Plates
From the lotus in the navel of the great Lord Nārāyaṇa, the supreme person and the abode of Śrī, there arose Brahmā, the self-born creator of the world. From him was born a son of the mind called Atri, and from that sage Atri was born the founder of a dynasty: the Moon soma whose rays are nectar and who is the turban jewel of Śrīkaṇṭha Śiva.
From that nectar-yielding one there came into being Mercury budha, praised by the wise budha, and from him was born the valiant universal sovereign cakravartin named Purūravas.
From him was born Āyus. From Āyus, Nahuṣa. From him, the universal sovereign and dynastic father Yayāti. From him, the universal sovereign called Puru. From him, Janamejaya, performer of three Aśvamedha sacrifices. From him, Prācīśa. From him, Sainyayāti. From him, Hayapati. From him, Sārvabhauma. From him, Jayasena. From him, Mahābhauma. From him, Aiśānaka. From him, Krodhānana. From him, Devaki. From Devaki, R̥bhuka. From him, R̥kṣaka. From him, Mativara, performer of a Sattra sacrifice and Lord of the River Sarasvatī. From him, Kātyāyana. From Kātyāyana, Nīla. From him, Duṣyanta. From him—
What follows is moraic verse.
—the one who, because he unceasingly dug down one sacrificial post yūpa after another on the banks of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā and also performed Aśvamedhas, obtained the name “Bharata of the Great Sacrifices.”The stanza without emendation (see the apparatus entry on line 10) does not permit the interpretation that he performed the great sacrifice Aśvamedha and obtained the name Bharata, which seems to have been the interpretation preferred by Fleet as well as by Hultzsch’s translation of the parallel cited in the apparatus. In my opinion the word nāma must in any case be construed as the object of alabhata.
From that Bharata was born Bhūmanyu. From him, Suhotra. From him, Hastin. From him, Virocana. From him, Ajamīla. From him, Saṁvaraṇa. The son of him and of Tapatī, the daughter of Tapana, was Sudhanvan. From him was born Parikṣit. From him, Bhīmasena. From him, Pradīpana. From him, Śantanu. From him, Vicitravīrya. From him, King Pāṇḍu. Then—
What follows is moraic verse.
He in turn had five sons—Yudhiṣṭhira the son of Dharma, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who were to obtain the kingdom viṣaya like the five senses which grasp the sense-objects viṣaya.
The masterful wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow who, after vanquishing Indra the thunderbolt-bearer, burned the Khāṇḍava forest; who obtained the Pāśupata weapon in combat from Śiva the enemy of Andhaka; who, after slaying many Daityas such as Kālikeya, victoriously ascended to share a throne with Indra; who with abandon cut down the forest that was the dynasty of the Kurus—
—from that Arjuna was born Abhimanyu. From him, Parikṣit. From him, Janamejaya. From him, Kṣemuka. From him, Naravāhana. From him, Śatānīka. From him, Udayana. Thereafter, when sixty-less-one universal sovereigns beginning with him Udayana had passed in uninterrupted succession, each seated on the throne of Ayodhyā, a king of their dynasty named Vijayāditya marched to Dakṣiṇāpatha driven by a desire to conquer. He challenged Trilocana Pallava and, by an ill turn of fate, passed to the otherworld.
