The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c17.s1: (1) The Somavamśīs of Kosala
The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c17.s1
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(1) The Somavamśīs of Kosala
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In connection with the account of the Kalacuris of Tripurī, I have elsewhere referred to the so-called ‘Śrīpura kings’ and their alleged connection with the Somavaṁśī rulers of Orissa.² The inscriptions of the former, all of which have been found near the Raipur district in the C.P., give us the following list of kings:—³
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² See *infra*, chapter on the Haihayas.
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³ For their inscriptions see *ibid*.
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The inscription of these princes are all issued from Śrīpura (modern Sirpur, Raipur district, C.P.). Their seal bears the figure of a *Garuda* and the epithet ‘lord of Kosala’ (*Kosalādhipati*). The inscriptions contain no dates, but Fleet agreed with Kielhorn that on palaeographic evidence they must be referred to about the 8th or the 9th centuries A.D.¹ It was Cunningham who first suggested that Mahāśivagupta Bālārjuna the last prince of this line should be identified with Śivagupta, the first prince of a dynasty of rulers whose inscriptions were discovered in the Sambalpur tract of Orissa.² The inscriptions of these kings give use the following list of princes:—
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¹ *EI*, Vol. III, p. 333.
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² *ASR*, Vol. XVII, pp. 17, 85 and 87.
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In the lunar race
Śivagupta.
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Mahābhavagupta—Janamejaya.
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Mahāśivagupta—Yayāti.
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Mahābhavagupta—Bhīmaratha.
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The identification of the two Śivaguptas was rejected by Fleet on palaeographic considerations. He found after a careful examination of the letters in the inscriptions of the Somavamśīs of Orissa that they could not possibly be placed before A.D. 900, and should on the whole be placed somewhere between A.D. 1000 and 1100.³ The recorded reign-period of the last three princes extends over more than 70 years. At least another 100 years must be assigned to account for the palaeographic differences between the two sets of inscriptions. As the name of the grandson and the grandfather appears to have been the same in the Somavamśī dynasty of Orissa⁴ we must have at least a Bhavagupta, his son Śivagupta and his son Bhavagupta, 3 generations, to fill up the gap between the last king of the Śrīpura and the first king of the Orissa branch. The position may be illustrated by the following table :
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³ *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 323-31.
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⁴ Hiralal has pointed out that this practice prevails even now in some of the States of Orissa. Thus the “Raja of Bamra is either a Sudhaladeva or a Tribhuvanadeva.” See *Inscriptions in C. P. and Berar*, p. 91.
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Mahāśivagupta-Bālārjuna (last of the Śrīpura line, *c.* 850 A.D.)
│
Mahābhavagupta?
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Mahāśivagupta?
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Mahābhavagupta?
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[Mahā?]śivagupta (first of the Orissan line, *c.* 950 A.D.)
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Rai Bahadur Hiralal suggested that the sons of Bālārjuna being driven out from the Śrīpura kingdom by the dynasty which is usually designated as the 'Śarabhapura kings,' gradually carved out a new kingdom in that portion of the Mahanadi valley which is now known as the Sambalpur tract in Orissa.¹ Whatever may be the value of this suggestion it appears certain that the memory of their sovereignty in Śrīpura did not prevent the Orissan Somavaṁśīs from changing some of the more important features of their administration. For though the Orissan kings had similar names and were also known as 'lord of Kosala' (*Kosalendra*), yet we miss the well-known *Garuḍa* of the Śrīpura kings on their seals. Their seals, like those of the Kalacuris of Tripurī and Tummāṇa, bear the figure of the *Gaja-Lakṣmī*. But this difference of the seal need not necessarily indicate a separate lineage, as branches of the same tribe are sometimes found to have different seals. Thus while the seals of the Kalacuris of Tripurī and Tummāṇa contained the figure of the *Gaja-Lakṣmī*, those of the Kalacuris of Gorakhpur and Kalyāṇa bore the figure of a bull. The difference of the emblems on the seals however shows that the founder of the new branch must have been separated from his relatives of the old branch by a comparatively long interval. It is not unlikely that he may have been influenced by his neighbours the Haihaya and the Śarabhapur princes to adopt a new seal.
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¹ *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 186.
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The name of the first king of the Orissan branch of the Somavaṁśīs so far available is Śivagupta. No inscription of this prince has yet been discovered. But in the grants of his successors he is given imperial titles (*Pb.-M.-P.*). On palaeographic considerations I have approximately referred him to *c.* 950 A.D. If this guess is correct, he is probably to be identified with the *Kosalendra* from whom the Tripurī Kalacuri Mugdhatuṅga is said to have taken a place named Pāli.¹ I have elsewhere suggested the identification of Pāli with the modern village of that name, situated about 12 miles N.E. of Ratanpur in the Bilaspur district (C.P.). The acceptance of these identifications would reveal one of the stages of that struggle between the Kalacuris and the Somavaṁśīs which gradually ousted the latter from their possessions in Chhattisgarh and restricted their power within the present limits of Orissa.
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¹ Bilhari stone inscription, see *infra*, chapter on the Haihayas. Note that the Orissan Somavaṁśīs had the title *Kosalendra* while the Śrīpura branch bore that of *Kosalādhipati*.
