The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s2.32

v2.c29.s2.32

According to the inscriptions of the Haihaya kings of Ratnapura, Kokkalla had 18 sons, of whom the eldest became king of Tripurī, while the others became *maṇḍalapatis* or feudatory chiefs in the kingdom. They mention Kaliṅgarāja as one of these younger sons, from whom the Kalacuris of Tummāṇa traced their descent. The Rāṣṭrakūṭa grants reveal the names of some other sons of Kokkalla. Thus the Karda grant of Kakka II (A.D. 972) gives us the name of Saṅkuka, whose younger sister became the queen of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Kṛṣṇa II. The Saṅgli grant of Govinda IV (A.D. 933) tells us that Jagattuṅga married Lakṣmī, a daughter of Raṇavigraha, the son of Kokkala, the ornament of the *Sahasrārjuna-vaṁśa*.¹ The Karda grant mentioned above also informs us that this Jagattuṅga married Lakṣmī, the daughter of the *Cedīśvara Śaṅkaragaṇa*.² As in both the grants the issue of Jagattuṅga by Lakṣmī is stated to be Indra III, it is clear that Raṇavigraha and Śaṅkaragaṇa are one and the same person ‘the latter appellation being his real name, and the former a *biruda*.’³ The Karda grant reveals the interesting fact that Jagattuṅga in the course of an expedition during the reign of his father came to the Cedi country and married Govindāmbā, another daughter of his maternal uncle (*mātula*) Śaṅkaragaṇa.⁴ This princess became in course of time the mother of Amoghavarṣa III Vaddiga (*c.* 933-40 A.D.) and the grandmother of Akālavarṣa Kṛṣṇa III (*c.* 940-56 A.D.). The Saṅgli grant of Govinda IV gives us the name of yet another son of Kokkalla, named Arjuna. This Arjuna, we are told, had a son named Ammanadeva, ‘of exceedingly great might,’ whose daughter Vijāmbā became the wife of Indra III and mother of Amoghavarṣa II and Govinda IV (*c.* 918-33 A.D.).⁵ The records of the Haihayas of Tripurī however do not mention any of these names of the sons of Kokkalla. The Bilhari stone inscription of the time of Yuvarāja II tells us that Kokkalla was succeeded by his son Mugdhatuṅga, while the Benares grant of Karṇa relates that he was succeeded by Prasiddhadhavala, his son by Naṭṭādevī. As both these names are given as that of the father of Yuvarāja I, it is clear that these two names belong to one and the same person. Hitherto it has been believed that one of these names is a titular name.¹ But possibly both are *birudas* of the *Cedīśvara* Śaṅkaragaṇa, whose daughters Lakṣmī and Govindāmbā were married to Jagattuṅga, the son of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Kṛṣṇa II. In view of his epithet 'lord of Cedi,' it is difficult to identify Śaṅkaragaṇa with one of the younger sons of Kokkalla who became mere lords of *maṇḍalas*.² As the genealogical lists of the Haihayas of Tripurī does not mention this 'lord of Cedi' amongst the immediate successors of Kokkalla, and as both the names Mugdhatuṅga and Prasiddhadhavala look more like *birudas* than personal names it is likely that the personal name of the eldest son who succeeded him at Tripurī was Śaṅkaragaṇa. If this is accepted, Raṇavigraha must be another *biruda* of this king. We have not yet discovered any records of this prince; but the Bilhari stone-inscription of Yuvarāja II contains the following description of his victories: