The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s12.88

c8.s12.88

⁵ I do not feel sure about the meaning of the name. But I think it is a hybrid word; Kanarese and Sanskrit, meaning 'tiger-haired;' i.e. perhaps 'having a coat of short, thick, and close hair, like that of a tiger.' The original form of the name, however, appears to be Polekêśin; and I do not know whether pole is an older form of puli, = huli, 'a tiger.' Still, Dr. Hultzsch has suggested to me a translation, better than the one given by me, of the verse which mentions him in the Aihole inscription, to this effect:—"His son was he who, even though he possessed a lustre equal to that of the moon, was named Polekêśin, and who, favourite of fortune as he was, became the bridegroom of the bride which 'was the town of Vâtâpi." And here, as remarked by Dr. Hultzsch, there seems to be a contrast, suggested by the ferocious meaning of his name; with also an allusion to the tiger as the natural enemy of the deer which the moon is supposed to possess.—In the Kauthêm grant, in which the name is written Pulakêśin, with the vowel a in the second syllable, explanations of it are suggested by the words,—"His son was Pulakêśin, equal to (Krishṇa) the destroyer of (the demon) Kêśin; . . . . . . we, while describing king Pulakêśin, have our bodies experiencing the sensation of having the hair standing erect through pleasure (pulaka-kalita-dêhâḥ)." This, however, is purely fanciful, and depends entirely on the spelling used. And, though the form Pulakêśin has now been carried back, by the Kûram Pallava grant (see page 322 above), to the time of his grandson of the same name, still I think it must be a corruption of any original Polekêśin.—The name Pulakêśin appears in the Haḍḍâla grant, of A.D. 914; as that of an ancestor of Dharaṇivarâha of the Châpa race (Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 194); and this is the only instance, known to me, of the existence of the name outside the Chalukya family.