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Śivagupta was succeeded by his son Mahābhavagupta Janamejaya. The following grants have so far been discovered for his reign:—
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(1) *Sonpur grant.*—This was found in the State of Sonpur. The inscription contains 39 lines, and is incised on three plates. These are strung together on a ring, the ends of which are secured by a circular seal bearing in relief the figure of the *Gaja-Lakṣmī*, 'squatting apparently on a lotus,' and the legend *Śrī-Janamejaya-deva* (?). The grant opens with *Oṁ svasti*; then come the name and residence of the donor as follows: *Suvarṇapura*² *samāvāsita-Śrīmato Vijaya-skandhāvārāt Pb.-M.-* of the village of Vakaveḍḍā in the Oṅgā-*taṭa-Viṣaya*¹ to the following four Brahmans:
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² Modern town of Sonpur.
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¹ Onga is a small river which joins the Mahanadi in the State of Sonpur. *Oṅgā-taṭa-Viṣaya* is therefore 'the district on the bank of the river Oṅgā.' Hiralal suggests that Vakkaveḍḍā is probably Baktī, 15 miles north of Bolangir and 4 miles to the south of the Onga river: *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 198. But B. C. Mazumdar identified it with Bakebira, close to Salebhata Police Station, on the river Onga: see *ibid*, p. 101.
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(1) Dāmāka, an immigrant from Pampāsarasī and a resident of Leiśṛṅgā.
(2) (Unnamed) son of Nārapagaṇḍa, an immigrant from Oḍayaśṛṅgā and a resident of Khaṇḍakṣetra.
(3) Vāsudeva, an immigrant from Koṅkaleḍḍa and a resident of Lipatuṅgā.
(4) Koṇḍadeva, an immigrant from Kaliṅga and a resident of Pampāsarasī.²
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² Hiralal and B. C. Mazumdar have suggested (*EI*, Vol. XI, pp. 101 ff. and 198) the following identifications of some of the places mentioned here:
(1) *Leiśṛṅgā*—Loisinga, the headquarters of a Zamindari of the same name, in the Patna State, 11 miles north of Bolangir.
(2) *Lipatuṅgā*—Probably Lepta (?), 6 miles south-east of Bolangir.
(3) *Oḍayaśṛṅgā*—Oḍsinga in the native state of Athmallik (Mozumdar).
(4) *Koṅkaleḍḍa*—Probably Koknara in the Bora Sambhar Zamindari of Sambalpur district, 4 miles from Narsinghnāth.
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In lines 39-42 we are told that the charter was written by the *Kāyastha* Koighoṣa, son of Vallabhaghoṣa, who belonged to (the office of) *Mahāsāṁdhivigrahin* Mallā(datta?), son of Dhāradatta in the 6th year of the victorious reign of the *Pb.-M.-P.*-Janamejaya-deva. The grant ends with a verse in praise of king Janamejaya of the lunar race (*Somānvayī*).³
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³ The grant was first noticed in 1877 by P. C. Ghosh in *JASB*, Vol. XLVI, Part I, pp. 173 ff.; then edited by Fleet, *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 340-44. On the name Mallā (datta?) see *ibid*, Vol. VIII, p. 140.
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(3) *Patna grant (ii).*—It was found in the State of Patna. The inscription contains 46 lines written on three plates joined together by a ring, the ends of which are secured by the usual circular seal bearing the figure of the *Gaja-Lakṣmī* in relief. The grant opens with *Oṁ svasti*, and then gives the name of the camp and the titles of the donor and his father as in No. 2 above. It records the gift of the village of Pāsitalā¹ in the Potā (?)-*Viṣaya* to the *Bhaṭṭaputras* Keśava and Apya. It is dated, as in No. 2 above, in the 6th year of Janamejaya. The record was also written by the *Kāyastha* Koighoṣa, attached to the office of *Mahāsandhivirgahin* Malladatta [the same as in No. 2].²
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¹ Modern Pointala, 2 miles east of Bolangir.
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² Edited by G. M. Laskar, *JASB*, 1905, Vol. (N.S.) I, pp. 4-6 and 12-13. Hiralal has suggested that Potā(?)-*Viṣaya* may be Pova-*Viṣaya* of the Cuttack grant. He has identified the latter with Pow in Sonpur State, 19 miles south of Binka: See *EI*, Vol. XI, pp. 199-200; also *infra*, p. 400, fn. 4.
