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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI Rēvā on the occasion of a lunar eclipse which occurred on Saturday, the full-moon tithi of Āśvina in the year 918 (expressed in numerical figures only). The date must, of course, be referred to the Kalachuri era. The done was the Brāhmana Dēlhana, the son of Dāmōdara of the Agastya gōtra with three pravaras.1 Among the officials to whom the order is addressed occur the names of the Mahārājñī Kēlhanadēvī,2 the Rājaguru Vimalaśiva, the Dharmapradhāna Pandita Rāghava, the Sāndhivigrahika Purushōttama, the Pratīhāra Kamalasimha and the Dushtasādhya Padmasimha. Some of these figure in other records also. Thus the Rājaguru Vimalaśiva is mentioned in the Jabalpur stone inscription (No. 64) and in the Dhurēti plates (No. 72) and the Sāndhivigrahika Purushōttama in the Kumbhī plates (Appendix No. 4). In the enumeration of the rights, privileges and exemptions of the done there occur some technical terms, the exact signification of which is not yet known. This portion is repeated verbatim in the later Kumbhī plates of Vijayasimha. As all the verses descriptive of Jayasimha’s ancestors down to Yaśahkarna are repeated here from older records like the Khairhā plates, they furnish no additional historical information. We are next told that Yaśahkarna was succeeded by Gayākarna. The latter had, from his queen Alhanadēvī, a son named Narasimhadēva. His younger brother Jayasimhadēva, who succeeded him, is the donor of the present plates. The verses descriptive of these princes also contain mere conventional praise and are altogether devoid of historical interest.
The importance of the present inscription lies mainly in the data it furnishes for testing Dr. Kielhorn’s conclusion regarding the beginning of the Kalachuri year. According to Kielhorn’s final view,3 the Kalachuri era commenced on the first tithi of the bright fortnight of the pūrnimānta Āśvina in 248 A.C. As the bright fortnight of Āśvina thus fell in the beginning of the Kalachuri year, we should get the Christian equivalent of a date in that fortnight by adding 247 or 248 to the particular Kalachuri year according as the latter is current or expired. Thus the date of the present grant,---Saturday, the full- moon day of Āśvina with a lunar eclipse in the (Kalachuri) year 918,---should fall in 1165 A.C. if the Kalachuri year 918 was current, and in 1166 A.C. if it was expired. But neither of these would suit ; for, in the former year, the tithi fell on Tuesday (the 21st September) and in the latter on Monday (the 10the October). Nor was there a lunar eclipse on that tithi in either of these years. On the other hand, if we suppose that the Kalachuri year began in some month later than Āśvina, say in Kārttika, the date of the present grant would regularly correspond, for the expired year 918, to Saturday, the 30th September 1167 A.C., on which day the pūrnimā ended 13 h. after mean sunrise and there was a lunar eclipse as stated in the present grant. This date, therefore, is clearly adverse to Dr. Kielhorn’s conclusion regarding the beginning of the Kalachuri year. It shows that the year must have commenced on some date later than the full-moon tithi of Āśvina. As for the Geographical names occurring in the present grant, Tripurī, Rēvā,
Karnāvatī and Kuntala have already been identified. Agarā, the donated village, is
1 The pravaras are not mentioned in the present inscription. They are variously enumerated by the
authorities on pravaras. Some give them as Āgastya, Dārdhachyuta and Aidhmavāha, while some others
Substitute Sāmbhavāha in place of Aidhmavāha. For other enumerations, see Gōtrapravaranibandhakadamba,
pp. 86 ff. CORPUS INCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM
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