The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s2.86

v2.c29.s2.86

The only record so far known of this prince is the *Karitalai stone-inscription* of his minister (*mantri-tilaka*) Someśvara, the son of Bhāka Miśra, who served as the chief minister of his father. This record, which was found at Karitalai, a village in the Mudwara subdivision of the Jubbulpore District of the C. P. (Lat. 24°3′N, Long. 80°46′E), is much damaged, and the preserved portion, which contains 34 lines, appears to be 'only the concluding portion of an apparently much longer inscription, the upper part of which is missing.' The missing portion probably contained an eulogy of the 'earlier Cedi rulers of Tripurī, especially Yuvarājadeva I and Lakṣmaṇarāja, who are actually mentioned in the sequel.' Verses 2-17 of the preserved portion give an account of the family of the Brāhman minister of the king, who belonged to the *vaṁśa* of Bharadvāja. He is described in verse 9 as *bhaṭṭa-Someśvara-dīkṣita*. The proper object of the inscription is to record that this Someśvara built a temple of Viṣṇu named after the founder *Somasvāmideva*, in which this inscription was apparently set up. The latter part of the inscription records certain donations, mainly by the royal family. For the maintenance of a *Pura* for eight Brāhmans, near the temple, the king granted the village of Dīrghaśākhika (which may be the modern Dighee of the maps, about 6 miles S.E. of Karitalai). His queen *Mahādevī Rāhaḍā* gave to the temple the village of Cakrahradī, while the king's son, the *Parama-vaiṣṇava* Śaṅkaragaṇa, made a donation on the occasion of a lunar eclipse. There is no date in the preserved portion of the inscription.¹