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(4) *Nagpur Museum grant.*—It was found in Satalma (or Satlama) in the Zamindari of Barpali, Sambalpur district. The inscription contains 44 lines, incised on three plates. The ends of the ring which holds the plates is secured by a circular seal which bears the usual figure of *Gaja-Lakṣmī* in relief. The inscription opens with "*Oṁ svasti!* From the fortunate Mura-sīma, where flights of merry pigeons rise up at the sound of the anklets of many beautiful maidens (and) whose fame is spread by bards coming from all quarters." Then follows the same verse which occurs at the end of No. 2 above. In the preamble of the grant which follows next (line 6 ff.) the donor and his father are mentioned with the same titles as in Nos. 1 and 2. The inscription then records the grant of the village of Satallamā³ attached to the *Kaśaloḍa-Viṣaya*⁴ to the *Bhaṭṭaputra* Sāntha-kara, who was a resident of the village of Murujunga, and had immigrated from the village of Puruṣamaṇḍapa in the *Oḍra-deśa*. Lines 38-41 give the 8th year in the victorious reign of *Pb.-M.-P.-Soma-kula-tilaka-Trikaliṅgādhipati* Janame-jaya-deva as the date of the grant. The *śāsana* was written by the *Kāyastha* Āllava, son of Kailāsa, who was attached to the *Mahāsandhivigrahin Rāṇaka* Malladatta, son of Dhāradatta. It was engraved by the same as in (1) above.⁵ (5-7) *The 3 Cuttack grants (i-iii).*—These were found in ploughing a field at Chaudwar, "on the opposite side of the river to Cuttack." They form what is called in these grants (lines 46 of *i*, 48 of *ii* and 50 of *iii*) a *triphalī-tāmra-śāsana* or set of 3 connected charters. They are each written on 3 plates, which are strung together by sealed rings as in Nos. 1 to 4. The name and titles of the donor and his father are also the same as in the other charters. They are all issued from the *Śrīmad-ārāma-Samāvāsitaḥ śrīmato vijaya-kaṭaka*, and record grants of the following villages to the *Bhaṭṭa*, the *Mahattama Sādhāraṇa*.¹
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³ Modern Satalmā.
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⁴ Modern Kusarda, 10 miles N. W. of Satalma.
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⁵ Edited by Hultzsch, *EI*, Vol. VIII, pp. 138-43. For the identifications of the localities see *ibid*, Vol. XI, pp. 101 ff. and 201.
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¹ Mentioned as *mantri* in (*i*), line 37.
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(*i*) Raṇḍā² and Alāṇḍalā³ in Povā-*Viṣaya*⁴ in the Kośala-*deśa*.
(*ii*) Arkigrāmā in Tulumva-*Khaṇḍa*.⁵
(*iii*) Tūleṇḍā (Trūleṇḍā?)⁶ in Sandānā-*Viṣaya*.⁷
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² Mod. Renda, 6 miles from Bolangir.
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³ Mod. Alanda, 3 miles E. of Bolangir.
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⁴ Mod. Pow, 8 miles N.E. of Bolangir.
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⁵ Mod. Turun on the Mahanadi, 27 miles S. of Sambalpur.
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⁶ Probably mod. Tulunda, near Pow.
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⁷ Probably mod. Sonda, 11 miles E. of Sonpur.
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The charters were all written by the same person, the *Kāyastha Māhūka* who belonged to the office of *Mahāsandhivigrahin Rāṇaka* Malladatta in the 31st year of the reign of Mahābhavagupta. They end with "delivered by the *Kosalendra* and intended to give information to the *Mahattama*, it was received by Puṇḍarīkākṣa; it was engraved by Mādhavā, son of Vasu."⁸
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⁸ Edited by Fleet, *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 345-51. For previous notices of the inscriptions Nos. 5 and 7 see *IA*, Vol. V, p. 55 ff. and *JASB*, Vol. 41, Part I, *Proceedings*, p. 9 ff. For the identification of the localities see *EI*, Vol. LI, p. 199, and *OM*, p. 166 ff. B. C. Mazumdar has suggested that the *ārāma* or "pleasure garden" from which these records were issued is the same as the *Vihārārāma*, situated near Sonpur of the Maranjā-Mura grant of Mahāśivagupta. As the localities so far identified have no connection with Cuttack, and are distinctly stated to be situated in Kosala, Mr. Mazumdar may be right. In that case the find-spot of the grant seems to have no connection with the extent of Janamejaya's dominions. The grant uses *Kośala* for *Kosala*.
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From the grants mentioned above we get very little information about the political incidents of the reign of Mahābhavagupta. He is of course given imperial titles and called the lord of Trikaliṅga and Kosala. But most of his inscriptions appear to have been issued from places situated in the states of Sonpur and Patna. The villages granted in the records, including those which were found near Cuttack, so far as they have been identified, are all situated within the area now occupied by the States of Patna, Sonpur and Athmallik and the district of Sambalpur. Until further discoveries are made, we must tentatively conclude that in spite of his high-sounding titles he was the ruler of Western Orissa only.¹ As his grants are issued both from Suvarṇapura (Sonpur) and Murasīma (Mursinga in Patna State), it is difficult to decide on the name of his capital. But it has been suggested by some scholars that it may have been the city of Vinītapura, which occur in his son's grants, and which has been identified with modern Binka on the Mahanadi, in Sonpur state.² As we have dated records of his reign up to his 31st year we can approximately assign him to the period 975-1010 A.D. If this period for him is correct, he may have been the *Kosala-nātha* who was defeated by the Tripurī Kalacuri Lakṣmaṇarāja.³ We have seen that Pāli, near Ratanpur, was captured by Mugdhatuṅga, presumably from his father Śivagupta As the former was the great-grandfather of Lakṣmaṇarāja, the latter was possibly a very junior contemporary of Mahābhavagupta I.
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¹ Note that the Bilhari inscription of the Tripurī Kalacuris seems to refer to an *Oḍra-nṛpati* contemporaneous with a *Kosala-nātha*; see *EI*, Vol. I, p. 268.
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² *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 189.
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³ See *infra*, chapter on the Haihayas.
