[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Archaeology, epigraphy and coins](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy) › [Indian Epigraphy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965) › c16.s2.53 # Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.53 Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.53 - **Language:** English ### [c16.s2.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2.53) That the more dignified title \*Mahārājādhirāja\* was used in the South side by side with \*Mahārāja\* about the middle of the 4th century A.D. is indicated by the Mayidavolu and Hirahadagalli plates³ of the Pallava king Śivaskandavarman, in the first of which he is called \*Yuva-mahārāja\* (a modification of the usual \*Yuvarāja\*, ‘crown prince’) and in the second \*Dharma-Mahārājādhirāja\*.⁴ The second inscription refers to the unnamed father of Śivaskandavarman as \*Mahārāja-bappa-svāmin\* (i.e. ‘the \*Mahārāja\*, the father, the lord’). But the kings of South India belonging to the period upto the 6th century, including the successors of the said Śivaskandavarman, called themselves only \*Mahārāja\* (sometimes \*Dharma-Mahārāja\*).⁵ In the Penukonda plates,¹ the Pallava overlords have been called \*Mahārāja\* while the Gaṅga feudatories have been endowed with the title \*Mahādhirāja\*. The epithet \*Adhirāja\* is sometimes known to have been used as a subordinate title.² - [Previous: c16.s2.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2.52) - [Next: c16.s2.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2.54) - [Up: c16.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.sircar-1965.c16.s2.53) · Pramāṇa