Aihole inscription

Also called: Meguti inscription · Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"

Meaning

The Aihole inscription (also called the Meguti inscription) is a prashasti (a long poem praising a king) written in Sanskrit. The court poet Ravikirti composed it in 634–35 CE (Saka year 556), and it is carved on the wall of the Meguti Jain temple at Aihole in Karnataka. It praises the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II of Badami (Vatapi).

It is our main source for Pulakeshin II's reign and for his clash with Harsha. It carries its own date, which makes it a fixed point in time. Because it is a poem of praise, examiners also use it to test whether you know how to separate fact from flattery.

Explanation

Background: why it was written

• In the 6th to 8th centuries, new kingdoms in the Deccan and South India fought for land and prestige.
• The Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi) ruled the western Deccan, close to the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers.
• Pulakeshin II won the throne from his uncle Mangalesha after a fight within the family.
• Kings of this period paid court poets to write prashastis, which were then cut into stone and set where people could see them.
• Ravikirti, a Jain poet at Pulakeshin's court, built the Meguti temple and put this prashasti on its wall.

What it says

• Ancestors: it lists Pulakeshin's forefathers and so shows his family's right to rule.
• Gaining the throne: it tells how he took power from his uncle.
• Campaigns: it describes wars along the west coast and the east coast.
• Victory over Harsha:
• It claims that Pulakeshin stopped Harshavardhana of Kanauj from moving south, on the line of the Narmada river.

• Ravikirti makes a pun: Harsha lost his harsha (joy) after seeing his elephants fall in battle.

• War with the Pallavas: it claims that the Pallava king had to hide behind the walls of his capital, Kanchipuram.

• The poet's boast: Ravikirti says his fame equals that of Kalidasa and Bharavi.

How it is dated

• Direct dating: the inscription gives its own year in two ways.
• It gives Saka year 556, which equals about 634–35 CE.

• It also says that 3,735 years had passed since the Bharata (Mahabharata) war. This is a traditional count, not a proven date.

• It is also written in an early form of the Kannada script. This script grew out of Brahmi, which is the parent of most later Indian scripts, including scripts used for Dravidian languages. [3]

Results: what historians gained from it

• Fixed date for Pulakeshin II: his reign can now be tied to a firm year.
• Proof of the Harsha–Pulakeshin clash: the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang also writes that Harsha failed to conquer Pulakeshin. Two separate sources say the same thing, so this part is trusted.
• Help with literary dating: since Ravikirti names Kalidasa and Bharavi, both poets must have lived and become famous before 634 CE.
• The rest needs checking: the Pallava story is told only from the Chalukya side.
• According to Pallava records, Narasimhavarman I later defeated the Chalukyas and captured Vatapi (c. 642 CE). Some accounts say Pulakeshin II died in this war.
• So the prashasti records what the king claimed, not the full story.

Time, place and evidence

• When: 634–35 CE (Saka 556), during Pulakeshin II's reign, in the 7th century CE.
• Dynasty: Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi).
• Where: the Meguti Jain temple, on a small hill at Aihole in the Malaprabha river valley, Bagalkot district, Karnataka. Aihole is close to the other Chalukya centres, Badami and Pattadakal.
• Key people:
• Pulakeshin II, the king it praises.
• Ravikirti, the Jain court poet who wrote it.
• Harshavardhana, the northern king Pulakeshin defeated.
• Mangalesha, the uncle Pulakeshin overthrew.

• The Pallavas of Kanchipuram, his southern rivals.

• Language and script: Sanskrit language, written in an early Kannada script that descends from Brahmi. [3]

• How we know about it:
• The inscription itself survives on the temple wall. Stone records like this are almost permanent, unlike manuscripts.
• Other sources confirm or challenge it. Xuanzang's travel account supports the Harsha victory. Pallava inscriptions tell the other side of the southern wars.
• The ASI Epigraphy Branch studies inscriptions like this one to rebuild dynastic and political history. [2]

Don't confuse with

• Allahabad Pillar inscription (Prayaga prashasti): also a Sanskrit prashasti, but it was written by Harishena for the Gupta king Samudragupta (4th century CE). It is not by Ravikirti, and it is not about Pulakeshin.
• Hathigumpha inscription: about Kharavela of Kalinga, written in Prakrit. Aihole is in Sanskrit.
• Junagadh (Girnar) inscription of Rudradaman: an early long inscription in Sanskrit (2nd century CE), praising a Shaka ruler. Aihole is a 7th-century Chalukya record.
• Banabhatta's Harshacharita: a book praising Harsha, written on palm leaf, not stone. Aihole praises Harsha's enemy, Pulakeshin II.

Prelims Hooks

• Aihole inscription → Ravikirti → Pulakeshin II → Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi).
• It is dated Saka 556 = 634–35 CE, on the Meguti Jain temple, Aihole (Bagalkot, Karnataka).
• Language: Sanskrit. Script: early Kannada (from Brahmi). Genre: prashasti, not a votive inscription.
• It records Pulakeshin II stopping Harshavardhana near the Narmada. Xuanzang confirms this.
• It names the poets Kalidasa and Bharavi, so both lived before 634 CE. This is a common "which of the following" trap.
• Order of events: Pulakeshin defeats Harsha (recorded at Aihole, 634–35 CE) → the Pallava Narasimhavarman I captures Vatapi (c. 642 CE).

Mains Points

• A prashasti is a claim, not a neutral record.
• Ravikirti wrote to please his king, so the losses go unmentioned.
• The Harsha victory is trusted because Xuanzang says the same thing.
• The Pallava story must be checked against Pallava inscriptions, which tell of Narasimhavarman I taking Vatapi.

• Lesson for answers: compare an inscription with other texts, travellers' accounts and records from rival dynasties.

• Inscriptions help fix dates for literature as well as for kings.

• The Aihole inscription gives its own date in the Saka era.
• It shows that Kalidasa and Bharavi were already famous by 634 CE.
• It also shows how people of the time counted dates from the Mahabharata war.

• This shows how epigraphy anchored the chronology of early medieval India.

• It shows the culture of the Deccan in the 7th century.

• A Jain poet wrote a Sanskrit poem on a Jain temple for a king who was a follower of Brahmanical religion, using a Kannada script.
• This shows shared patronage across religions and the mix of Sanskrit and regional traditions.
• Aihole is also a key site in the early growth of Indian temple architecture, so the inscription links political history with art and culture.

Related concepts

• Inscription
• Epigraphy
• Prakrit
• Palaeography
• Votive inscriptions
• Copper plate inscriptions
• Asiatic Society of Bengal
• James Prinsep
• Brahmi script
• Brahmi numerals

Read more

• Epigraphy: inscriptions and their decipherment