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Mahābhavagupta was succeeded by his son Mahāśivagupta Yayāti. The following grants are known for his reign :
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(1) *Sonpur grant (i).*—This was unearthed by a cultivator almost at the boundary of the villages of Jate Singa and Dungri, in the Sonpur State, some 14 miles N. E. of the town of Sonpur. The inscription contains 46 lines, engraved in three plates. Ring and seal as in the grants of his father. The inscriptions opens witb a praise of the confluence of the Mahanadi and the Tela, and then eulogises the king, who resides at Pattana-Suvarṇapura as follows:—
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*Karṇāṭa-Lāṭa-Gurjeśvara (Gurjareśvara?)-Dāḍajvari (Drāviḍajayī?) Kāñcī-kalāpābharaṇa-lampaṭaḥ Kalinga-Kongad-Otkalaka-Kośalā-Svayambaraḥ prasiddha-Gauḍa-Rādhāmbara-prakarṣaṇotghāta¹-māruta-śītānga-Vanga-vimalāmbara-pūrṇa-candra-svabhujopārjita-Trikalingādhipati-Parama-māheśvara-Pb.-Śrī-Mahābhavagupta-pādānudhyāta-P.-praṇamita-rājanoprasevita-²pādāravinda-yugalaḥ-Śrī-Mahāśivagupta-Śrī-Yayāti-devaḥ.* The inscription was issued from the victorious camp (*vijaya-kaṭaka*) situated at Suvarṇapura, and records the grant of two villages, Mārañja and Miorā belonging to Santovardā-Khaṇḍa of Samvaravādi-Maṇḍala and within the Bhraṇḍa-Viṣaya, which is attached to Kosala, to the Brahman Yaśaskara. The grant is dated in the 3rd year of Yayāti. It was written by the *Rāṇaka* Rudradatta.³
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¹ *-odghāta*?
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² *-vājanoprasevita.*
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³ The grant has been edited by B. C. Mazumdar in the *JBORS*, Vol. II, pp. 45-59, under the name *Maranja-Mura Charter*. In view of the importance of the inscription it deserves to be re-edited in the *EI*. Before its re-edition it would be risky to form any theory on the origin of the dynasty on the basis of the word *Vangānvaya* which according to the editor describes the lineage of Yayāti. For his theory see *OM*, pp. 174 ff.
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(2) *Patna grant (i).*—This was found in the Patna State. The inscription which contains 50 lines is written on three plates, and has the usual seal with the figure of the *Gaja-Lakṣmī*. It was issued from the camp (*kaṭaka*) at Vinītapura (mod. Binka in Sonpur State). The inscription contains the usual titles of the donor and his father, and records the grant of some land on the northern bank of the Dāśānariya-nadī (or the river of the Daśārṇa country?)⁴ belonging to the village of Talakajja⁵ in Sanūlā (or Sanṛtā)-*Viṣaya*,¹ in the Kośala-deśa, to a Brahman named Kāmadeva, a resident of Jalajaḍḍa² in Kosala. The inscription was written by the order of the *Rāṇaka* Dhāradatta, the *Mahāsandhivigrahin*, in the 8th year of Yayāti.³
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⁴ Hiralal identifies this river with the Nimuruti river, which flows between Jalajodo and Talagaja; *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 200.
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⁵ Modern Talagaja, 10 miles S.E. of Bolangir.
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¹ Hiralal accepts the reading as Sanūlā, and identified it with Soinnula, in the Patna State, 22 miles S. W. of Talagaja; *ibid.*
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² Modern Jalajodo, near Talagaja.
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³ Edited by G. M. Laskar in *JASB*, 1905, Vol. I (N.S.), pp. 6-7.
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(3) *Cuttack grant.*—This was found among the official records at Cuttack. The original find-spot is not known. The inscription contains 66 lines, and is as usual incised on three plates. Ring and seal lost. The record opens with four verses describing the beauties of Vinītapura, on the Mahanadi, from which it was issued. Then in three verses it mentions a king named Janamejaya and his son Yayāti. Then follows the names of the donor and his father, with the usual titles,⁴ after which is recorded the grant of the village of Cāndagrāma in the Maraḍa-*Viṣaya* in the *Dakṣiṇa*-Kosala to the Brahman Śaṅkhapāṇi, an immigrant from Śrīvallagrāma in the Madhyadeśa and a resident of the Śilābhañja-pāṭī in the Oḍra-deśa. In lines 63-65 it is dated in the 9th year of Yayāti's reign. It ends with the name of the engraver, the *Vijñānī* Mādhava.⁵
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⁴ It is perhaps important that the father of the donor, Mahābhavagupta I, is here given in addition to the usual *Pb.-M.-P.*, the epithets *Parama-māheśvara*, *Somakula-tilaka*, and *Trikaliṅgādhipati*, which are wanting in the records of Mahābhavagupta I before the name of his father Sivagupta I.
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⁵ Edited by Fleet, *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 351-54. For the identifications see *ibid*, Vol. XI, p. 199. Has Śilābhañja-pāṭī of this inscription any connection with the Bhañja ruler Śilābhañja, the father of Vidyādharabhañja? If the names are accepted as identical, this may throw some light on the relationship of the Bhañjas and the Somavaṁśīs.
