History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c17.13

v1.c17.13

The land granted was situated in Kośala but it is not specified in which part of that country. The village granted, Koṇṭasparā, was situated in the district of Olāśrama. The grant is dated, as it was issued according to the editor in "Samvat Lu Chu Kārttika sudi di." These numerals have not been translated by the learned editor but as the symbol *Lu* denotes the numeral for 100 in two grants of Daṇḍi Mahādevī it would be safer to assume that this symbol expresses the same value that it does in the Ganjam plate of Daṇḍi Mahādevī. The late Mr. H. Pānday transcribed this symbol as 300, but a comparison with the Ganjam plate shows that he is wrong. The symbol *Chu* may be taken to denote 30. With these dates as the basis the chronology of the second group of Kara kings may be reconstructed. The inscriptions of Daṇḍi Mahādevī do not mention Tribhuvana Mahādevī but bring forth another king named Śāntikara as the successor of Lalitabhāra. We possess two different stone inscriptions of this Śāntikara, one of which is dated. This inscription was found in a cave on the top of Dhauli hill in the Puri district of Orissa. It records a private donation in the year 93.¹ According to all inscriptions of Daṇḍi Mahādevī Śāntikara was the son and successor of Lalitabhāra and according to the Dhenkanal plate Tribhuvana Mahādevī was the latter's wife and successor, but as Śāntikara was ruling in the year 93 and Tribhuvana Mahādevī in the year 130 there cannot be any doubt about the fact that Tribhuvana Mahādevī had succeeded Śāntikara, her son or step-son, on the throne and not her husband Lalitabhāra. The disturbances mentioned in the Dhenkanal plate appears to have taken place either shortly before or after the year 93. There are no reasons to suppose that the year 93 belongs to a different era from the year 130 of the Dhenkanal plate. If these be referred to the Gaṅga era then Śāntikara was ruling in Central Orissa in 871 A. D. It may, therefore, be assumed that the disturbances caused by Śatrubhañja and Raṇabhañja I were the causes of the fall of the Kara or Kesari dynasty after the death of Lalitabhāra and that the revival of Kara power under Rājamalla caused Neṭribhañja I and his successors to retire to the South and transfer their capital from Dhṛitipura to Vañjulvaka. The two inscriptions of Śāntikara have now become the oldest records of the second group of Kara kings. The first of them was discovered inside the Gaṇeśagumphā cave on the Udaygiri hill, three miles to the west of Bhuvaneśvar, in the Puri district. It is not dated and simply mentions Bhīmata, the son of a person named Naṇṇata.¹ The second inscription of the reign of Śāntikara was found by the author in a cave close to Aśoka's rock inscription at Dhauli near Bhuvaneśvar. The only important part of this inscription is the date, the year 93. If the initial year of the so-called Gaṅga era falls in 778 A. D., then this cave was excavated in 871 A. D. Beyond this we do not know anything about Śāntikara.