History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c17.8

v1.c17.8

The second group of Kara kings is known to us in detail from three grants of Daṇḍi Mahādevī and the Dhenkanal plate of Tribhuvana Mahādevī. The three grants of Daṇḍi Mahādevī supply us with more information than the plate of Tribhuvana Mahādevī. The earliest inscriptions of this dynasty were the two grants of Daṇḍi Mahādevī preserved in the office of the Collector of Ganjam and edited by the late Prof. Dr. Kielhorn. Out of these two plates the first one is dated in the year 180 of an unknown era. If this date is assigned to the unknown Gaṅga era then it was issued in 858 A. D. The Kumuraṅga plate of Daṇḍi Mahādevī is also dated. The late Mr. H. Pānday read it as 387, but it appears on the analogy of the Ganjam first plate to be 187. The Ganjam plates state that "There was a king named Unmaṭṭasiṃha (1.5), from whose family sprang Maṅgapāda (1.7) and other kings. In their family there was the king Loṇabhāra (1.9); his son was Kusumabhāra (1.13); after him ruled his younger brother Lalitabhāra (1.13); he was succeeded by his son Śāntikara (1.15), and he again by his younger brother Śubhakara (1.18). When the last of these princes died, his queen ascended the throne, and afterwards her daughter Daṇḍi Mahādevī (1.20) ruled the earth for a long time. The information supplied by the Dhenkanal plate of Tribhuvana Mahādevī is exactly similar, but in this plate the name of this first king is spelt as Lolabhāra.