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(4) *Sonpur grant (ii).*—This was found in the Sonpur State. The inscription contains 53 lines, and, as usual, is incised on three plates, strung together by a sealed ring; the figure on the seal is not clear. This grant, like No. (3), is also issued from Vinītapura, and contains the same titles for the donor and his father. It records a grant of the village of Nibiṇḍā (*l.* 5) or Nibinnā (*l.* 17) in the Ganuṭapāta-*Maṇḍala* in Kosala-deśa to the *Dīkṣita* Puṇḍarīka Śarman, who was a resident of the village Marañjeṇḍā in the Kosala country and an immigrant from Bhaṭaparoli. The writer of the grant was *Mahākṣapaṭalaka* Ucchava Nāga, son of Allava Nāga, who was known to the *Mahāsandhivigrahika Rāṇaka* Cārudatta. The engraver was *Ṭhakura* Panāka. It is dated in lines 44-47 in the 15th year of Yayāti.¹
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¹ Edited by B. C. Mazumdar, *EI*, Vol. XI, pp. 93 and 95-98, under the name *Nibinnā Charter*. The editor has identified the village granted with the village of the same name (Nibinnā) where the inscription was found. He has also suggested that the *Viṣaya* may be Ghantapara, in the same neighbourhood.
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(5) *Patna grant (ii)*.—Found in the Patna State. The grant consists of 64 lines, and was issued from Yayātinagara.² It grants the village of Ḍelāḍelī (or Helāheli ?) in the Telātaṭṭa-*Viṣaya*³ in Kosala-deśa, to the *Bhaṭṭa* Mahodadhi, a resident of Antaradi in the Lāvaḍā-*Viṣaya*.⁴ It is dated in the 24th year of Yayāti. The charter was written by the *Kāyastha* Tathāgata, belonging to the office of *Mahāsandhivigrahin-Rāṇaka*-Dhāradatta, and engraved by *Vijñānī* Vāsuka [everything as usual in the other grants].⁵
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² Identified by Hiralal with Binka on the Mahanadi. According to him the old capital Vinītapura was named Yayātinagara after the name of Yayāti. See *ibid*, p. 189. Fleet pointed out that as Yayātinagara was situated on the Mahanadi, it could not be identified with Jajpur, which is on the Baitarani (Lat. 21° 28′ N. and Long. 85° 33′ E.), some 50 miles north of the Mahanadi; see *ibid*, Vol. III, p. 355. Yayātinagara is mentioned in Dhoyī's *Pavanadūta*.
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³ Country on the bank on the mod. Tel, a tributary of the Mahanadi.
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⁴ Probably modern Lebda, 48 miles south-west of Bolangir, Patna State.
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⁵ Edited by G. M. Laskar, *JASB*, 1905, Vol. I (N.S), pp. 7-8 and 16-18. For identification, see *EI*, Vol. XI, pp. 189 and 201.
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(6) *Patna grant (iii)*.—Found in the Patna State. It contains 75 lines, and was issued from Yayātinagara on the Mahanadi. The object of the record is to grant the village Luttarumā of Telā-taṭṭa-*Viṣaya* to the donee of the grant No. 5, who was an immigrant from Śrāvasti-*Maṇḍala*. It was dated in the 28th year of Yayāti. The charter was written by the *Kāyastha* Sūryasena, belonging to office of the *Sandhivigrahin* of the Kośala-deśa [everything as usual in other grants].⁶
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⁶ Edited by G. M. Laskar, *JASB*, 1905, Vol. I (N.S.), pp. 8-12 and 19-23.
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The records mentioned above were issued from places on the bank of the Mahanadi, which if the identifications proposed are accepted, were all located in the Sonpur State. The villages granted by these inscriptions were mostly included in Kosala or Dakṣiṇa-Kosala, and, so far as they have been identified seems to have been all situated in the States of Patna and Sonpur. On this evidence therefore we are led to conclude that the power of Mahāśivagupta I Yayāti continued to centre round the same region over which his father had held sway.¹ But there is some evidence to show that Yayāti was a more powerful sovereign than his father, and he appears to have had some amount of military success. Unlike his father's grants, his inscriptions in their introductory parts sometimes contain references to conflicts with his neighbours. Thus one of his Sonpur grants (i) seem to tell us that he 'conquered the lords of Karṇāṭa, Lāṭa, Gurjara (?) and Drāviḍa; denuded Kāñci of its glory, became the elected (*svayambara*) lord of Kaliṅga, Koṅgada, Utkala and Kośala; was cooled by the wind of the famous countries of Gauḍa and Rāḍha, became as it were the full-moon in the pure sky of Vaṅga and became the lord of Tri-Kaliṅga after having conquered it with his own hands.' A Patna grant (No. 6) adds the information that he defeated Ajapāla in battle and captured 32 big elephants. It is difficult to determine how far these statements were founded on fact. As his grants record his 28th year, he may have flourished during the period *c.* 1010-1050 A.D. He was thus a contemporary of Rajendra Coḷa, and must have witnessed the latter's northern expedition, which was undertaken some time between 1021 and 1025 A.D. As the Tirumalai rock inscription of the latter refers to *Kosalai-nāḍu* as one of the countries through which the Coḷa conqueror passed on his way to the north but significantly enough, fails to record any military success of Rajendra Coḷa there,¹ we may possibly be allowed to conclude that Yayāti met with some amount of success against the Drāviḍa king. But at present it would be risky to accept the theory of Mr. B. C. Mazumdar that Yayāti personally went to Bengal to help its king in repelling the attacks from ‘Gurjara, Lāṭa, Karṇāṭa, and Kāñcī invaders.’² Without accepting all that the *praśastikāra* claimed we may perhaps be right in concluding that Yayāti was an ambitious ruler who won military fame by raiding the territories of his neighbours. But the fact that he was a contemporary of the powerful Tripurī Kalacuri kings Gāṅgeyadeva and Lakṣmī Karṇa, the Pāla king Mahīpāla and the Coḷa Rajendra shows that his success must have been limited.
