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INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI
noted by it proper sign only in the form babhūva in 11.7,22,23 etc. The sigh of the upadhmānīya occurs, though wrongly, in niḥpaṁa-, 1.7 and vā(bā)ḥ-paih-, 1.21. The language is Sanskrit. Except for the customary svasti in the beginning, and the date and maṅgalaṁ
mahā-śrīḥ towards the close, the inscripition is metrically composed throughout. The
verses, which are 54 in all, are not numbered. The composer of the praśasti (as the record is called in 1.25), though he claims proficiency in the science of word and sense, had
but an imperfect command over the Sanskrit language. His style is obscure, his compounds uncouth, and his meaning uncertain1 in several places. Notice, for instance, the
compounds nitāmta-vāhuḥ-, 1.6 and Vāstavya-vṛitti-pratham-aika-liṅgaṁ, 1.21, the meaning of
which is obscure. He has used verbal forms of the potential mood in the sense of the
present tense in several places see, e.g., rekshēt, 1.6, āndōlayēt, 1.9. His unsuccessful attempt
to embellish his style with figures of sense will be pointed out in the notes to the text and
the translation. As regards orthography, the sign for v is everywhere used to denote b
except in the form babhūva, the dental s for the palatal ś in several places, e.g., in darsanānt,
1.2, śasinaḥ, 1.7 and vice vice versa in vāṇ-āmbhaśi, 1.12; y is employed for j in yusḥtaḥ, 1.22;
one of the two similarly sounding consonants is wrongly elided in ujvālayē, 1.13 and prādā=tripada, 1.10; similarly the visarga is omitted in some places to suit the metre;
finally, the sign of the anunāsika is used in place of the anusvāra , generally when followed by
v or s, see śrōṇῑm vidhiand –girām vasan, both in 1.16, śit-āḿśu, 1.8; but see also laṁkāṁ 1.10.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of Vijayasiṁhadēva (called Vijayadēva
in line 3), evidently of the Later Kalachuri Dynasty, who ruled at Tripurī on the
Narmadā. The object of it is to record the construction of a tank by Malayasiṁha who was probably a feudatory chief of Vijayasiṁha
The inscription opens with a verse in praise of Mañjughōsha, the Buddhist god of
learning. There is, however, nothing peculiarly Buddhistic about the present inscription. The composer was not a Buddhist, as he describes himself as always engaged in
the study of the Vēdas. It is again doubtful if his patron Malayasiṁha, who caused the
tank to be excavated, was a follower of Buddhism; for verse 27 speaks of a temple of Rāma
built by him. Verses 5 and 6 refer to the illustrious Vijayadēva (evidently identical
with Vijayasiṁha, the lord of Chēdi, mentioned in v. 12) who was ruling at Tripuri on the
Narmadā. He was born in the family of Karṇa. The poet then turns to the pedigree
of Malayasiṁha. The first ancestor named here is Jāṭa, who was appointed the head of
a vishaya (district), and by the might of whose arms the illustrious (Kalachuri) king karṇadēva is said to have vanquished his foes. His son was Yaśaḥpāla who was a devoted
councilor of Gayākarṇa. He had two sons Padmasiṁha and Chandrasiṁha. One of
them probably Chandrasiṁha³ who the younger of the two, became the pre-eminent
Home Minister of the Chēdi king Vijayasiṁha. The only historical information that
can be gleaned from the lengthy eulogy of Malayasiṁha is that he defeated Salakshaṇa
and Vikrama (Vikramāditya ?).4 The battle in which the former is said to have lost his
______________________
1See below, p. 356, n. 1
2See below, p. 353, n. 15.,
3As it stands, the text makes Padmasiṁha the minister of Vijayasiṁha, but this seems improbable
because his grandson Malayasiṁha was a contemporary and feudatory of the same Kalachuri king. Perhaps Chandrasiṁb-āvarajō in verse 11 is a mistake for Chandrasiṁhō-varajō, and it was Chandrasiṁha, the
younger brother of Padmasiṁha, who was the Home Minister. There is not much improbability in his
being a contemporary of his elder brother’s grandson. Verse 12 would thus contain a description of Chandrasiṁha. This would also satisfactorily explain why Padmasiṁha’s name is repeated in the next verse.
4Banerji took no notice of this Vikrama.
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