Page:Epigraphia Indica, Volume 2.djvu/20
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EPIGRAPH I A INDICA.
is throughout denoted by the sign for v, and the dental sibilant is frequently employed instead of the palatal ; besides, s is used for s in the word Sdrddham, in line 21, andj for y in trijdmd, in line 15.
The metrical portion of the inscription, after mentioning, like the Kumbhi and other Chedi inscriptions, a number of divine and semi-divine beings, gives the usual genealogy of the Kalachuri (or Chedi) kings of Tripuri, from Yuva ra j ride va down to the reigning king Yasahkarnadeva (Yuvarajadeva; Kokalla; Garigeyadcva, also called Vikraniaditya ; Karnadeva, who married the Hun a princess Avalladevi; and Yasahkarnadeva). And, in addition to the well-known facts that Gangeyadeva with his hundred wives obtained final salvation at Prayaga, and that Karnadeva founded the town of Karnavati, it only records (in verse 13) that Karna also built a magnificent temple at Kasi or Benares, where evidently verse 13 was compost jd ; and (in verse 23) that Yas ah karna defeated the ruler of Andhra, in the vicinity of the river Godavari.
Of the prose portion of the inscription only a few words remain. But from these words — 'and this. ..Paramabhattdraha, Mahdrdjddhirdja 3 and Paramesvara, who [medi- tates on] the feet of the illustrious Vamadeva,' 1 — it is clear that the inscription must have recorded a grant made by, or during the reign of, the king who in the metrical portion is mentioned last, i.e., Yasahkarnadeva. And it is fortunate that the Nagpur Museum transcript, inaccurate as it is in other respects, enables us to ascer- tain the time when this grant was made, in my opinion, with certainty. We know that Yasahkarna was succeeded by his son Gayakarnadeva, and we possess an inscrip- tion of this Gayakarna 5 which must have been put up towards the end of his reign and which bears a date corresponding to the 17th June, A. D. 1151. Yasahkarna would therefore have ceased to reign some time before, and probably at such a distance from, A. D. 1151, as would suit the relation to each other of father and son. Now according to the Nagpur Museum transcript of the present inscription 6 the grant recorded in it was made ' at the time of the Makara-samkranti, on Monday, the 10th of the waning moon of Magna.' And during the sixty years preceding A. D. 1151, the only year which fulfils these conditions is A. D. 1122. For in that year 7 the 10th of the dark half of Magha fell by the purnimdnta scheme on Monday, the 25th December, when the 10th tit hi of the dark half ended 8 h. 39 m. after mean sunrise ; and in the same year the Makara-samkranti took place 15 minutes before mean sunrise of, or for reli- gious purposes on, the same Monday. And I have no doubt that Monday, the 25th December A.D. 1122, corresponding, with my epoch of the Chedi era, to Magha- badi 10 of Chedi-samvat 874, is the true date of the grant, and that this is a reliable date for Yasahkarnadeva, whose reign probably ended shortly afterwards.
4 Compare Indian Antiquary, vol. XVII, p. 225. s See ib„ vol. XVIII, p. 210.
6 See Sir A. Cuuningham's Archceological Survey of India, vol. IX, p. 88.
7 See Indian Antiquary, vol. XVII, p. 218. After I had made the necessary calculations regarding the above date for my paper on the epoch of the Chedi era and found the above result, I learnt from Mr. Fleet that, according to Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit's calculations, in the century Saka-sarhvat 1000 to 1100 (A. D. 1078—1178) the only year in which the Makara- samkranti occurred on a Monday, which was the 10th lunar or solar day of the month Magha, was Saka-sarhvat 1044 expired (A. D. 1122-23).