Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c9.33

c9.33

The son of Paṇaṁkaraṇa Dharaṇīndra is called Samarāgravīra. As already noted, this may be either a personal name or merely an epithet meaning "foremost warrior in battle." The former view seems more probable. He may be identified with king Samarottuṅga, mentioned in a record, dated 847 A.D., found at Kedu in Central Java. Samarāgravīra married Tārā, daughter of a king whose name, mentioned in the Nālandā charter, has been read both as Varma-setu and Dharma-setu. The former reading seems preferable. Those who adopt the latter reading suggest his identification with the great Buddhist emperor Dharmapāla of Bengal. But there seems to be hardly any reasonable ground either for this assumption or the suggestion that the temple of the goddess Tārā, the construction of which is recorded in the Kalasan Ins. of 778 A.D., was built in her honour.