History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c16.40

c16.40

21. Mahēndravāḍi Inscription of Guṇabhara. Hultzsch, *Ep. Ind.*, vol. iv, pp. 152ff. This inscription is written in the same archaic Pallava alphabet as the Trichinopoly rock inscription and consists of a single Sanskrit verse in the *kōkilaka* metre, inscribed on the pilaster on the left end of the facade in the rock-cut temple here. It records the fact that Guṇabhara caused the temple to be cut out of the rock and that it was dedicated to Viṣṇu and bore the name *Mahendra Viṣṇugṛiha*, i.e. the Viṣṇu temple of Mahēndra, that it stood on the bank of the *Mahēndrataṭāka*, i.e. the tank of Mahēndra and that it was situated in Mahēndrapura, the City of Mahēndra. Mahēndrapura is probably identical with Mahēndravāḍi and Guṇabhara with Mahēndravarman I.