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¹ This area is sometimes described as the 'Sambalpur tract.'
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¹ *EI*, Vol. IX, p. 233. The passage runs as follows: ‘……*Oḍḍa-viṣaya* which was difficult to approach (and which he subdued in) close fights. The good *Kośalai-nāḍu*, where Brāhmaṇas assembled, *Taṇḍa-bhutti*, in whose gardens bees abounded, and which he acquired after destroying Dharmapāla (in) a hot battle…………’
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² *OM*, pp. 174-75 and 183-85. Note that in his Patna grant No. 6 his *Sandhivigrahin* is described as of *Kosala-deśa*.
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Mahāśivagupta I was succeeded by his son Mahābhavagupta II Bhīmaratha. The following inscriptions are so far known for his reign:
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(1) *Cuttack grant.*—This is reported to have been found “at Cuttack or closely in its neighbourhood,” but there is no precise information about its find-spot. It contains 73 lines which are incised as usual on three plates. The figures on the seal is damaged and nothing can be distinguished now. The inscription opens with a description of the charms of the city of Yayātinagara on the Mahanadi. Then in five verses it praises king Janamejaya, his son Yayāti, and his grandson Bhīmaratha. Then we are told that from Yayātinagara Mahābhavagupta (titles and epithets as usual for him and his father), on the occasion of a solar eclipse, granted the village of Gauḍasimiṇilligrāma in the Kosala-sākhaṅgadyanhā-*Viṣaya* to the *Rāṇaka* Rāccho, an immigrant from the Śrāvastī-*Maṇḍala* and a resident of Singoāgrāma¹ in the Devibhoga-Viṣaya² in Kosala. Lines 66-69 are devoted to the praise of the *Sandhivigrahin* Singadatta. Lines 69-70 state that the *Śāsana* was written by the *Kāyastha* Maṅgaladatta. The grant is dated in lines 70-73 in the 3rd year of Bhīmaratha. It ends with the name of the engraver, the *vijñānin* Madhumatta.³
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¹ Probably Singar in the Khariar Zamindari, in the extreme south of the Raipur district (C. P.), *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 200.
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² Identified with Deobhog in the Bindra Nawagarh Zamindari in the extreme south of Raipur district (C. P.); *ibid*.
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³ Edited by Fleet, *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 355-59.
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(2) *Kudopali grant.*—This was found buried in the ground at the village of Kudopali in the Bargarh tahsil of Sambalpur district. It contains 36 lines, and is as usual incised on three plates strung together by a ring. The ends of the ring are soldered into a seal which "bears in high relief a sitting *haṁsa* facing the proper left and surmounted by a crescent, and, below the *haṁsa*, the legend *Rāṇaka-Śrī-[Pu]ṁ[ja]*. " The top of the first side of the first plate contains the following line, the significance of which has not yet been understood:
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*Pemṭṭā (?) pamhālātālikatamvolabholichatrasatau.*
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The inscription proper begins with the date, the 13th year of the reign of Mahābhavagupta-rāja II, at Yayātinagara. (The titles and epithets of this prince and his father are as usual.) Then follow the name and residence of his feudatory: *Parama-māheśvara-Maṭhara-vaṁśodbhava-kulatilaka-Kāleśvarīvara-labdha-prasāda-Pañcadaśa-pallikādhipati-Samadhigatapañcamahāśabda-Māṇḍalika-Rāṇaka Śrī-Puñja*, the son of Voḍā (?). The latter from his residence at Vā(?)maṇḍāpāṭī⁴ granted the village of Loisarā⁵ in the Giḍāṇḍā-Maṇḍala⁶ to the *Bhaṭṭaputra* Nārāyaṇa, an immigrant from Hastipada. In the last two lines is given the name of the writer of the copper-plate, Pūrṇadatta, the son of the *Śreṣṭhin Kirāṇa* of Lenapura.¹
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⁴ Identified with Bamra, a feudatory state in Orissa, called by the Oriyas Bāmaṇḍā. Bamragarh, the old capital of Bamra, is 60 miles N. E. of Binka, *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 201.
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⁵ Identified with a village of the same name in Bargarh tahsil of Sambalpur district, 16 miles S. W. of Sambalpur; *ibid*.
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⁶ Hiralal suggested the reading Siḍāṇḍā and identified it with Saraṇḍā, in Bargarh tahsil, 11 miles S. W. of Sambalpur town.
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¹ Edited by Kielhorn, *ibid*, Vol. IV, pp. 254-59.
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The two grants mentioned above do not supply us with any record of the political incidents of the reign of Mahābhavagupta II. If however the suggested identifications of the place-names are accepted we may conclude that his dominions extended from the south of the Raipur district in the C. P. to Bamra in Orissa. His inscriptions show that he ruled for at least 13 years. On palaeographic evidence we may refer him approximately to the period 1050 to 1075 A.D.²
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² Kielhorn referred his Kudopali grant to about the first half of the 12th century; *ibid*, p. 256. But see Fleet's view on his Cuttack grant, which with the other grants of the family is referred to 1000-1100 A.D.; *ibid*, Vol. III, p. 333.
