Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/120

 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [April, 1873. 1 <)G ttl.ctj known by tlio appellations 4 Vajraditya, Udayaditya, and Lalitaditya.’ Lassen* understands the last two verses, quot¬ ed and translated above, to indicate that Pra- tapaditya had scv'ii sons, whose names w-*re Chand rapi< la, Tara pi.la, Avimuktajada, Muk- t apt la. Vajraditya, Udayaditya, and Lalitaditya. Hut that interpretation is inadmissible ou philo¬ logical grounds, and is refuted by the summary of the Kashmirian history in the eighth Ya¬ ranga, as well as by an independent Chinese ac¬ count of some of the Karkota kings. For a Chi¬ nese writer, first brought to light by Klaproth.+ states that C li e n t o 1 o p i 1 i of Kashmir sent, several embassies to the Chinese Court in order to ask for help against the Thibetans, and re¬ ceived the title 4 king’ from the emperor. The same authority asserts that C/e* 1 «/<»/'7>///’’.>• surras, s>r Mnfnpi* likewise sent an embassy. Lassen has pointed out the identity of the names Chentolopili—Chandrapida, and Mutopi—Muk¬ tapida. He has also shown that the embassy said to have been sent by Mutopi did fall in the times of Lalitaditya. Though, after what has been said above, it is impossible to agree with him in assuming that Muktapida might have been the foreign-secretary of Lalitaditya, and for this reason might have been considered by the Chineso the sender of the embassy, || his arguments that the embassy of Mutopi was sent in Lalitaditya’s times, go towards confirming ray view, viz. that the two names belong to the same person. If, then, Saktisvamin lived under Lalitaditya, his tenure of office must have fallen in the second quarter of the 8th century a.d. Accord¬ ing to Troyer’s, Lassen’s, and Cunningham’s calculations, the beginning of Lalitaditya’s reign is placed in the last decade of the sev nth century, in G95 or G93, while II. H. Wilson fixed it in 713.§ None of these dates is, how¬ ever, tenable,—as the Chinese historian states that Chandrapida’s first embassy arrived at Pekin in 713, and that the same king received the grant of his title in 720. It must be con¬ sidered a settled principle for Indian historians that dates given by Chinese writers are to be , I Lassen, Ind. Alt III. 996. || Ind. Alt. III. 996. relied on in preference to any calculations based on the statements of Hindu chroniclers. Hence General Cunningham has lately^ corrected his former adjustment of the chronology of the Karkota-?. He now admits that if a title was granted to Chandr a pida in 720, that prince—even if due allowance is made for the time which the transmission of the intelligence of his death from Kashmir to Pekin would require—must have been alive in 719. Conse¬ quently TarapMa's death antf Lalitaditya’s ac¬ cession cannot have taken place before 721. Hut to return to Abhinanda’s family, his father J a y a n t a also seems to have been a pei-son of some note. He was a poet and a com¬ mentator, probably, of the Sutras of the Asva- layanas ikha of the Rigveda. For a Jayantn is quoted in an Asvalayanagrihyaka- r i k a, * and some years ago, in a list of MSS. from Nasik, I came across a J ayantavritti on the Asvalayanasutras. Unfortunately I did not secure the book. But it would be worth while to look out for it, as J a y a n t a is certainly older than any other known commentator of Asvalayana. As regards Abhinanda himself, he cannot be placed later than 830-850 A.D. The dura¬ tion of a generation in India is little more than 2fi years. If, therefore, Abhinanda’s fourth ancestor, Saktisvamin, lived under Muktapida about 725, we shall have to add, say, llOyeafs to that date in order to obtain our poet’s age. Abhinanda seems to have lived not in Kashmir, but in Gauda, the country of his forefathers. This is indicated by his surname, 4 the Gauda,’ and by the fact that tho name of the ancestor of his patron, Dliarma p ala, is not to lx? found among the Kashmirian kings, but belongs to a powerful monarch of the Pula dynasty of Gauda. Lassen places this Dharmapala about 815. I am unable to trace the Yuvaraja Haravarsha the compiler of a Kosa of poetical extracts, as well as his father, Vikramasila. Lastly, I may mention that Abhinanda was apparently a Vaishnava, as he invokes £ a u r i in the Mangaldcharana of the Kadam- banlcuthdsdra. § See Priusep’s Useful Tables, p. 245. Anc. Geog. p. 91. * Aufrecht, Oxf. Cat. 405a.
 * Ind. Alt. III. 992. f Lassen, Ltd. Alt. III. 993, note 1.