In the midst of that tribulation, his pregnant chief queen, along with several ladies of the harem antaḥpura and the chamberlains kañcukin, went with their chaplain purohita to a Brahmanical settlement agrahāra named Muḍivemu, and there gave birth to her son Viṣṇuvardhana while under the protection of its resident the soma-sacrificer Viṣṇubhaṭṭa, who cherished her as if she were his own daughter. She raised that boychild, arranging for the performance of the ceremonies traditionally applicable to his bilateral gotra, namely being of the Mānavya gotra and a son of Hārīti.In some parallel versions of this story (the [Raṇastipūṇḍi grant of Vimalāditya](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00049.xml) and the [Kalidiṇḍi grant of Rājarāja I](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00079.xml)), the ceremonies are described differently, without the claim of a double gotra. The two text versions are very close as far as the sequence of letters is concerned, so one is clearly derived from the other; but it is not clear which is the earlier. He in turn, when her mother had told him the story, went forth to Mount Calukya and worshipped Nandā, who is the goddess Gaurī, and also appeased Kumāra, Nārāyaṇa and the band of Mothers. Having thereby recovered the hereditary paraphernalia of sovereignty belonging to his family, as though they had been deposited with these deities for safekeeping—namely, the white parasol, the one conch shell, the five great soundsThe expression pañca-mahāśabda probably refers to being honoured by the sound of five musical instruments, but may also mean five titles beginning with “great”. See 296-2989 for a discussion., the pennant garland pāli-ketana, the inverted drum pratiḍhakkāSome Cālukya grants use the words paḍa-ḍhakkā and daḍakkā in similar contexts. See the [Ceruvu Mādhavaram plates of Kali Viṣṇuvardhana V](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00022.xml) and the commentary thereto., the Boar emblem, the peacock fan piṁcha, the lance kunta, the lion throne, the makara archway, the golden sceptre, the Gaṅgā and Yamunā and so forth—and having conquered the kings of the Kaḍambas, Gaṅgas and so on, he reigned over Dakṣiṇāpatha extending from Rāma’s bridge to the Narmadā and comprising seven and a half lakhs of villages.
What follows is a śloka.
The son of that King Viṣṇuvardhana and his chief queen born of the Pallava dynasty was Vijayāditya.
His son was Polakeśi Vallabha. His son was Kīrtivarman. His son—
Greetings. Satyāśraya Vallabhendra Pulakeśin II was eager to adorn the lineage of the majestic Calukyas—who are of the Mānavya gotra which is praised by the entire world, who are sons of Hārītī, who attained kingship by the grace of Kauśikī’s boon, who are protected by the band of Mothers, who were deliberately appointed to kingship by Lord Mahāsena, to whom enemy territories instantaneously submit at the mere sight of the superior Boar emblem they have acquired by the grace of the divine Nārāyaṇa, and whose bodies have been hallowed through washing in the purificatory ablutions avabhr̥tha of the Aśvamedha sacrifice. His brother Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana protected pāl- the country of Veṅgī for eighteen years. His son Jayasiṁha Vallabha I, for thirty-three. The son of his younger brother Indrarāja Indra Bhaṭṭāraka, for seven days.The text errs here; Indrarāja was Jayasiṁha’s younger brother and not the younger brother’s son. The error probably crept in from versions of the king list that do not mention Indrarāja’s brief reign and introduce him only as the father of Viṣṇuvardhana II. See also the apparatus to 37. His son Viṣṇuvardhana II, for nine years. His son Maṅgi Yuvarāja, for twenty-five. His son Jayasiṁha II, for thirteen. His brother of inferior birth, Kokkili, for six months. After dethroning him, his eldest brother Viṣṇuvardhana III, for thirty-seven years. His son Vijayāditya I Bhaṭṭāraka, for eighteen. His son Viṣṇuvardhana IV, for thirty-six. His son Vijayāditya II Narendramr̥garāja, for eight and forty. His son Kali-Viṣṇuvardhana V, for a year and a half. His son Guṇaga Vijayāditya III, for forty-four. The son of his younger brother King bhūpati Vikramāditya, Cālukya-Bhīma, for thirty. His son Kollabigaṇḍa Vijayāditya IV, for six months. His son Ammarāja I, for seven years. After dethroning his son the child Vijayāditya V, Tāḍapa, for one month. After defeating him, Cālukya-Bhīma’s son Vikramāditya II, for eleven months. Then that King rājan Tāḍapa’s son Yuddhamalla, for seven years.
Ammarāja’s younger brother, Rāja-Bhīma II, ruled the earth for twelve years after dislodging that Yuddhamalla by a raid in battle.
His son King Amma II protected the earth for twenty-five years.
King Amma’s brother by a different mother, known as Dānārṇava and versed in the sixty-four arts, ruled the earth for three years.
Thereafter the earth, left without a leader, seemed for twenty-seven years to be performing austerities to obtain a suitable husband.