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Hitherto Mahābhavagupta II Bhīmaratha has been considered to be the last prince of the Somavaṁśīs of Kosala. The discovery of the Sonpur grant of *Kumāra* Someśvara-deva however seems to add some new names to the dynasty. This inscription was found buried in a field in the village of Kelga in the Uttara-tīra division of the Sonpur State, about 18 miles to the north of Sonpur town. It contains 70 lines, incised on four plates. The seal attached to the ring is fashioned in imitation of a lotus bearing a 'seated figure with the right arm outstretched to the knee,' which may possibly be a representation of Lakṣmī. The inscription then opens as follows:
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*Oṁ Svasti Śrī-Suvarṇapurāt Parama-māheśvara-Pb.-M.-P.-Soma-kula-tilaka-Trikaliṅgādhipati-Śrī-Mahābhavagupta-rāja-deva pādānudhyāta-Śrīmad-Ud*\[d\]*yota Kesari-rāja-deva-prasādīkṛta-Kosala-rājyābhiṣikta-Śrī-Abhimanyudevasya-atīta-rājye Parama-māheśvara-Pb.-Kumārādhirāja-P.-Paścimalaṅkādhipati-*³
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³ B. C. Mazumdar, identified the Sonpur tract 'with *Paścima-Laṅkā*. He points out that according to popular tradition Sonpur was once known by that name. A small rock in the bed of the Mahanadi, within a stone's throw from the palace of the Maharaja, is still called Laṅkeśvari; see *ibid*, Vol. XII, p. 239.
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*Soma-kula-kamala-kalikā-vikāsa-bhāsvara-Kumāra-Śrī-Someśvara-deva-pādaḥ-kuśalinaḥ*.
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The inscription, in the formal part, records the grant of the village of Atteṇḍā,¹ in the Uttaravalli-*Viṣaya*,² of the Kosala *rājya-Khaṇḍa*, to the *Bhaṭṭaputra* Udayakara Sarman, an immigrant from Mahūvali in Sāvatthi (Śrāvastī ?)-*Maṇḍala* and a resident of Kamalapura.³ The inscription is dated in lines 14-15 in the 'increasing victorious reign, year 1.'⁴
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¹ Identified by the editor with the village of Achenda, 7 miles from Kelgā̃.
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² The editor points out that Achenda is in the Uttara-tīra division of Sonpur. Thus it is likely that Uttaravalli-*Viṣaya* may be identified with the Uttara-tīra division.
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³ Sten Konow suggested that this name may be a Sanskritisation of Kelgā̃; see *ibid*, Vol. XII, p. 238, fn. 2.
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⁴ The grant was edited by B. C. Mazumdar, *EI*, Vol. XII pp. 237-42.
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The first name in the grant is that of Mahābhavaguptadeva. "But from the manner in which this mention is made" the editor of the grant found it "difficult to say which Mahābhavagupta is referred to." From palaeographic considerations however it seems likely that this prince is not the first of that name and that he may possibly be either the Mahābhavagupta of the Kudopali grant mentioned above, or a later prince bearing the same name. The letters of the Sonpur grant of Someśvara, though agreeing in the main with the characters of the plates of the Kosala Guptas contain many modern Oriya and Bengali forms, which show that they are of a later time. The next difficulty is about the relationship between this Mahābhavagupta and Uddyotakesarin who is said to have granted (*prasādīkṛta*) the Kosala country to Abhimanyu. The word *pādānudhyāta* however may possibly signify that Uddyotakesarin immediately succeeded Mahābhavagupta and that the former was possibly a lineal or at least a collateral descendant of the latter. If this is accepted it would afford an interesting instance of the reappearance of *Keśarī* names in the family tree after more than 300 years. We have already shown that the name Raṇakesarin occurs twice in the genealogical list of the Śrīpura branch of this family. The occurrence of names ending in *Kesarin* and of ‘Janamejaya’ and ‘Yayāti’ in the Orissan branch of the family makes its identification with the *Kesari-vaṁśa* of the *Mādlā-Pāñji* seem probable.¹
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¹ For a summary of this part of the chronicle, see *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 335 ff. Fleet, who first proposed the identification of Janamejaya and Yayāti of the inscriptions with the Janamejaya Kesari and Yayāti Kesarī of the chronicles, showed the utter unreliability of the chronological system of the *Pāñji*, and remarked that 'everything relating to ancient times, which had been written on the unsupported authority of these annals, has to be expunged bodily from the pages of history'; *ibid*, pp. 325-26 and 337-40. Mr. B. C. Mazumdar however thinks that the Kesari kings of the *Pāñji* must be identified with the Coḷa kings who invaded Orissa and 'who bore the title Kesari'; see *OM*, pp. 187 ff.
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Uddyotakesarin of the Sonpur grant has been identified with the prince of the same name whose *Bhuvanesvar inscription*,² dated in his 18th year, was edited by Prinsep as early as 1838.³ This record is damaged but the published text of the inscription gives the following genealogy of Uddyotakesarin :
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² *EI*, Vol. XII, p. 239.
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³ *JASB*, Vol. VII, Part I, pp. 557-62 and plate XXIV; *EI*, Vol. V, *Appendix*, p. 90, No. 668.
