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JULY, 1889.)
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KINGS OF CHEDI.
215
Judging from the introductory verses, the inscription probably was intended to record the erection of a temple of 'Siva; but it has clearly been left incomplete. For there is nothing in it to show why it was engraved ; and we miss at the end the names of the author and of the engraver, which, in a carefully executed inscription like the present one, had it been finished, would hardly have been omitted. In consequence, the inscription also is left undated.
The contents of the inscription may be given in very few words. After the introductory “Om, adoration to Siva !" and six verses invoking the blessings of Siva, Gajanana, and Sarasvati (11. 1.4), the author relates that Prajapati, the lord of the creatures, begat Atri, from whom proceeded the moon, whose son again was Budha; and that in the lunar family so founded, there was the famous king Arjuna (11. 4-6). The family became generally known under the name of Kalachuri, and in it there was born the king Yuvardjadáva, who conquered all regions and dedicated the wealth which he took from other kings to the holy som svara (11. 6-7). He begat the king Kokalla, from whom sprang Gang@yadeva (11. 7-10). His son again was Karna, who was waited upon by the Choda, Kunga, Huna, Gauda, Gurjara and Kira princes (11. 10-12); and his son was Yasaḥkarna (11. 12-13). Yasahkarna's son was the king Gayakarna, who married Alhanadevi, the daughter of king Vijayasinha (the son of the king Vairisimhs who was a son of the king Hansapala in Pragvata) and his wife Syamaladevi (the daughter of UdayAditya, the king of Dhara), who bore to him the two sons Narasimhadeva and Jayasimhadeva (11. 13-17). Narasimhadeva ascended the throne after the death of his father (11, 18-20), and was on his death succeeded by his younger brother Jayasimhadev&, who ruled the country when the inscription was composed (11. 20-25).
It will be seen that the contents of the inscription are almost identical with those of the introductory portion of the Bhêra-Ghât inscription of Alhaņadêvî;) and a comparison of the two inscriptions leaves no doubt that our author knew that inscription and closely followed it, when writing his own prasasti. What is peculiar to our inscription, is mainly only this, that the genealogy (similarly to what is the case in the Kumbhî copper-plate inscription) begins here with Yuvarajadêva, and is continued to the ruling prince Jayasimhadêva. As of some importance however, it may be noted that Yuvarajadêva is represented here as worshipping Bombbvara, the famous Sômanatha in Gujarat, a story which is told also of Lakshmaņaraja (the son of Keyûravarsha-Yuvarâjadêva and Nôhala) in the Bilharî inscription ;5 that Vijayasimha, the father-in-law of Gayakarņa, and his ancestors, whom we know to have ruled in Mêwâd, are described as kings of Pragvata, and Udayâditya as lord of Dhard; and that the name of one of the peoples whose princes waited upon Karna, is spelt here distinctly Kunga, not Kanga, which is the reading of the published version of Alhaņadevi's inscription. The word Pragvata occurs several times e.g. in Professor Peterson's Third Report on Sanskrit HSS, Appendix, pp. 37, 40, 45, 187; but I am unable to determine whether it is only another name for Mêdapata, or denotes a more extensive tract of country of which Mewad formed part. Kunga clearly is the Kongu or Kongu-deba of Southern India, corresponding, generally, to the present districts of Salem and Coimbatore.
Considering that Narasimhadeva was ruling in A.D. 1159, and Vijayasimhadeva, the son of Jayasinhadêva, in A.D. 1180, our inscription must have been composed between A.D. 1160 and 1180.
: ib. pp. 502-8; ani Archeol. Survey of Western India, No. 10, pp. 107-9. • Journal Beng. As Soc., Vol. XXXI. p. 116.
8 ib. Vol. XXX. p. 330, verses 61 and 62. Dr. Hall misread verse 46, and in consequence he wrongly identified Lakshmanaraja with Yuvardjadeva. In reality Lakshmanarija, according to the Bilhari inscription, was the son of Yuvarljadeva and Nohal.
ante, Vol. XVI. p. 346. I am glad to be able to state that, in a short inscription from Udaypur in MAlava, I have at last discovered a reliable date for Uday Aditya, the grandfather of Alhaņadevi, -Vikrama 1137 = A.D. 1080.
In reality, the reading of the original inscription probably is Kunga, but the first akshara of the word is damaged.
See, e.g., Archæol. Survey of Southern India, List of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I. p. 195.
. See ante, Vol. XVII. p. 218.