Then there was a king rājan, a veritable Moon of the Cālukyas cālukya-candra Śaktivarman—born of Dānārṇava, endowed with the arts possessing digits—who dispelled the suffering of the earth with his soft hands with his pleasant rays.
“The worlds are upheld by Truth”—this dictum was proven true because he, the King of Truth, the shelter of all the world sarva-lokāśraya, upheld the universe.
Having destroyed his antagonists, he protected the circle of the earth fairly for twelve years, following the just path along with the kings of old.
Then his younger brother named Vimalāditya took up sovereignty over the circle of the earth after he, the conqueror, conquered his enemies.
Unable to bear the burning of his blazing valour, his enemies hurriedly fled willy-nilly in fear into the jungle and the ocean. Being scorched even there by him—the same though appearing in the role of wildfire and the submarine Fire of Aurva—they finally took shelter in the copious shade of the celestial tree of his auspicious feet.
On the other hand,
In the Coḻa lineage of the Sun was born one comparable in puissance to Indra the Lord of the Gods, who shone in this world as His Majesty Rājarāja: a lord whose footstool was incarnadined by a veil of light from the gems atop the diadems of all rulers of men.
From him was born King Rājendra Coḍa, a proud universal sovereign among kings who with his expansive reputation surmounted the glory of other kings, and who infused the flood of the Immortal River Ganges with the rut fluid seeping from the cheeks of his elephants, terrifying in their rage.
He who, after effortlessly conquering, with a mere stick with no other means than his army, the all-supporting earth whose moats are the four oceans, along with the islands,Venkataramanayya (60) opines that the almost identical stanza 20 of the [Kalidiṇḍi grant](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00079.xml) refers to Rājendra Coḻa’s overseas conquests. This is probably indeed correct. erected in every direction victory pillars marked with his name to dispel the illusion of independent supremacy of other rulers, as if erecting pickets to bind the elephants of the quarters, their minds blinded by pride.
That Vimalāditya, having accomplished his aims and being worthy of people’s praise, married his Rājendra Coḻa’s younger sister, the beautiful Great Queen Kūṁdavā, who was appropriate for him.
Thanks to the valour of his arms, he, the equal of the seven-horsed sun, protected the wide earth, girt by oceans, fairly for seven years.
Now from that illustrious King Vimalāditya and from Queen Kuṁdavā, whose body was fashioned as if she were the Royal Fortune of the Coḍa kings, was born the crest jewel of the Cālukyas: His Majesty Rājarāja I, the king produced from the majestic ocean that is the Dynasty of the Moon who seized the Royal Fortune of the Earth, whom only the most resplendent warriors rājanya may approach.
He was anointed to protect the earth when the Śaka years were positioned as the Vedas 4, oceans 4 and treasures 9 i.e. Śaka 944, when the Sun was in Leo siṁha, in the Uttara-Bhadrikā lunar asterism on the dark kr̥ṣṇa fortnight’s second day, on Thursday, under the excellent ascendant of Libra vaṇij.
His head was bound by the great turban of royalty, raised by the populace in order to bear the burden of the earth for a long time.I do not understand the implication of this stanza. Compare the slightly different version in stanza 17 of the [Kalidiṇḍi grant](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00079.xml). Could the point of both (or at least of a hypothetical model from which both are distorted) be a comparison of the royal turban to the head padding worn by labourers who carry loads on their heads?
While he of extensive power, who has annihilated the host of enemies, protects the earth without partiality, his subjects—rid of droughts, bandits and disease—attain the group of three aims trivarga along with its fruits.
His verdant youthful, but by no means frail, reputation seems to spread the grandeur of a canopy of varied colours over the deities of the directions, being since birth reddened by fond of countless virtues such as heroism, munificence and honour; being exceedingly black greater than Kr̥ṣṇa through his famous greatness; being white bright as the moon; being yellow imbibed happily by a host of good men through their ears resembling hands held to receive alms.The central idea of this stanza is certainly that Rājarāja’s reputation is of many colours, which are expressed in bitextual understandings of words that the reader would first understand in a different sense. Since reputation kīrti is often compared to a creeper, I believe the simile also involves a plant. This is perhaps implied by the word abhinavā (youthful, verdant); also compare stanza 6 of the [Māṁgallu grant of Dānārṇava](DHARMA_INSVengiCalukya00039.xml) for a similar idea. However, the vegetable connection may not have been present in the composer’s mind, and Rājarāja’s reputation may be pictured as an actual canopy or awning spread over all quarters of the horizon. This latter image is expressed in much simpler terms in line 9 of the [Cipḷūṇ plates of Pulakeśin II](DHARMA_INSBadamiCalukya00006.xml).
