History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c15.30

v1.c15.30

The next king of the dynasty whose records are known to us is Dharmarāja. Two grants of this king have been brought to light up to this date. A set of plates belonging to the Uttara-Pārśva temple of Puri bear a grant of this king, Dharmarāja, of the Śailodbhava dynasty. The inscription on another set of plates of this king was brought to public notice for the first time by the late Mr. Tarini Charan Rath, B. A., formerly Munsif of Chodavaram in the Godāvari district of the Madrās Presidency.¹ Recently the inscription on the Puri plates has been published by Mr. Satyanarayana Rajguru of Parlakimedi. According to the published text we find that Pulindasena, famous among the people of Kaliṅga, is mentioned first of all (1.5). Then comes Śailodbhava, the ancestor of the dynasty. In that family (Kulaja) was born Raṇabhīta, a name rendered Araṇabhīta, which is more natural and at the same time grammatical. His son was Sainyabhīta I. In the family of Sainyabhīta I was born Yaśobhīta or, as Mr. Rājaguru puts it, Ayaśobhīta. His son was Sainyabhīta II. His son was Ayaśobhīta II. Then comes Madhyamarāja, who is perhaps the same as the donor of the Parikud plate. His son is the donor of the Puri plate, Dharmarāja. The object of the charter is to record the grant of a field in the village of Domgi, in the district (vishaya) of Varttini in the maṇḍala of Koṅgada by Dharmarāja. The grant was issued from Mātṛchandrapāṭaka (1. 40). The plates examined by the late Mr. Tarini Charan Rath were issued from the royal residence (Vāsaka) at Somapura.¹ There is one other point of resemblance besides the genealogy. It is stated in the 16th verse that Dharmarāja, having succeeded to the kingdom by the right of primogeniture, banished a person named Mādhava from the kingdom after defeating him in battle at a place called Phāsika. The baffled Mādhava sought shelter with a king named Tīvara and both of them were again defeated at the foot of the Vindhyas. The same incident is also mentioned in Mr. Rath's plates where Mr. G. Venkoba Rao misread Tīvara as Śrivara. "He is said to have defeated at Phāsika a certain Mādhava who thereafter sought the help of a king called Śrivara but was killed by Dharmarāja at the foot of the Vindhya hills." Mr. Rath's plates are dated Samvat 800 according to Mr. Venkoba Rao, *i. e.*, 744 A. D. According to the summary given in appendix A, this grant "records the tax-free gift of half of the village Kondoḍḍa in the Khiḍḍiṅgahāra-viṣaya to the Agnihotrī and Bhaṭṭa Gonadevasvāmi of the Kauśika-Gotra and Vājasaneya-caraṇa. "The Puri plates record the grant of the field to a Brāhmaṇa named Golasvāmi alias Māsika of the Kāṇva śākhā and the Vājasaneya caraṇa and the Jātukarṇa gotra, whose pravaras were Vasiṣṭha, Ātreya and Jātukarṇa. The Dūtaka of the grant was the Mahāsāmanta Goshāladeva and it was written by the Mahābhogī and sāmanta Paṭapāla. It was incised by the Sthavira Vṛddha. This inscription is also dated and the date has been read by Mr. Rajaguru as Samvat 512 Vaiśākha śudi. It is impossible to accept this date as correct; in the first place because Mr. Rath’s plates were issued in V. S. 800 and in the second place both grants mention a king named Tīvara who was defeated at the foot of the Vindhyas and therefore must belong to the Somavaṁśī dynasty of Śrīpura or Sirpur, who is known from a number of inscriptions. This Tīvara is undoubtedly Mahāśivagupta Tīvaradeva, the brother of Chandragupta and the uncle of Harṣagupta of the same dynasty. As Chandragupta is almost certainly the same king who is mentioned as the opponent of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Govinda III in the Sanjan plates of his son, Amoghavarṣa I,¹ it is impossible to think of Tīvaradeva as belonging to the 6th century: The date must therefore be V. S., 812-756 A. D., or the regnal year 12. Mr. Venkoba Rao mentions that Dharmarāja of Mr. Rath’s plates is also called Mānabhīta.