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In the lunar race
*Trikaliṅgādhipa* Janamejaya...killed in battle the *Uḍra-deśa-narapati*; called *Samrāṭ* and *Saptāṅga-rājyeśvara*.
```
| |
Dīrgharava Vicitravīrya
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Apavāra Abhimanyu
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Caṇḍīhara=Kolāvatī of the solarrace.
|
Uddyotakesarin.
```
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Some scholars have further identified the Uddyotakesarin of the Bhuvanesvar epigraph with the prince of that name whose inscriptions of his 5th and 18th years were discovered in Orissa in the Lalatendu Kesari and Navamuni caves respectively.⁴ Thus according to the proposed identifications all these princes bearing the name Uddyotakesarin were identical. As an illustration however of the uncertainties of the history of this period of Orissa the interesting fact may be mentioned that the scholar who admits the identity of the two Uddyotakesarins of the Sonpur and Bhuvanesvar inscriptions refers the latter epigraph to the 12th century,¹ while the scholar who identifies the two Uddyotakesarins of the Bhuvanesvar and the Navamuni cave inscriptions refers the latter record to ‘about the 10th century.’²
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⁴ *Inscriptions in Udayagiri and Khandagiri*, *EI*, Vol. XIII, pp. 165-166, Nos. XIV and XV.
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¹ Mr. B. C. Mazumdar, *EI*, Vol. XII, p. 239; see also his *OM*, p. 179.
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² Mr. R. D. Banerji, *ibid*, Vol. XIII, p. 165.
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The identifications proposed have to face other difficulties. If the Janamejaya who appears at the head of the table in the Bhuvanesvar epigraph was the same person as Mahābhāvagupta Janamejaya, and if the Mahābhāvagupta of the Sonpur grant is accepted as Mahābhāvagupta II, then in one case Uddyotakesarin becomes the 3rd reigning king from Janamejaya and in another case the 6th. The difficulty is partly solved if we suppose that the Mahābhāvagupta of the Sonpur grant was later than the prince of that name in the Kudopali grant. For this would make Uddyotakesarin of the Sonpur grant the 5th reigning prince from Mahābhāvagupta I Janamejaya, with a possible Mahāśivagupta in between the two Mahābhāvaguptas of the Kudopali and the Sonpur grants. This would tend to lessen the distance between the two Uddyotakesarins. The position may be illustrated by the following table :
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Under this scheme Dīrgharava is accepted as a son of Mahābhavagupta I Janamejaya, and Uddyotakesarin a collateral descendant of the Mahābhavagupta (III ?) of the Sonpur grant. As I have already suggested, it is possible that Uddyotakesarin succeeded Mahābhavagupta (III ?) who possibly died childless.
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The discovery of most of the inscriptions of Uddyotakesarin near Bhuvanesvar¹ may indicate the transference of the seat of the Somavaṁśīs' kingdom from the Sambalpur tract to the seaboard of Orissa. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the Sonpur grant of Someśvara distinctly states that Kosala was granted by Uddyotakesarin to Abhimanyu, who apparently founded a feudatory dynasty in the Sonpur tract. The *Kumārādhirāja* Someśvara was possibly a son of Abhimanyu, and apparently succeeded the latter at Suvarṇapura.
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¹ As another illustration of the uncertainties of Orissan history may be mentioned the fact that nobody yet knows who founded the magnificent Liṅgarāja temple at Bhuvanesvar. According to the *Mādlā-Pāñji* Lalatendu Kesari built the temple in *Śaka* 588 (A.D. 666). Recent studies however tend to show that it was probably erected by one of the ancestors of Uddyotakesarin in *c.* 1000 A.D. See R P. Chanda, *ASI*, 1923-24, pp. 119-22; also B. C. Mazumdar, *OM*, pp. 196-99; N. Tripathi, in *JBORS*, 1928, June, p. 303; *AO*, Vol. II, pp. 56-58.
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Nothing is known about the history of the successors of Uddyotakesarin. According to the *Mādlā-Pāñji* Suvarṇa Kesarī who ruled in *c.* 1123-32 A.D. was the last king of the Kesarī dynasty. We are told by this chronicle that Orissa was conquered by a king from the south named Coḍagaṅga (1132-52 A.D.) who established the 'Gaṅgā-vaṁśa.'² Fleet rightly identified this Coḍagaṅga with Anantavarmā Coḍagaṅga of the later Gaṅga dynasty, for whom we have dates ranging from *Śaka* 998 to *Śaka* 1069 (*c.* 1076-1147 A.D.). Though Suvarṇa Kesarī is utterly unknown to epigraphic evidence, and may possibly be fictitious, yet it is not unlikely that the Orissan chronicles may have retained a reminiscence of the real facts when they make the later Gaṅgas the successors of the Kesarīs in Orissa. There is no inherent improbability in the proposition that the Somavamśī Kesarīs were destroyed during the vigorous reign of Anantavarmā Coḍagaṅga sometime before *c.* 1148 A.D.¹
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² *EI*, Vol. III, pp. 336 ff.
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¹ On the subsequent history of Kosala see the Patna Museum plates of Someśvara, who belonged to the Colānvaya and claimed to be lord of Kosala. The characters of this record belong to the 14th century. See *EI*, Vol. XIX, pp. 97-99.
Linked texts (3)
- Pavanadūta — Dhoyī, Sanskrit
- Epigraphia Indica
- Lingaraja Temple