South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI

After two more verses,––one in praise of Brahman and the other in that of poets’ speech,─ begins a description of the ancestors of the reigning king Karna. As in the Goharwa plates, his pedigree is traced to the moon, but the first historical personage mentioned after such mythical and legendary heroes as Budha, Purūravas, Bharata and Haihaya is Lakshmanarāja who is evidently identical with the homonymous prince mentioned as the son and successor of Yuvarājadēva I in the Bilhāri stone inscription and the Banaras plates of Karna. The description of this king and of his successors down to Gāngēyadēva is, in the main, given as in the Goharwa plates. In connection with Gāngēyadēva, however, the draft used here slightly differs from that of the Goharwa plates. Of the four verses devoted to his description, three (viz., vv. 18, 20 and 21) occur in the latter record, but one of them (v. 20) is employed there to describe his son Karna. Verse 19, which is not known to occur anywhere else, describes in a conventional manner Gāngēyadēva’s victory near the sea-coast. This may refer to his campaign in Orissa which is specifically mentioned in the preceding verse (18).

Gāngēyadēva’s son and successor Karna is next eulogized in as many as twelve verses. Of these, six (viz., 22, 24, 26, 30, 31 and 32) occur in the Goharwa plates. Of the remaining six, three contain a description of his achievements. Verse 23 states that ‘the ship of the king of Eastern Country, being driven by the storm of unparalleled arrogance, was submerged in the ocean of his (i.e., Karna’s) forces, its joints being rent by (dashing against) the promontories of the mountains of his elephants.’ Stripped of its metaphor, the verse means that Karna achieved a victory over the king of the Eastern Country, who lost his life in the encounter. This probably refers to the overthrow of the contemporary Chandra king,¹ after which Karna seems to have placed Vajravarman in charge of newly acquired territory.

Verse 25 refers to Karna’s conquests in the south. It states that ‘overrunning the district of Kāñchī, he thoroughly enjoyed the southern region, in which the fortune of the Kuntala was shaken by forcible seizure and the low Pallavas were destroyed, as though covering the hips of a woman, he was ravishing her, the beauty of whose hair was marred by forcible seizure and whose tender lower lip was wounded in kissing.’ The description here is evidently dictated by the poet’s penchant for double entendre. The earliest verse of this type is traditionally ascribed to Mayūra and is taken by some scholars to contain references to Harsha’s expedition in the south. In later times, poets composed such verses containing puns on names of countries to flatter their patrons in utter disregard of historical facts. For instance, three such verses, besides the aforementioned one ascribed to Mayūra, have been collected in the Saduktikarnāmrita of Śrīdharadāsa. It is, therefore, difficult to say how far the description in verse 25 of the present inscription can be taken to be historically true. But Karna’s conflicts with the contemporary Chōla king, who is probably meant here as the ruler of Kāñchī, and the Chālukya king of Kuntala at least are substantiated by other evidence.²

Verse 27 states that ‘when Karna approached (the Gurjara country), tears mixed with collyrium flowed on the cheeks of Gurjara women living in the neighbourhood and
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¹It may be noted in this connection that verse 12 of the Bhērāghāt inscription mentions that when Karna gave full play to his heroism the Vanga trembled with the Kalinga. The contemporary Chandra king is evidently referred to as the Vanga here; for the Chandras were ruling over Vanga, or Eastern Bangal.
²See verse 21 of the Karanbēl inscription of Jayasimhadēva, below, Appendix, No. 3 and VDC. Canto I, śl. 102-3.