Indian Epigraphy c6.s4.4

c6.s4.4

This account of early Cālukya history by the author of the Aihole inscription may be compared with many similar accounts of various imperial families (e.g. the Pālas, Rāṣṭrakūṭas and others) found in their epigraphic records. It has to be noticed that the treatment of the subject in the inscriptions is not as elaborate as in works like the Rājatarangiṇī. This is mainly because their space was considerably limited. Often the authors of inscriptions had to recount the history of several centuries for being engraved only on a few copper plates. Another defective feature of the account is that, although the Aihole inscription quotes the date of its incision on the occasion of the construction of a Jain temple as the Kali year 3735 corresponding to Śaka 556, it gives no date for any of the past events described nor does it quote the duration of the reign of any of the past rulers. Such defects are, however, less prominent in the official charters of some other families. Thus the grants of the Eastern Cālukyas quote the reign-period of each of the past rulers in some cases in years, months and days,¹ while those of the Eastern Gaṅgas quote, in addition to the reign-periods of most of the rulers in years only, the exact date of the coronation of a few of the issuer's predecessors.²