The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c6.s4.7

c6.s4.7

It is somewhat of a relief, therefore, to read of the long and more peaceful reign of Vikramāditya VI. (A.D. 1073—1126). One of the first things he did, on his accession, was to abolish the use of the original Śaka era and to establish a new era in his own name in its stead. An inscription tells us that "By his amplitude, and unaided, Tribhuvanamalla, the king Cālukya-Vikramāditya, caused all the hostile kings to bow down, and became the lord of the world. Having rubbed out the brilliant Śaka-varsha, he, the impetuous one, the most liberal man in the world, who delighted in religion, published his own name throughout the world, under the form of the Vikrama-varsha"². Nearly all the inscriptions, therefore, of his own time, and of some of his successors, are dated in this new era, which starts from the date of his coronation. Of his reign some two hundred inscriptions have been gathered, forming the greatest bulk of records left by any one of these kings, which, from their distribution, being found over the northern parts of Maisur, the eastern parts of North Kanara, the whole of the Dhārwār, Beḷgāum and Bijāpūr districts, and the western and north-western parts of the Nizām's dominions, show the great extent of country he was ruling over. One of his inscriptions has been found as far away as Nāgpūr in the Central Provinces. Among these inscriptions is an interesting one found at Ḍambaḷ which records grants made to a vihāra of Buddha and a vihāra of Ārya-Tārādevī at that town in A.D. 1095, which shows that the Buddhist religion, such as it was, was still a living force in those parts at that period.