The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.162

Language: English

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Vijayapāla was succeeded sometime before V. S. 1107 by Devavarman his son by his queen Bhuvanadevī. The existence of this prince is known from his grant, which was discovered at the village of Nanyaura, in the Panwari Jaitpur Tahsīl of the Hamirpur District of U. P. along with a grant of Dhaṅgadeva.⁴ The plate which is written on one side only, contains 19 lines of writing. The inscription opens with *Oṁ svasti*, and then traces the genealogy of the donor as follows: *Pb.-M.-P.* Vidyādharadeva-*pādānudhyāta-Pb.-M.P.*-Vijaya-pāla-deva-*pādānu-dhyāta-Pb.-M.-P.-Paramamāheśvara-Kālaṁjarādhipati* Devavarma-deva. This prince in (V.)S. 1107 (A.D. 1051), from his residence at Suhavāsa, on the occasion of the anniversary (*Sāṁvat-sarike*) of his mother the *rājñī* Bhuvanadevī, granted the village of Kaṭhahau (?) situated in Raṇamaua in the Rājapura-avasthā, to the Brāhman Abhimanyu, an emigrant from the *Bhaṭṭa-grāma* named Ḍhakārī. The grant ends with the name of the donor ‘*Śrīmad*-Devavarma-devah.’¹ The Candella records refer to no political incidents of his reign. In some of these he is altogether omitted. The Mau stone inscription of Madanavarman, for instance, mentions Kīrtivarman after Vijayapāla.² The same thing is done in the Deogarh rock-inscription of Kīrtivarman and a fragmentary Candella stone inscription from Mahoba.³ All these inscriptions however describe Kīrtivarman as son of Vijayapāla.

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It is therefore likely that Devavarman was succeeded by his younger brother Kīrtivarman. Though it is not unusual for the compilers of royal genealogies to omit a brother from the family tree, there are reasons to suspect that this omission may have been more than casual. The *Prabodha-candrodaya* of Kṛṣṇa Miśra, which allegorically represents in the form of a drama the eternal struggle between *Viveka* and *Mahā-mōha*, supplies the following interesting information on the point.⁴ We are told in the introductory portion of the play that the ‘glorious Gopāla has ordered it to be produced before king Kīrtivarman.’ This Gopāla is called *Sakala sāmanta-cakra-cūḍāmaṇi*, who like Paraśurāma extirpated the race of tyrannical kings: “His merciless battle axe spared neither women, child, nor old age; it cleft the broad shoulders of the enemy, and its stroke was followed by a dreadful sound.’¹ In other passages Gopāla is compared with the Man-lion incarnation (*Nṛsiṁha-rūpa*) and with the primeval boar (*Mahā-varāha*) who ‘raised up the earth when it had sunk in the waters of destruction, poured down upon its sovereigns.’ These passages indicate that Gopāla acted as the saviour in a time of great crisis. Several passages tell us that his services were undertaken in the interest of Kīrtivarman.

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One passage runs as follows: “Gopāla, whose glory fills the universe, who, aided by his sword as his friend conquered the lords of men and has invested with the sovereignty of the earth (*Sāmrājya*) Kīrtivarman, the chief of princes (*narapati-tilaka*).”² Elsewhere we are told that Gopāla when engaged in the *digvijaya-vyāpāra* of Kīrtivarmadeva became *viṣaya-rasāsvāda-dūṣita*. Thus it is clear that Gopāla must have acted as a saviour to the fortune of the Candellas when she was overwhelmed by the attack of enemies. The name of these enemies is contained in the following statement of the *Sūtradhāra*: “His anger was roused to re-establish the sovereigns of the race of the Moon, who had been dethroned by the lord of Cedi, the Rudra and Fire of destruction of all royal families of the earth (*sakala-bhūpāla-kula-pralaya-kālāgni-rudra*).”³ The Naṭī also refers to the victory of Gopāla over the armies of the confederacy of kings (*sakala-rāja-maṇḍala*) and of Karṇa, and compares him with the Madhumathana who obtained Lakṣmī by churning the ocean. In another place Gopāla, having overcome the strong Karṇa is said to have caused the rise of the illustrious king Kīrtivarman just as discrimination having overcome strong delusion gave rise to knowledge.⁴ The statements referred to above are also supported by epigraphic evidence.

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Thus verse 26 of a Candella inscription at Mahoba records that Kīrtivarman conquered Lakṣmī-Karṇa: "Just as Puruṣottama (*Viṣṇu*), having produced the nectar by churning with the mountain *Mandara*) the rolling (milk) ocean, whose high waves had swallowed many mountains, obtained (the goddess) Lakṣmī together with the elephants (of the eight regions),—he (*viz.*, Kīrtivarman), having acquired fame by crushing with his strong arm the haughty Lakṣmī-Karṇa, whose armies had destroyed many princes, obtained splendour in this world together with elephants."¹ These victories are also referred to in V. 3 of the stone inscription of the Candella Vīravarman. The verse runs as follows: "In that (race) there was a ruler over the earth whose fame was sung by the Vidyādharas, (who was) the pitcher-born (Agastya) in swallowing that ocean—Karṇa, (and) the lord of creatures in creating anew the kingdom (*Prajeśvaro nūtana-rājya-sṛṣṭau*...),—the illustrious Kīrtivarman."²