History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c12.31

c12.31

The place is ordinarily supposed by most official Epigraphists and Western archæologists to have had no previous history² or existence although the mention of this place by the earliest Ālvārs and the recent discovery of inscribed statues of Simhavishnu and his son Mahendravarman I clearly goes against such a presumption. According to Dr. Huitzsch the majority of short epigraphs on the monolith now styled Dharmarāja Ratha resemble those of the Mahēndravādi and Śiyyamangalam cave inscriptions of the Pallava king Mahēndravarman. Among the names and surnames of the king who excavated the Dharmarāja Ratha, we find twice the name of Narasimha which seems to have been his actual name while the remaining designations look like mere surnames. Among the successors of Mahēndravarman I there are two kings named Narasimhavarman. As the type of the alphabet is more archaic than that of the second of the inscriptions which probably belongs to Paramēśvaravarman I, father of Rājasimha, Narasimhavarman of Dharmarāja Ratha inscriptions may be identified with Narasimhavarman I, the son of Mahēndravarman I. This identification is rendered almost certain by a reference to the published facsimile.³