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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
which we have here before us. Besides, tradition makes both poets live under the king Lakshmanagena; and if Umapatidhara was an older contemporary of Jayadeva, he may well have witnessed the reign of Lakshmanasena's grandfather Vijayasena, and in that case nothing is more likely than that he should have composed this eulogy on the earlier members of the Sena family.
The proper object of the inscription is to record (in verses 26-31) that the king Vijayasena built a magnificent temple of the god Siva, under the name of Pra. dyumnesvara; and by way of introduction the inscription furnishes the following short account of the king and his ancestors :
In the lunar race (verse 3) were certain rulers of the south (dakshindtya), Vira. sena and others (verse 4), in whose family, called the Sena family, there was born Samantasena, who, after he had been engaged in wars in the south, more especially in Karņaţa, towards the end of his days retired to the sacred hermitages on the banks of the Ganges (verses 5-9). His son was Hemantasena (verses 10-13), whose wife, the maha. rájñi Yabodevt (verse 14), bore to him the prince Vijayasena (verse 16). Vijayasena is eulogised as having defeated and imprisoned, besides others, the Kings Nånga and Vira, and assailed or conquered the kings of Gauda, Kamarûpa and Kalinga (verse 20); and it is intimated (verse 22) that his fleet on an expedition of conquest had once been sailing up the Ganges.-Of the warriors or princes here mentioned, Virasena clearly is a mythical being, comparable, e.g., to the Arjuna in the genealogy of the Kalachuri rulers of Chedi; and the Sena family really began with Samantasena, whose name would show him to have been originally a tributary chief or dependent of some other sovereign. On Nanya see my note on verse 20, below.
Our inscription is not dated, but it may be assigned with confidence to the end of the eleventh century A.D. According to the Tarpan-dight oopper-plate inscription, Vijayasena was succeeded by his son Ballâlasena,' and Ballalasena by his son Lakshma. nasena. Lakshmanasena was the founder of an era, which undoubtedly dates from the beginning of his reign, and which, as I have tried to show elsewhere, commenced in
• See the extract from a commentary on Gitagovinda, i, 4, in Lassen's edition, p. 72, 'Lakshmanasemasya dmdjikda varnayati;' the first note on Govardhana's Aryasaptafuti, in the Kdvyamdid : Professor Peterson's edition of Vallabhadeva's Subhashitdvalt, Introduction, p. 38; Merutunya'. Prabandhachintamani, p. 289; and Professor Aufrecht in Zeitschrift D. M. G., vol. XL, p. 142.
• Journal 41. Soc. Beng., vol. XLIV, part I, p. 11.
According to Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, Notices of Sanskrit Mss., vol. I, p. 161, BallAlasena in the Ddnasdgara calls himself the son of Vijayaren, and grandson of Hemantasens; and according to the same authority, the Danaadgara was composed in A.D. 1097. These statements I am unable to verify.
• See Indian Antiquary, vol. XIX, p. 6. My proofs are shortly the following:
(") According to Abul-Fazl (Jour. 11. Soc. Beng., vol. LVII, part I, p. 2) the difference between a year of the Lakob manasena era and the corresponding Saka year is 1041 years.
According to Dr. Rajendralal Mitra'. Noticos o Sanskrit MSS., vol. VI, p. 19, MS. of the Swrititaltodmsita is dated "La-sam 606 Saká 1646 l."
() Taking the Laksmapaneda year to be a southern year and the era to bave commenced on the 7th Optober, 4. D. 1119, the following six dates from an inscription and M88. work out satisfactorily, thus:
La. san 74 (expired), Vaikba-vadi 12 Gurad = Thursday, 19th May, A. D. 1194 La. sam 817 (expired), Chaitra-budi 1 Gurau = Thursday, 7th March, A.D. 1437. La. sam 876 (expired), Pausba-vadi 13 Budhe - Wednesday, 18th January, A. D. 1496. La sa 399 (expired), Vriflkba vadi 4 Chandre = Monday, 18th April, A. D. 1519. La. sam 424 (expired), Pausha-sudi 10 Bukre = Friday, 4th January, A.D. 1644. LA. sam 488 (current), Karttika-vadi 7 Sakre = Friday, 20th November, A. D. 1661.
In bio Kasmir Report, p. 64, Professor Bühler is speaking of a Gaya inscription of LakshmanAsenn, dated Vikrama 1178 or A. D. 1116, and this statement is repeated by Professor Peterson in his edition of Vallabhadeva's Subhdahitdvall, Introduo. tion, p. 84. I am not aware of the existence of any Sena inscription dated in the Vikrama orh.
