Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.75

c16.s2.75

In medieval times, the imperial rulers of North India were sometimes called *Aśvapati-Gajapati-Narapati-rāja-tray-ādhipati*.⁶ The word *rāja* in this compound may be regarded as having the same meaning as in *rāj-āvali-traya*, i.e. 3 of the groups of royal epithets. The Vijayanagara kings called themselves *Aśvapati-Gajapati-Narapati-mūvaru-rāyara-gaṇḍa* which is the Kannaḍa translation of the same epithet.¹ The expression seems to represent a king as the lord of threefold sovereignty, i.e. of the three wings of sovereignty, viz. the cavalry, elephant force and infantry. In an inscription of the 13th century,² the Yajvapāla king Āsalla of Nalapur is represented as *trividha-kṣitīśa-cūḍā-maṇi* (literally, ‘the head-jewel of the three kinds of rulers’) probably with reference to an idea of grouping kings as *Aśvapati*, *Gajapati* or *Narapati* according as they were strong in cavalry, elephant force or infantry. It appears that some of the medieval Indian kings considered themselves sufficiently strong in all the three wings of sovereignty and claimed the comprehensive title referred to above, while their neighbours were inclined to apply to them any one of the three epithets with reference to the wing in which they were regarded as especially strong. This is how the latest rulers of the Imperial Gaṅga dynasty of Orissa and their Sūryavaṁśī successors gradually became famous as *Gajapati*.³