Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.34

c16.s2.34

Gradually the title *Parameśvara* came to be intimately associated with *Paramabhaṭṭāraka* and *Mahārājādhirāja*. Thus king Yaśodharman Viṣṇuvardhana of West Malwa, who ruled about the second quarter of the 6th century A.D., claims to have obtained for himself the title *Rājādhirāja-Parameśvara*² which is stated to have been difficult to attain, while the Alina plates³ of Maitraka Śīlāditya VI, dated the Gupta year 447 (766-67 A.D.) represent the kings of this dynasty from Śīlāditya II (662-84 A.D.) as *Paramabhaṭṭāraka-Mahārājādhirāja-Parameśvara*. The order of the three designations in the compound was sometimes different.⁴ Later on when the said imperial style was stereotyped, it was sometimes felt unnecessary to mention all the three titles and the combination of the three was indicated by a passage like *Paramabhaṭṭārakādi-rāj-āvalī-tray-opeta* (i.e. ‘endowed with the three royal titles commencing with *Paramabhaṭṭāraka*’) as in records like the Rewa plates⁵ of Candella Trailokyavarman, dated 1230 A.D. Instead of *rāj-āvalī-tray-opeta* often we have *rāj-āvalī-pūrvavat* (i.e. ‘the royal titles as before’).⁶ The contraction is also found as *Parameśvarādi-rāj-āvalī-pūrvavat* in many records⁷ since, as indicated above, it has often its full form as *Parameśvara-Mahārājādhirāja-Paramabhaṭṭāraka*. The combination of the three epithets is sometimes indicated in a still shorter form as *Parameśvar-ety-ādi*.¹ Similarly sometimes the king is introduced with the epithet *samast-ety-ādi* which stands for *samasta-supraśasty-upeta* noticed at the beginning of the string of imperial titles, e.g., in the charters of the later Senas.²