History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c16.59

c16.59

These inscriptions consist of a number of words in the nominative case. The characters resemble the Mahēndravādi and Śīyamangalam inscriptions of Mahēndravarman I. The language is Sanskrit. They do not contain any date and their approximate time has to be fixed on palæographical grounds. They appear from a comparative study to belong to Narasimhavarman I. Narasimha is twice mentioned. From the archaic nature of the alphabets Dr. Hultzsch thinks that the Narasimha of the Dharmarājaratha may be identified with the Narasimha I of the Pallavas. The identification is made almost certain by a reference to the published facsimile of the Badami stone inscription of Narasimhavarman I the alphabets of which are nearly identical with those of the Dharmarājaratha Inscriptions. Dharmarājaratha was probably sculptured in the first half of the seventh century A.D.