Other Members of Council besides the President, the General Secretary, the Treasurer and the Librarian. V. H. Jackson, Esq., M.A., I.E.S.-Vice-President. The Hon'ble Justice Sir B. K. Mullick, Kr., I.C.S. S. Sinha, Esq, Bar.-at-Law. G. E. Fawcus, Esq., M.A., O.B.E. Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Ray, M.A., B.L., M.L.C. Dr. Harichand Shastri, D.LITT., I.E.S. K. P. Jayaswal, Esq., M.A. (Oxon.), Bar.-at-Law. P. C. Manuk, Esq., Bar.-at-Law. Professor S. N. Mazumdar Sastri, M.A. 1 I. Proceedings of a Quarterly Meeting of the Bihar and Oissa Research Society, held at the Radhika Sinha Institute on the 18th November II Proceedings of a Meeting of the Council, of the 594, 595 LEADING ARTICLES I-Relations Between Guptas, Kadambas and Vakatakas By Rev. H. Heras, S.J., M.A. An inscription of the Kadamba King Kākusthavarmma in the Shikarpur taluk, Shimoga district, known to epigraphists as the Talagunda pillar inscription of Kākusthavarmma, has been the first document that records relations between the Guptas and the Kadambas. After the usual story of King Mayurasarmma and his brilliant accomplishments round Kanchi this inscription gives the vamsavali of the Kadambas till King Kākustha, the donor of the grant. Of this monarch the poet says in bombastic style: "This sun among kings, by the rays, (viz.) his daughters, raised up the beds of lotus, (viz.) the families of the Gupta and other kings.' 99 1 Mr. B. Lewis Rice supposed that "the reference is probably to Samudra-Gupta, who made an expedition throughout the South as recorded on the pillar at Allahabad.” 2 Again, Mr. Rice, referring to the same passage says later on: 1 Ep. Ind., VIII, p. 35, & 31; Ep. Carn., VII, Sk. 176. 1 Rice, Coorg Inscriptions (Revised Edition), p. 2. "This, 4 Res. J. 3 there can be no doubt, as previously said, refers to SamudraGupta, who is the only Gupta known to have made an expedition to the South." Evidently the only reason Mr. Rice had for such a suggestion was Samudra-Gupta's expedition into Southern India. Prescinding now from the probability of Monsieur G. Jouveau-Dubreuil's opinion that Samudra-Gupta's conquests were confined only to the East coast of the Deccan, Rice's statement appeared to me ill-founded. Hence I carefully studied all the available contemporary evidence, and the result of my research will be the subject of this paper. The greatest monarch of the Vākāṭaka dynasty seems to have been Pravarasēna I. The Ajanta Cave inscription of Prithivisēna II gives him the title of Samrat, and he is said to have performed several sacrifices that prove the claimant's right to paramount sovereignty. One of the achievements was to have conquered "the lord of Kuntala." This seems to have been one of the titles of the Kadamba Kings. In fact Kuntala seems to have been one of the provinces of the Kadamba Empire, and one of the best provinces, too. In the Narendra inscription of Jayakēsim II, 1125, we read the following praises of the province of Kuntala :-"Like the beauty of a tress of hair on the (goddess) Earth who is clasped by the zone of the oceans, the province of Kuntala appears a charm to the mind; in this province, like a glittering forehead ornament, there shines to the delight of the soul, the country of Halasigue, a gem of a country, most exalted and of boundless value. Kundür, which is a beauty-spot of this charming province, is extolled by all mankind." This province was bounded by the rivers Bhima and Vedāvatī and included Shimoga, Chitaldroog, Bellary, Dharwār, Bījāṛur and some adjacent territories 8 Ibid, p. 6. Cf. Ind. Ant., XXV, p. 27; Ep. Ind., VIII, p. 29. 4 Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan, p. 58. 5 Ajanta Cave inscription of Prithivisēna II, 4.S. of W.I., IV, p. 125, v. 8. • Bhau Daji, Report on Photographic Copies of Inscriptions in Dharwar and Mysore, J.B.B.R.A.S., IX, p. 317. 7 Ep. Ind., XIII, p. 315, vv. 58-9. • Cf. Rice, Mysore Gazetteer, I, p. 289 (1897). |