History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c12.50

c12.50

‘The second and very florid alphabet found in the inscriptions of the Pallava king Atyantakāma on the monolith now styled Gaṇēśa temple (No. 20), in the two caves called Dharmarājamaṇḍapa and Rāmānujamaṇḍapa. The same alphabet is employed in the Kāñchī inscriptions of Rājasimha and his son Mahēndravarman III. The Kāñchīpuram inscriptions state that Rājasimha was the son of Ugradaṇḍa the destroyer of Raṇarasika’s city and that the epithet Raṇarāsika refers to the Western Chāḷukya king Vikramāditya I (A.D. 655-680). The alphabet of the Atyantakāma’s inscription at the Seven Pagodas resembles so closely that of Kailāsanātha temple epigraphs that both must be assigned to the same period. That Atyantakāma’s actual name was Paramēśvara is seen from verse 2 of No. 20.’ ‘I propose to identify this Atyantakāma with either Paramēśvaravarman I, the father of Rājasimha or Paramēśvaravarman II, the son of Rājasimha preferably with the former.’