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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI size of the letters is 1.5." The characters belong to the Nāgarī alphabet. As regards individual letters, we may not that kh consists of two triangles joined by a horizontal line at the top ; th shows a vertical stroke on the right ; r exhibits two forms,―one with a loop as in krldaram, 1.3 and the other without it in –Śavara-, 1.1. Rai Bahadur Hiralal conjecturally referred the characters of this inscription to the 8th or 9th century A.C., but they appear to be somewhat later and may be of the 10th century A.C. the language is Sanskrit. The record is written in prose throughout. It is written incorrectly and contains some mistakes of sandhi (as in atō arthē for atō=’rthē in 1.4) and of gender (as in śapath=ēdam for śapathō=’yam in the same line.) The only orthographical peculiarity that calls for notice is that b is throughout denoted by the sign for v, see -Śavara- and -Valādhikrita, both in 1.1, and –vrahma-stamba- in 1.2. The record opens with ōm namah and refers to a Commander of the army (Balādhikrita) of Śabara. His name, which is partly mutilated, appears to be Śiva. The object of the inscription seems to be to record the gift of a cess on the threshing floor together with a granary to some ascetic residing at the temple in the settlement of Brāhmanas for the benefit of (the god) Śankaranārāyana, to whose temple the inscribed stone was apparently affixed. The record ends with the imprecation that whoever would offend against it would incur the sin of the slaughter of a Brāhmana.
The preserved portion of the inscription contains no date, but as stated above, it can,
on palaeographic evidence, be referred to the 10th century A.C. The illustrious Śabara
mentioned here is perhaps identical with the Śabara, named Simha, mentioned in the fragmentary
stone inscription found at Bhilsā, to which Dr. F.E. Hall has called attention in
the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Vol. XXXI, p. III, n. 2. The latter inscription
states that Vāchaspati of the Kaundinya gōtra, who was a minister of the king Krishna,
after defeating the lord of Chēdi and slaying a Śabara named Simha, placed the king of
the Rālā mandala and Rōdapādi on the throne and repaired to the temple of Bhāillasvāmin
at Vidiśā near Bhilsā, where he composed a stōtra in praise of the god.1 From
the mention of the lord of Chēdi and the Śabara chief Simha together in the same line,
Dr. Hall conjectured that the latter was the Chēdian generalissimo. The Śabara of the present
inscription too was no doubt subject to the contemporary Chēdi or Kalachuri king;
for a much defaced inscription at Bargaon, to which General Cunningham2 has drawn attention,
refers to a Kalachuri king or kings. But as the present inscription mentions a commander
of the forces of this Śabara himself, it seems that he was a feudatory chief and
not a mere generalissimo of the Chēdi king. This fragmentary inscription at Bhilsā is also
undated, but the date of the king Krishna, whose minister was Vāchaspati, can be approximately
fixed on other evidence. At Maser, a village about twenty-five miles north of
Bhilsā, Mr. M. B. Garde, Director of Archæology, Gwalior State, discovered in 1930
a fragmentary inscription in two pieces. It mentions one Narasimha of the Śulki (or Chālukya)
family, who at the command of Krishnarāja initiated the wives of Kalachuri kings
into widowhood.3 As Kēsari, the son of Narasimha was, according to the inscription,
appointed Tantrādhipa (Minister of Home Affairs) by Vākpati-Muñja) (circa 972-995
A.C.), Krishnarāja can be placed about 950 A.C. This conclusion is corroborated
by the date V. 1039 (982 A.C.) of a pilgrim record which Mr. Garde discovered on a pillar 1 See ‘Chēd-īśam samarē vijitya Śabaram sambritya simhābvayam | Rālā-mandala-Rōdapādy-avanipō (pam)
bhūmyām pratishthāpya cha || Dēvam drashtum=ih-āgatō rachitavām(n) stōtram pavitram param | śrīmat-Krishna-nrip-
aika-mantri-pada-bhāk-Kaundinya-Vāchaspatih || cited by F.E. Hall in J. A. S. B., Vol. XXXI, p. 111, n. 2. CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM
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