The founders of his parents’ dynasties were verily the Sun and the Moon: the two Eyes of the World, the gods who dispel darkness with their scintillating brilliance. The emblem of his reign became the Original Boar form of Viṣṇu, which could playfully lift the great circle of the entire earth on the tip of its tusk.
That shelter of all the world sarva-lokāśraya, the supremely pious Supreme Lord parameśvara of Emperors mahārājādhirāja, Supreme Sovereign parama-bhaṭṭāraka, His Majesty Viṣṇuvardhana Rājarāja I, who was deliberately appointed as heir by his mother and father, who acquired the insignia of sovereignty from the grace of Caṇḍikā, seated on his throne of generosity, convokes all householders kuṭumbin—including foremost the territorial overseers rāṣṭrakūṭa—who reside in Guddavādi district viṣaya and, witnessed by those officials headed by the minister mantrin, the chaplain purohita, the general senāpati, the crown prince yuvarāja and the gate guard dauvārika, commands them as follows.
From the one who is infinitely far from beginning and end was born Brahmā,Since Brahmā himself should not be infinitely far from beginning and end, the only way I can make sense of the received text is to assume that ādy-antātyanta-dūra refers to Viṣṇu as transcending the duality of beginning and end. Compare stanza 1. Alternatively, the text may need emendation (see the apparatus to line 79) to mean, “Infinitely far from the end, there was born the original cause…” the cause of the birth of the light of the worlds and the substrate dhāman of all creatures. Then from him came into being the demiurge vedhas named Kaśyapa. From him came into being Bhāradvāja, a sage of great austerity. In his sacred lineage gotra, and within that in the school sūtra of Āpastaṁba, in due course arose Cīḍamārya, a storehouse of Vedic learning.
Of that prudent one, whose brilliance was praised by kings and whose sin had been washed off by well-endowed sacrifices, was born a son named Yajña: correct in conduct, accomplished, familiar with the conclusions of all Vedas and śāstras, intelligent, always nourishing his relatives, a repository of knowledge, and in his knowledge of polity nīti an earthly peer of Br̥haspati and Śukra.Guru is a common appellation of Br̥haspati, while the word jña is attested as a name of the planet Venus, i.e. Śukra. Br̥haspati and Śukra are authorities on nīti, often conceived of as the political advisors of the gods and demons respectively.
As Vasiṣṭha, that most excellent of the wise, married Arundhatī, the warder-off of faults, so did he Yajña, comparable in appearance to Vasiṣṭha, marry the suitable virtuous lady named Amākavā.
The son of these two, as the Sun is the son of Aditi and Kaśyapa, is the bright and most venerable Cīḍamārya, who literally dispels darkness and with his multitude of rays—which were in fact all the sacred texts of the Vedas and śāstras—awakens the lotuses that were the faces of his disciples.
Distinguished Brahmins excellent birds abide happily attending perching on this wishing-tree among priests, who is attractive on account of always providing the desired outcome which is pleasant and always provides the desired fruits; who is the dwelling place of riches which is the dwelling place of Lakṣmī; who bears the office of teacherhood which bears dignity; who is endowed with the branches of Vedic learning and is full of excellent, awakened intellect which possesses branches full of blooming flowers; who is ever praised by the learned who rely on his series of commentaries by the gods who resort to the expanse of its shade.
His house shines permanently, driving far away the foulness of the Kali age all around, since it is furnished day and night with the auspicious chants of reciting pupils which display adeptness, never deviating from the proper sequence in the krama and pada recitation thanks to their sharp discernment, as well as with the pleasantly emanating garlands of svāhā cries uttered in the course of sacrifice.I find the entire stanza extremely awkward and hard to interpret. In general, I do not understand why the imagery of light is applied to sounds. The syntax is messy throughout; the composer may have had something slightly different in mind from what I make of it. Most particularly, I cannot make good sense of the words -proccalad-dāmaiś-, which is already an emended reading (see the apparatus to line 92) but may be in need of further emendation.
