The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.437

c8.s11.437

Dr. Hultzsch's researches have brought to notice various other early Pallava records, which, however, cannot yet be allotted to any particular kings and referred to their exact places in the history of the family. The Mâmallapuram inscriptions Nos. 1 to 16;² engraved in a very archaic alphabet on the Dharmarâja-Ratha, give the name of a Pallava king named Narasimha, with the *birudas* of Atyantakâma, Srîbhara, and Srînidhi. Nos. 17 to 20, also at Mâmallapuram,³ belong to a successor of the above-mentioned Narasimha, named Atyantakâma, with the *birudas* of Ranajaya, Srîbhara, and Srînidhi, who is allotted by Dr. Hultzsch to probably the sixth century A. D.;⁴ from No. 17, it appears that he appropriated to himself the Dharmarâja-Ratha, which had been excavated by Narasimha, and named it the temple of Atyantakâma-Pallavêsvara. Nos. 21 to 23, at the Atiranachandêsvara temple at Sâluvaṅkuppam,⁵ and belonging perhaps to a slightly later period, shew that the temple was built by a king named Atiranachanda, who had the *birudas* of Atyantakâma, Ranajaya, Srîbhara, and Srînidhi. No. 28, in a niche at the Kailâsanâtha temple at Conjeeveram,⁶ simply speaks of the temple of the holy Nityavinitêsvara, but seems thus to indicate the existence of a Pallava king or prince named Nityavinîta. Nos. 33 and 34,—cave inscriptions from the Trisirâpalli or Trichinopoly rock,⁷—mention a king named Gunabhara, with the *birudas* of Purushôttama, Satrumalla, and Satyasamdhâ, who seems to be indicated as a Pallava king, by a certain reference to the Kâvêrî river. And finally, No. 32, a pillar inscription at Amarâvatî,⁸ gives the names of Mahêndravarman; his son, Simhavarman I; his son, Arkavarman; his successor, Ugravarman; his successor, Nandivarman, son of Simhavishnu; and his successor, Simhavarman II.; it states that the last-mentioned, on his return from an expedition to the north, came to a place which was sacred to Buddha, named Dhânyaghata or Dhânyaghataka, *i. e.* to Amarâvatî; and the chief interest of it is, that it is a Buddhist record: Simhavarman II. is described as an *Upâsaka* or lay-worshipper; and, though part of it is lost, it must have referred to a donation made by him to Buddha.