Epigraphia Indica Vol 22

SR No.: 032576
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1933
Total Pages: 408
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 105

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXII.
According to Bühleri Lāta' corresponds to what is now known as Central and Southern Gujarat
the country between Māhi and Konkaņa, but he held from the traceable localities mentioned in the Kāvi and Barodā inscriptions that Lāta was confined in the 9th century to much narrower limits. But we know from the Nausāri plates that the Gujarāt Rāshtrakūtas ruled over a tract of country lying between the two rivers Mahi in the north and the Narmadā in the south.
Indraraja had two sons, namely, Karkkarāja and Govindarāja. Karkka had given several grants of land during his life time and four of them including the present have so far come to light, namely, the Barodā plates the Nausäri plates, the Surát plates and the present one which may be called for the sake of convenience as the Brāhmaṇapalli grant. The Barodă plates are dated in Saka 734, the Nausäri in Saka 738, the Surāt in Saka 743 and the Brahmanapalli in Saka 746. It appears, therefore, that Karkka &scended the throne sometime before Saka 734 and continued to rule till 746 or a little later. But from the above it cannot be assumed that Karkka's reign was entirely uneventful or even continuous, for in the Saka year 736 we find his younger brother Govindarīja giving away a village near Barodā as a bhūpāla showing that he ruled over Central Gujarät in the same year. The second grant? made by him is dated in Saka 749 or fourteen years later. Now, this gives rise to a chronological tangle which has not boen satisfactorily explained by any writer of Gujarat history up till now. The discovery of the present inscription which is the last in the Karkka series of grants, so far known, makes it all the more imperative to examine the question more thoroughly.
Two explanations of this unique circumstance may be offered. Several inscriptions of the Gujarat Branch of the Rashtrakūtas state that Karkka restored the kingdom of the Rashtrakūtas of Mänyakhēta from the hostile claimants and placed the rightful owner Amoghavarsha on the throne'. This event must have taken place sometime in 736 Saka (A. D. 814) because we find the name of Amõghavarsha mentioned in a charter of Saka 73841 which is perhaps the first during his rule so far obtained. Karkkarāja who was ruling over Gujarat naturally had to leave his own kingdom to assist Amoghavarsha of the main line of the Rashtrakūtas, and probably during his absence he directed bis younger brother to look after his dominions. He must have subBequently come back, and we find him issuing a second charter in the year Saka 7381. The inscriptions issued by his younger brother both in Saka 735 and 749 testify to his great devotion and loyalty towards his elder brother Karkkarājali,
The other explanation that can be offered in solution of the difficulty above referred to, is by assuming that the younger brother definitely became hostile in about 735 Saka towards his elder brother when he had not quite settled down and with the help of adventurers overthrew him by treachery. Karkka thus was obliged to go back to the south to seek the help of the Rashtrakūtas of the main line at Mänyakhēta. He must have there discovered a conspiracy to deprive the legitimate claimant Amöghavarsha from obtaining the throne, amongst his relatives. He naturally supported the rightful claimant and by his prowegs set him up on the ancestral throne, and as a mark of favour obtained from Amoghavarsha the necessary help to overthrow his
* Ind. Ahti, Vol. V, p. 145.
*J. B. B.R.A. 8., Vol. XX, p. 140, 11. 60-61. Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, pp. 156 f.
.J. B. B. R. A. S., Vol. XX, pp. 131 ff. . Above, Vol. XXI, pp. 133 f.
• Torkhodo plates (above, Vol. III, pp. 63 ff.). *Kivi plates of Govindarāja, Ind. Ant., Vol. V, 144. Beec.9. Baroda plates of Dhruvarăja I, Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, pp. 199 f.
Ibid. ........ forange for at f erg SVT II # Dr. Altekar places this ovent between A. D. 817 and 821 (abovo, Vol. XXI, p. 188).-Ed.] 11 The Nausäri plates J. B. B. R. A. S., Vol. XX, p. 135. 11 Ibid. 1 [ Dr. Altekar also has come to a similar conclusion, above, p. 68.-Ed.]