Pranavesvara Temple, Talagunda – Talagunda Pillar Inscription

Pranavesvara Temple, Talagunda – Talagunda Pillar Inscription

The Talagunda pillar inscription is an epigraphic record in Sanskrit engraved on hard grey granite pillar found in front of the Pranavesvara Temple. However, the temple was largely destroyed and only ruins had survived when the pillar was rediscovered in late 19^th century. The inscription is dated to between 455 and 470 CE. The record is written by poet Kubja, under the order of the King Santivarman of Kadamba dynasty. The pillar is 1.635 metres (5.36 ft) high with a 0.4 metres (1.3 ft) square top. 

It is octagonal shaft that slightly tapers and narrows as it goes up. The width of the octagonal face is 0.178 metres (0.58 ft). The inscription is on all faces, but on 7 of the 8 faces, it consists of two vertical lines that start at the bottom of the pillar. On the eighth face, there is just one short line. The inscription begins with Siddham like numerous early inscriptions in India, and it invokes "Namo Shivaya". The inscription consists of 34 poetic verses that respect the chanda rules of Sanskrit.

However, it uses a mix of meters such as Pushpitagra, Indravajra, Vasantatilaka, Prachita and others. Each verse has four padas. The first 24 verses of the inscription are the earliest known use of matrasamaka meter. These features suggest that the author(s) of this inscription in South India had an intimate expertise in classical Sanskrit and Vedic literature on prosody. The inscription was discovered in 1894 by B. L. Rice, then Director of Archaeological Research in Mysore and a celebrated pioneer of historical studies in Karnataka.

He gave a photograph to the colonial era Indologist Buhler, who published it 1895. The inscription's historical significance caught the attention of the epigraphist Fleet who published some notes. Rice published a translation of the inscription in 1902, in volume 7 of Epigraphia Carnatica. A more accurate reading of the inscription and more exhaustive interpretation and translation was published by the Sanskrit scholar Kielhorn in Epigraphia Indica in 1906. Sircar included the record in his Select Inscriptions. 

More recent collections have included the inscription again, notably those by B. R. Gopal, and G. S. Gai. The inscription gives an account of a Brahmin Kadamba dynasty and the reign of King Santivarman of Kadamba dynasty in northwest Karnataka. It records the genealogy of the Kadamba dynasty from its founder Mayurasharma till King Santivarman. It records that King Kakusthavarman, father of King Santivarman constructed a great tank near a Shiva temple at Sthala Kundura (Talagunda) where Satakarnis and other kings had formerly worshiped.

It also mentions that the Kadamba family belonged to Manavya gotra and descended from Haritiputra. It mentions that the Kadambas were a Brahmin family devoted to the study of Vedas and performer of sacrificial rites. They got their name from the fact that they carefully tended a Kadamba tree which grew near their home. This inscription records that Mayurasharma, native of Talagunda, was accomplished in vaidika and went to the Pallava capital, Kanchipuram to study scriptures, accompanied by his guru and grandfather Veerasharma.

Mayurasharma was a humiliated by a Pallava guard (horseman) in Kanchipuram. Due to this incident, Mayurasharma gave up his Brahminic studies and took to the sword to avenge his insult. Mayurasharma defeated the frontier-guards of the Pallavas and occupied the forest stretching to the gates of Sriparvata (Srisailam). The Pallavas recognized his valour and made a pact with him by which he entered in their service and eventually received territory of his own.

Mayurasharma was anointed as a king of this territory. The inscription attests to the importance of Kanchipuram as a center (ghatika) for advanced studies in ancient India. This inscription also mentions that King Kakusthavarman married his daughter to the royal family of the Gupta dynasty. Kadambas were also matrimonially associated with the Western Gangas and the Vakatakas.