To him—
- who surpasses the entire populace in virtue,
- who thoroughly pleases the host of kings and gods with riches
- who is a very likeness of the moon to the ocean of his priestly lineage,
- who delights in a celebrity acknowledged by the learned society,
- who has since his birth proclaimed the essence of the Vedas’ purport,
- whose inherent character resides in the dwelling of a true mind,
- whose conduct is held dear on account of his accumulated dignity,
- whose rarefied intellect stuns Br̥haspati and Śukra,Jīva is a name of Br̥haspati in several astronomical works, and bhr̥guputra means the planet Venus, i.e. Śukra, said to be a son of Bhr̥gu.
- whose accomplished wisdom serves the purposes of his patron,
- whose pure mind censures all human failings,
- who continuously praises the feet of his lord,
- whose excellent feet are themselves grantors of the joy of any conceived desire,The reading of this item is quite certain, but I am far from sure what the composer had meant by it. I assume that sukhadā-bhūta is used for sukhadī-bhūta in accordance with the author’s tendency to show off his knowledge of rare forms, and that the intended meaning is simply that he grants the wishes of those who seek his favours.
- from whom uncounted stains have departed with the smoke of oblations,
- whose hallmark is steadfast and brilliant virtue praised by the wise,
- who belongs to the Āpastamba sūtra praised by the entire host of sages,
- and within that, to the celebrated Bhāradvāja gotra,I find the word tatra suspect here. The reading is entirely clear, but I find it strange that the gotra should be specified as a subset of the sūtra, and I see no other way to understanding tatra in the context. Also, this pair of lines (sakala and tatra) is one of only two pairs without alliteration (prāsa) at the beginning of the line (the other being the first pair in the poem). It is thus possible that a word has been omitted or gravely corrupted here.
- whose grandeur consists of pillar posts yūpa erected in sacrifices,
- who has attained a soul and body resembling the form of the sun,
- who is endowed with the good quality of truth ever beneficial to the populace,
- who is capable of implementing the aims desired by his lord,
- who is most clever in accomplishing the supreme human purpose puruṣārtha,
- who is most excellent in observing meditation on the supreme lord,
- who with complete deliberateness amuses himself with all treatises on statecraft artha-śāstra,
- whose feet resemble lotuses of outstanding tenderness—
I Rājarāja I, with water in the hand for sanctification, have given the village named Korumelli, converted into a rent-free holding agrahāra at an eclipse of the moon. May it remain as long as the moon and stars. The nature of its boundaries shall now be told.
To the east, the border is the kimaṭṭi-kāliya of Kūḍakuniyyūru. To the south, the border is none other than the border of the villages Vānapalli, Saṁppataniya and Māvuṇḍeṭi. To the southwest, the border is that of Godāvari. To the west, the border is būruvu-doṁgla.Could this mean a hollow silk-cotton tree? To the northwest, the border is none other than the border of the villages Veneṭi and Māsara. To the north, the border is māsara-ponbeḍuvamu khalmeṇḍi-kāliyu. To the northeast, the border is the kaḍali-cāṭi to the north of Eṟuvaṁka. Let no-one pose an obstacle to his enjoyment of his rights over it. He who does so shall be conjoined with the five great sins. So too has a multitude of great sages beginning with the reverend Vyāsa said:
He who would seize land, whether given by himself or by another, shall be born as a worm in faeces for sixty millennia.
Many kings have granted land, and many have preserved it as formerly granted. Whosoever at any time owns the land, the fruit reward accrued of granting it belongs to him at that time.
The executor ājñapti is the Castellan kaṭakeśa, Rāciya Pedderi’s son named Bhīmana. The author of the verses is Potana Bhaṭṭa. The writer lekhaka of this provision is Gaṇḍācārya.
The annual income collectible from this village has been set by the king at twenty-five niṣkas in coinage and two hundred and fifty khaṇḍakas of grain.