Epigraphia Indica Vol 25

SR No.: 032579
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1939
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 23 MB

Page 320

No. 26.)
DATE OF THE PANDAVA KINGS OF SOUTHERN KOSALA.
267
perhaps desirable for the purpose of the present note to reproduce here the genealogy derived from these inscriptions :
Suryaghosba
Udayana
Indrabala
son'
Nannadēva.
Ilānadeva
son
son
son
Bhavadēva Ranakesarin
Chintadurga
Mahāśiva-Tivars
Chandragupta
daughter =Nannadēva
Harshagupta -Vasată, d. of Suryavarman of Magadha
Mahāśivagupta Bālārjuna
Ranakësarin
The date of these kings is anything but certain. Kielhorn tentatively proposed to place them in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. on some a priori grounds. This date has been responsible for a theory that has gained some popularity, viz., the Chandragupta mentioned in the Sanjān plates of Amõghavarsha as having been defeated by the Rashtrakūta king Govinda III (c. A. D. 793-814) is to be identified with the Pandava king of that name. It is overlooked that the Sanjān plates deal with the conquests of Govinda in a strictly chronological and regional order (more certainly than the Allahābād pillar inscription of Samudragupta). The mention of Chandragupta along with Nāgabhata and the separate recounting of Kõsala make it definite that it is not the Pandava king who is intended there."
Of late some scholars have tried to establish that Tivaradēva, an important king of the Pāņdava line, ruled in the first half of the sixth century A.D.10 The object of this note is to show that such an early dating is not possible on palæographical grounds.
A main contention of the latter set of scholars is that Süryavarman, the Varman king of Magadha whose daughter Vāsaţā was married to Harshagupta the nephew of Tivara, was no other than the Maukhari of that name, who, as a prince, rebuilt a temple of Siva in
1 It is not definitely known whether he was an ancestor of Udayana.
He is probably referred to under the veil of a metaphor in the Bhandak inscription, J.R.A.8., 1905, p. 631, n. 4.
* There is nothing to show that he ever became king.
I am inclined to think that Nannidhirkja mentioned in the Bhandak inscription (loc. cit., p. 624) is no other than this Nannadeva, his mention being necessary owing to the fact that he was ruling when bis cousin Bhavadeva repaired the monasteries mentioned in the inscription.
He is referred to as nripa in line 10 of the Bhåndak inscription.
• He is probably the elder brother of Chandragupta referred to in line 5 of the Sirpur inscription, above, Vol. XI, p. 190.
Above, Vol. IV, p. 257. . Above, Vol. XVIII, p. 240.
Cf. Mirashi, above, Vol. XXII, p. 21, n. 5. 10 Mirashi, above, Vol. XXII, p. 19; Mirashi and Pandeya, above, Vol. XXIII, p. 113.