. V. O. C., p. 215. Kammaņijja, the Prakrit form of the place-name, occurs in the Bagumrā plates (two sets) of Indra III, Ep. Ind., Vol. IX, pp. 32 and 36.
⁵ Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, p. 198.