Bhairanmatti

Bhairanmatti Stone Inscription of the Sinda family Saka year 955

Bhairanmatti Stone Inscription of the Sinda family Saka year 955

Source - Epigraphia Indica Vol.III (1894-95), A S I, Edited by E. Hultzsoh, Ph.D, pp. 230-236

Bhairanmatti is a village ten miles east of Bagalkot, the chief town of the Bagalkot talluka of the Bijapur district, Bombay Presidency. The inscription is on a stone tablet, 7' 11-1/2" high, which stands near a modern and insignificant shrine of the god Hanumanta, outside the village and towards the south.

The inscription is a record of a branch of the feudatory Sinda family, the members of which are called in it the Sindas of Bāgaḍage i.e. of Bāgalkot ; evidently, just before the time of the Sinda Mahamandaleshwara of Erambarage, i.e. Yelburga, some of whose records have already been published, they held the subordinate government of much the same tract of country. The inscription was plainly written all at one and the same time. But it divides itself naturally into two parts.

As regards historical names, the first part, lines 1 to 50, tells us that in the time of the Western Chalukya King Taila II. and in the Vikrita samvatsara, = A.D. 990-91, coupled with Saka-Samvat 911 by mistake for 912 (expired), there was a Sinda prince named Pulikāla son of Kammara or Kammayyarasa and Sagarabbarasi ; to Pulikala and Revakabbe tliere was born, the Mahasamanta Nāgāditya Nāgātya ,or Nāgātiyarasa ; to Nagaditya and Poleyabbarasi there was bom Polasinda ; and to Polasinda and Bijjaladevi, daughter of the Khāṇdava Mandaleswara there was born the Mahāmandalesvara Sevyarasa. This latter person is mentioned as a vassal of the Western Chalukya king Somesvara II. And this fixes the period A.D. 1069 to 1076 as the time when the inscription was put on the stone. But the antique expression rājyam-geyye, in line 4, shows that the opening part of It was taken from some record which had been drawn up more or less synchronously with the date that is given in connection with Talla II. and Pulikala. This part of the record registers the fact that in some unspecified year, on a, Sunday combining the uttarāyana-samkrānti or winter solstice with the Vyatipata yoga, the Mahāsāmanta Nāgāditya had granted to a priest named Paratraya-Simharasibhatta a field, measuring one thousand mattars by the measuring-rod of Pattiya-Mattaura, at the village of Kiriya-Siriura and that the aruvana, or tax on the field, was twelve gadyāṇas.

The second part of the inscription, from line 50 to the end, registers a grant, at a village named Puradakeri, which the same Mahāsāmanta Nāgāditya had made to a priest named Tejorasipandita in the time of the Western Chalukya king Jayasimha II, when the latter was reigning at Kollipake, in the Srimukha samvatsara, Saka-Samvat 955 (expired), = A.D. 1033-34; and it adds that this priest, who was the Achārya of the god Sindesvara, effected some repairs to the temple of that god.

A special point of interest in this record is the legendary account as to the origin of the Sinda family, and of its name. These Sindas claimed to belong to the Nagavansa or race of hooded, serpents, to carry the nāga-dhvaja or phani-patākā, i.e. the banner which line 41 of tlie text explains as bearing representations of the Naga kings Ananta, Vasugi (more properly Vasuki), and Takshaka, to use the vyāghra-lānchhana or tiger-crest, and to have the hereditary title of "lord of Bhogawati the best of towns", which place, in Hindu mythology, was the capital of the Naga king Vasuki in Rasatala, one of the seven divisions of Pātala or the subterranean regions. And, by way of accounting for all these attributes, and for the family-name, the record tells us that the eponymous founder of the family was a certain long-armed Sinda a human son of the serpent-king Dharanendra, born atAhichchhatra in the region of the river Sindhu g i.e. the Indus, and reared by a tiger. This Sinda is said to have married the daughter of a Kadamba prince, and to have had by her three sons, who established the family of the kings of the Sinda race. They appear to have been the first of a line of thirty-one successive rulers. And after them, at unspecified intervals, there came another prince named Sinda, and then Kammara or Kammayyarasa, the father of Pulikala.

The eponymous long-armed Sinda figures in records of also another branch, of the Sinda famaily ; for instance,, in an inscription of about A.D, 1165 at Harihar (Pali, Sanskrit, and Old-Canarese Inscriptions, No. 119, and Mysore Inscriptions, p. 60), which describes him, as born from the union of the god Siva with the river Sindhu, and brought up by the king of serpents on tiger's milk, and says that being told that Karahāṭa, the modern Karāḍ in the Satara, district, was to be his residence, he went there, drove out the kings, acquired the earth for himself by the strength of his own arm, and so came to rule over many districts in the Karahāta Four thousand province.

