289 XI. EPIGEAPHIC RESEARCHES IN MYSOBE. By J. F. FLEET, I.C.S. (RETD.), PH.D., C.I.E. OOME seventeen years ago, the Government of Mysore inaugurated a new departure in archaeology, the results of which have been greatly appreciated by those who are interested in exploring the ancient history of India. They appointed Mr. B. Lewis Rice, then their Secretary and previously their Director of Public Instruction, to be Director of Archaeological Researches. And they made provision for the collection and publication by him, in a series of volumes entitled Epigraphia Carnatica, of the texts, with abstract translations and historical introductions, of all the inscriptional records of their territory. An idea shall be given further on, of the heavy nature of the task on which Mr. Rice is still engaged, and of the great value of the records which he has been bringing to notice. Meanwhile, we have to congratulate him upon another sub- stantial advance towards the end of his work by the issue of volume viii,1 received quite lately, which disposes of the records, 1038 in number, of the Sorab, Sagar, Nagar, and Tlrthahalli talukas or subdivisions of the Shimoga district. And I propose to glance at some of the chief features of interest in this latest addition to our materials for work. * # * * * The earliest records laid before us in this volume are, another copper-plate charter, from Hire-Sakuna (8b. 33),2 1 EPIGRAPHIA CAKNATICA, by B. LEWIS RICE, C.I.E., Director of Archaeological Researches in Mysore. Vol. VIII; Inscriptions in the Shimoga District, Part ii. Bangalore; Mysore Government Central Press; 1904. 2 According to a convenient system of abbreviation, laid out for the whole series, " Sb. 33" means inscription No. 33 of the Sorab taluka. The records are best referred to in this manner, as is done by Mr. Rice himself in his introductions, except when an actual citation of page and line is necessary. But it is a drawback that the abbreviations have not been placed along the tops •of the pages of the texts and translations. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 17:30:11, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00033086 290 EPIGRAPHIC RESEARCHES IN MYSORE. of the Kadamba king Mrigesavarman of VaijayantI, i.e. Banawasi in the North Kanara district, Bombay Presidency, and a fragmentary stone inscription at Kavadi (Sb. 523) which mentions him and his son Ravivarman. On page 2 of his Introduction to the volume, Mr. Rice has offered a revised genealogical table of the Kadambas, to take the place of that given by him in vol. vi, introd., p. 4. Unfortunately, even setting aside a few points in respect of which there may fairly be a difference of opinion, this revised table is still not correct. And, for the best table as yet issued of the Kadambas, we have to turn to that given by Professor Kielhorn (El, 8, 30), in the introduction to his edition of the Talgund inscription which recites the origin and advancement of the family. To the same authority we have also to turn for the best opinion as to the period of these Kadamba kings. Mr. Rice would place them in the fourth and fifth centuries (introd., 2). But no help in this matter is really derived from the statements made in certain spurious records of the Ganga series, upon which he relies. And Professor Kielhorn's opinion, based upon grounds fully set out by him, that the Talgund inscription, which is of the time of Kakusthavarman of the fourth generation, may be assigned to about the first half of the sixth century A.D., is to be preferred. This would place the last generation, the eighth, a century or so later, say about A.D. 625-650. And this result fits in exactly with all the local history of that period, and especially with the following item. The Anaji inscription, referred by Mr. Rice to " ? about 450 A.D. " (EC, 11, Dg. 161, translations, 81), mentions the ruin of the surrounding country (the Chitaldroog district and its neighbourhood), and the shattering of the army of a king Krishnavarman, in "a tumultuous battle" between him and a Pallava king. And the event can hardly have occurred except at the time when the Pallavas invaded Western India at the end of the reign of the Western Chalukya king Pulakesin II. of Biidami in the Bijapur district, Bombay ; that is, at some time between about A.D. 642 and 655: see my Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 17:30:11, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00033086 EPIGRAPHIC RESEARCHES IN MYSORE. 