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Parbhani plates of Arikesari III

A Sanskrit copper-plate grant of the Chalukya king Arikesari III of Vemulavada, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta Krishna III, dated 7 April 966. It gives the village of Kuttumvritti-Vanikatupalu in the Repaka Twelve of the Sabbi Thousand to the Jaina author Somadeva Suri. The gift was for the Subhadhama Jinalaya, a temple built by the king's father at the capital, Lembulapataka (Vemulavada). It is the only dated grant of the family.

The Parbhani plates are the only dated grant of the Chalukyas of Vemulavada.12 They are also the record that links the family with the Jaina author Somadeva Suri.12

The plates and their text

There are three copper plates, with fifty-one lines in Sanskrit verse and prose.3 They are written in the Telugu-Kannada script of the period.3

N. Venkataramanayya wrote about them in 1953.3 At that time they were kept in the library of the Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala at Poona, and he could not consult impressions.3 He reprinted the text, for completeness, from Nathuram Premi’s Hindi book Jain Sahitya aur Itihas.3 The editors of The Early History of the Deccan (1960) cite an edition by S. N. Joshi in the journal of the same Mandala.4

Contents

The charter opens with a verse in praise of the Jaina faith.35 It then says that King Yuddhamalla was born in the Chalukya family descended from the Sun.35 It says that he was lord of Sapadalaksha and bathed his elephants in a pool of oil at Podana.35 It says that his son Arikesari I protected Vengi with Trikalinga.35

The charter goes on with the line of descent.35 Arikesari I had two sons, Narasimha and Bhadradeva.35 Narasimha’s son was Yuddhamalla II, whose son Baddiga seized the fearsome Bhima in battle, as one catches a crocodile in water.35

Baddiga’s son was Yuddhamalla III, and his son was Narasimha II.35 Narasimha II’s son Arikesari II married Lokambika of the Rashtrakuta family.35 Their son was Bhadradeva, and his son was the donor, Arikesari III.35

The king is described as a feudatory of Akalavarsha Krishnaraja, son of Amoghavarsha, of the Rashtrakuta family, that is Krishna III.5 He is also called a chief of great feudatories, entitled to the five great musical instruments.5 His titles include Pambarankusa, Vikramarjuna and Samanta-chudamani.5 The poet Peddanabhatta composed the text, and Reva engraved it.5

The grant was made in the capital, Lembulapataka, on Wednesday, the full-moon day of Vaisakha in the year Kshaya, Saka 888 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).56 Venkataramanayya equated this with 7 April 966.56 The grant gives the village of Kuttumvritti-Vanikatupalu, in the middle of the Repaka Twelve within the Sabbi Thousand, to Somadeva Suri.56 The gift was for the repair, whitewashing and offerings of the Subhadhama Jinalaya (Jaina temple) built by the king’s father.56

The plates give Somadeva’s line of teachers in the Gauda sangha (Jaina order), Yasodeva and Nemideva.57 They name him as author of the Yasodharacharita and the Syadvadopanishad.57 The village’s boundary on the east is Daripuru, on the south Ilindikunta, on the west Vellalapattu and on the north Kattakuru.6

Use by historians

Venkataramanayya relied on the plates for the family’s descent from the Sun, the oil tank at Podana, the conquest of Vengi with Trikalinga, and Baddega’s capture of Bhima, which they share with Pampa.891011 He noted that they name the king’s father Bhadradeva in a verse, and call the temple’s builder “Vadyaga” in the prose.56 From these plates, The Early History of the Deccan names the last rulers of the family as Bhadradeva II and Arikesari III.12

Footnotes

  1. N. Venkataramanayya, The Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  2. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 9 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  3. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 92, introduction to the Parabhani plates (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  4. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, “The Chalukyas of Vemulavada”, appendix C to “The Eastern Chalukyas”, in G. Yazdani (ed.), The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII–XI (1960), p. 504, note 3. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  5. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 93 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21

  6. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 97, text (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). The quoted word is the name as printed. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  8. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  9. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 14 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  10. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 10 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  11. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  12. Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramanayya, “The Chalukyas of Vemulavada” (1960), p. 511. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

References

Sources (2)
  1. N. Venkataramanayya, The Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (opens in a new tab), The Archaeological Department, Government of Hyderabad (printed at the G. S. Press, Madras), 1953, pp. 2–3, 6, 9, 14, 21–23, 31, 42, 92–97. Text reprinted as Appendix D. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  2. G. Yazdani (ed.); Part VII by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII-XI, Oxford University Press, London, published under the authority of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1960, pp. 504, 511–512. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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