Abstract of Contents

After a standard invocation of Siva under the name of Shambhu, and another of Vishnu as the Boar, the inscription commences : While the favourite of fortune and of the earth, the Mahārājādhirāja, the Paramesvara, the Paramabhattāraka, Tailapayya (II) (line 3-4) was reigning, and when the Vikrita samvatsara, which was the Saka year 911, was current (L.4), (there was) the illustrious Pulikāla (L.10), who was the ornament of the family of the serpents (lit. 'the family of those who have poison in their glances', dristivisa-kula, L.6) ; who was born in the Nagavansha ,which is resplendent with the rays of the jewels in the hoods of the members of it; who had the dignity of the Naga-banner (L.7) ; who had the crest of a tiger; who was the supreme lord of the town Bhogavati, who was a very Narayana among the Sindas (L.9); and who, even unaided, was a very Sudraka.

There is then introduced Pulikāla's genealogy : Saying : I will behold the region of the earth which is so belauded by the sons of men," there came (from the lower regions) Dharanedra, the serpent-king (L.10), leaving his army behind him out of respect, both he and his wife, through the affection that existed between them ; and then, on her becoming pregnant, there was born to his lady, at Ahichchhatra (L.11-12) in the region of the river Sindhu, a prince named Sinda (L.12), resplendent with lustrous glory. Being much perplexed (at the birth of a son in human form), the serpent-king said to a tiger : "Carefully preserve this child in safety",(L. 13). Thereupon the tiger, preferring in turn his own request to the lord of snakes, said : "Cause him to become a great lord of the earth" (L.14). And so the boy was nourished, and, becoming the lord of the Sinda country (L.15) and practicing exalted and brave precepts, developed long arms of prowess which surpassed everything else on the earth. When the long-armed lord Sinda joined his hands and closed his eyes (in respectful request), the lord of the Kaḍambas (L.16) through affection gave him his daughter ; and, he having taken her, during the time that he lived in dalliance with that charming woman, there were born three sons (L. 17), from whom there sprang those who were born as kings in the most exalted race of the Sindas (L. 18).

While they, thirty-one (in succession), were governing the Bāgaḍage district with freedom from anxiety, there was born (another) prince named Sinda (L.19).

Glorious on the earth, through the Sindas of Bagadage (L.20), is the lineage of the Sindas, which came without a break from the long-armed Sinda ; and famous was he who was named Kammara (L.21). Amidst the praises of the world, to Kammayyarasa and to his wife Sagarabbarasi (L.22) there was born Pulikāla (L.23). To the king Pulikāla and to Revakabbe (L.24) there was born king Nāgātya (L. 24). To the brave king Nāgātya and to Poleyabbarasi (L.25) there was born Polasinda (L. 26), an ornament of the Sinda race. And his son is king Sevya (L 28-29), pure by both lines of descent; for, his mother was Bijjaladevi (L.27), daughter of the Khāṇḍava Mandalesvara (L. 26), and his father was that son of the Sindas who had the banner of the hooded serpents.

Hail ! A Mahāmandalesvara who has attained the pañchamahāsabda ; the supreme lord of Bhogavati, the best of towns (L.29); he whose right arm is skilful in protecting the Brahmanas of the town of Ahichchhatra (L.30) ; the sun of the Sindas ; a most devout worshipper of the god Mahesvara (L. 32); the lord of the banner of hooded serpents ; a very king of Nagas in human form (L.33) ; a kaḷahamsa-bird whose feathers are ruffled by the play of the feet of Bhuvanaikamanadeva-(Somesvara II) (L. 34) ; the ornament of the Sindavamsa ; the owner o the tiger-banner (L.35) ; the king of the Sinda country ; the emperor of Pātāla (L. 36) ; a "very Vikramaditya in a new form ; a very Sahadeva in the art of using the sword, (such is) tlie illustrious Mahāmandalesvara, the lord Sevyarasa (L.37).

Hail ! A Mahāsāmanta who had attained the pañchamahāsabda (L.38) ; a very Kulika in effecting the destruction of hostile kings (L. 40) ; an ornament of the family of the serpents (dristivisha-kula) ; decorated with three golden umbrellas; the lord of Bhogavati, the best of towns (L. 41) ; the lord of the banner of the hooded serpents Ananta and Vāsugi and Takskaka, a very Kamadeva with his tiger-crest ; the king of the Sindhu country (L. 42) ; the spotless Sinda (L. 43) ; the ornament of the Sindakula (such was) the llustrions Nāgāditya.

Hail ! To Paratraya-Simharasibhatta (L.44), on a Sunday which combined the Uttarayana-samkranti and the Vyatipāta (yoga) having washed the feet of Paratraya-Simharasi, Nāgātiyarasa gave, for the god Sindesvara, a field, of the measure of one thousand mattars by the staff of Pattiya-Mattaura (L.45), of (the village of) Kiriya-Siriura. The aruvana on these thousand mattars is twelve gadyāṇas. And those who are in the state of being Brahmachdrins shall manage the property.