291 in the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. i, part ii, pp. 322 f., 328 f., 358 f. The palaeography of the Anaji record exactly suits that period. And there can be little doubt, if any, that the Krishnavarcnan mentioned in it is the Kadamba king Krishnavarman II., the last of the line according to Professor Kielhorn's table. It must be observed that there is no basis for the remark " the 5th king," which has been attached by Mr. Rice to the name of the first Krishnavarman, placed in the sixth generation, of his table. It is based upon a curious mis- understanding of the description, not even of that Krishna- varman, but of the second one, as Kadambanath panchamo lokapalah in the Bennur plates (EC, 5, Bl. 245, and see translations, 276, and in trod., 3). But the expression panchamo lokapalah does not mean " a fifth (successive) king." It means " a fifth Lokapala," a Lokapala over and above, in addition to, the four Lokapalas or regents of the four cardinal points of the compass. And the words applied to Krishnavarman II. have exactly the same purport as if we were to say, in accordance with western ideas, that he was " a Kadamba eighth wonder of the world." The «xpression is one of constant occurrence, along with others of a similar nature. We have panchamo ld\liapd\lah in the Pahladpur pillar inscription (F.GI, 250); and we have the full unmistakable wording lokapdldnam panchamamja lolca- pdlasya in a Pallava record (IA, 5, 51, line 8). So, again, while the Lokapalas are counted as four for only the cardinal points, they are also counted as eight for those and the intermediate points. And the same idea is used with also the latter enumeration. Thus, verse 96 of chapter 3 of the Kavirajamarga of KavMvara,1 in illustration of " praise," enumerates the eight Lokapalas, and then says:—" 0 ex- cellent one ! thou art indeed a ninth Lokapala among them ! " For a case in which this kind of idea is carried out through a whole series of comparisons, see the Sindigere inscription of A.D. 1103 (EC, 6, Cm. 160, texts, 137, 1 Regarding the author of this work, and the circumstances in which he wrote it, see my article in IA, 1904, 258 ff. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 17:30:11, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00033086 292 EPIGRAPHIC RESEARCHES IN MYSORE. line 18 ff.), in which the Hoysala prince Ereyanga is said to have been a third Maruti, a fourth (sacred) fire, a fifth ocean, a sixth flower-arrow (of Kamadeva), a seventh king of the whole world, an eighth mountain-range (of the seven divisions of the earth), a ninth elephant (of the eight points of the compass), and a tenth treasure (of Kubera). It must also be observed that, in shewing Krishnavarman I. as a son, instead of as the younger brother, of Santivarman, Mr. Rice has acted again upon his misunderstanding of the expression jyeshtha-pitri in the Birur plates (EC, 6, Kd. 162). As has been fully explained by Professor Kielhorn (El, 8, 30, note 3),1 jyeshtha-pitri means, not ' a grandfather,' but ' a father's elder brother.' ***** The present volume contains four records of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the Bijapur district, Bombay. One is an inscription of Vinayaditya at Kodakani (Sb. 15), of the period A.D. 680-696. Another is that contained on the Sorab copper-plates of the same king (Sb. 571), fully dated on a day of which the English equivalent is Saturday,. 22nd June, A.D. 692. The third is an inscription of Vijayaditya at Hire - Magadi (Sb. 411), of the period A.D. 696 to 733-34. And the fourth is a fragmentary inscription at Grulehalli (Sa. 79), which presents the name of Vikramaditya. , Mr. Rice has attributed this last record to Vikramaditya I., and has placed it "? about 680 A.D." (translations, 106). But, from all that we know about the history of the period, it is much more likely to be a record of the second Vikramaditya, of the period A.D. 733-34 to 746-47. The Sorab plates have been known for many years. And the record on them has been edited by me in 1890 (IA, 19, 149 ff.). A special point of interest in it, is, that it presents,, in the details of the date, the earliest but one known instance of the mention of a week-day in a record of Southern India. The other instance from Southern India, earlier than this.