Hail ! While the asylum of the universe (L. 50), the favourite of fortune and of the earth, the Mahārājādhirāja, the Paramesvara, the Paramabhattāraka, the ornament of the Chalukyas, the glorious Jagadekamalladva-(Jayasimha II.) (L. 51-52) was ruling, with the delight of pleasing conversations, at the camp of Koḷḷipke ; and when the Srimukha samvatsara (L.53), which was the 955th Saka year, was current, the illustrious Mahāsāmanta Nāagātiyarasa, having washed the feet of the holy Tejorasipandita, allotted to the god .................... of Puradakeri (L 54). The six Gāvundus shall protect this act of piety.

Tejorāsipandita (L.57), the Achārya of the god Sindesvara, restored such (parts of the temple) as had fallen into ruin.

Notes by Jatland Wiki editor -

• Bagalkot (बागलकोट) is a town and the district headquarters of the Bagalkot district in Karnataka. Bagalkot district was carved from Bijapur (Vijapur) district.

• Bhairanmatti (भैरन्मट्टि) - Village in Bagalkot (बागलकोट) district in Karnataka. It is reported ten miles east of Bagalkot in the Inscription. Present village is to be identified.

• Kadamba prince - Inscription tells us that Sinda, a human son of the serpent-king Dharanendra, born at Ahichchhatra in the region of the river Sindhu i.e. the Indus, and reared by a tiger. This Sinda is said to have married the daughter of a Kadamba prince, and to have had by her three sons, who established the family of the kings of the Sinda race. The book The Kadamba Kula tells us early history of Kadambas. Elliot found two coins of Kadambas at Sunda.

• Pulikāla (पुलिकाल)- Puli is dravidian word means 'tiger '.

• Sinda - Derives name from River Sindhu. There were many branches of Sindas. One branch was at Bastar who were considered as one of thirty six royal clans of Agnikula.

• Sunda inscription of Sinda chief Chavunda - Bhim Singh Dahiya writes - I would like to quote two instances from history which will go to prove my contention that while Jats are mentioned they were never noticed by historians. One is from Sunda inscription of Sinda chief Chavunda, which says that - “Just as Amravati looked ever beautiful with Indra, or Ayodhya with the descendant of Raghu, Mathura with Govinda, Ujjayani with Gutta, and Hastinapura with the son of Marut (Bhima); so also Erambarapura attain¬ed gracefulness with Sinda chief Chavunda”. Now all other references are well understood, but no one has explained who were (or was) the Gutta (or Guttan), through whom the city of Ujjayani was so known.

• Karahāta (करहाट)- It is the modern Karāḍ in the Satara district, Maharashtra.

• Ahichchhatra - Ahichchhatra is also the ancient name of Nagaur in Rajasthan. The modern Jats here and in Marwar are considered descendants of Vasuki.

• Bijjaladevi - Bijjaladevi is mentioned in the insription - To the brave king Nāgātya and to Poleyabbarasi (L.25) there was born Polasinda (L. 26), an ornament of the Sinda race. And his son is king Sevya (L 28-29), pure by both lines of descent; for, his mother was Bijjaladevi (L.27), daughter of the Khāṇḍava Mandalesvara (L. 26), and his father was that son of the Sindas who had the banner of the hooded serpents. It indicates that Bijjaladevi was from Aryan family and the process of Aryanization was going on during the period of insription .

• Kulika (कुलिक) - The inscription mentions about Sinda, Mahāsāmanta, who had attained the pañchamahāsabda (L.38) ; a very Kulika in effecting the destruction of hostile kings (L. 40). Jat history mentions that Kulika (कुलिक) was a nagavanshi mahapurusha. Jat Gotras originated from Kulika are - 1. Kullar, 2. Kulak, and 3. Kureli

• Dharanendra (धारणेन्द्र) - Inscription has introduced Pulikāla's genealogy : Saying : I will behold the region of the earth which is so belauded by the sons of men," there came (from the lower regions) Dharanendra, the serpent-king (L.10), leaving his army behind him out of respect, both he and his wife, through the affection that existed between them ; and then, on her becoming pregnant, there was born to his lady, at Ahichchhatra (L.11-12) in the region of the river Sindhu, a prince named Sinda (L.12). This indicates that Sinda prince has originated from Naga King Dharanendra (धारणेन्द्र) . Now it is to be mentioned here that Dharan (धारण) is a Jat clan.
• Tall is gotra of Jats originated from mahapurusha named Talla (तल्ल).

References

---

Back to Inscriptions