Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

king Durgarāja and burnt Ḍahālā. The fact that all these achievements are ascribed to Svabhāvatuṅga who is described as a Sōmavaṁśī seems to suggest that he is identical with king Mahāśivagupta I Yayāti, the issuer of the charter. It may also be noted here that the Bhauma-Kara queen Pṛithvīmahādēvī is stated in her Baud plates to be the daughter of Svabhāvatuṅga, the Somavaṁśī king of Kōsala (Ep. Ind., Vol XXIX, pp. 210 ff.), and that, of all the earlier Sōmavaṁśī rulers, the same king alone is known to have granted in the 9th year of his reign a village in the Tōsala country comprised in the dominions of the Bhauma-Karas (Ep. Ind., Vol III, p. 351). The grant of land in the BhaumaKara territory seems to be connected with his daughter’s accession to the BhaumaKara throne, which was apparently disputed. In view of this, it may be suggested that the year 158 of the Bhauma-Kara era, when Pṛithvīmahādēvī alias Tribhuvanamahādēvī was reigning, was not far removed from the ninth year of the reign of her father Mahāśivagupta I Yayāti, which fell near about 980 A.D. This would point to the commencement of the era about the second quarter of the ninth century. The record has been re-edited in J. As. Soc., Letters, Vol. XIX, pp. 117 ff. and Plate.

  Nos. 16 and 17 come from Daspalla, Puri District, Orissa. Of these, No. 17 belonging to Dēvānandadēva of the Nanda dynasty is dated in the year 184 of an unspecified era which seems to be no other than the era of the BhaumaKaras. The genealogy of the king as given in the present record resembles that known from his Baripada Museum. Jurerpur and Narsingpur plates, but the relationship of Dēvānanda II, the donor, with his immediate predecessor Vilāsatuṅga is correctly given in this record only. We now know that Dēvānanda was the son of Vilāsatuṅga. How Dēvānanda is related to his successor Dhruvānanda is, however, not clear from any of these charters. But the date of the present record suggests that, in the Talmul plate of Dhruvānanda, the date intended is not 293 but 193 of the Bhauma-Kara era. The record has been published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIX, pp. 183 ff.

   No. 16 belongs to Śatrubhañja alias Tribhuvanakalasa of the Bhañja dynasty of Vañjulvaka. Unlike the known records of this family, which are dated in the regnal years of the respective kings, this charter is dated in the year 198, evidently of the Bhauma-Kara era inasmuch as the members of this family were apparently feudatories of the Bhauma-Karas. The details of the date of the present record suggest that the era in question started about 831 A.D. The king is stated to have been the son of Śilābhañja and great-grandson of Vidyādharabhañja. Śatrubhañja Tribhuvanakalasa and his father Śilābhañja were hitherto unknown from any other source. The king seems to have flourished about the second quarter of the eleventh century. The record has been published in Ep. Ind. Vol. XXIX, pp. 189 ff.

   Nos. 2 and 3 are two Chaulukya grants discovered at Ladol in the Mehsana District, Bombay. These were sent for examination by the Director, B. J. Institute of Learning and Research, Gujarat Vidya Sabha, Ahmedabad. The earlier of these ( No. 3), issued from Dayāvaḍā belongs to king Karṇadēva and records a royal grant of some land in the village Kāṇōḍā for the vasatikā of Sumatinātha, constructed by Mahāmātya Pradyumna in the year V.S. 1140 corresponding to 1084 A.D. The other record (No. 2) belonging to Jayasiṁhadēva is dated in V.S. 1156, i.e. 16 years later than the former, and is perhaps the earliest record of the king. Jayasiṁha is mentioned in the record with the only title of Mahārājādhirāja, although his later records attribute to him other titles such as Trihbuvanagaṇḍa, Avantinātha, etc. Both these plates are published in the Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 364 ff.

   No. I was secured from the Bhārata Itihāsa Saṁśōdhaka Maṇḍala, Poona. It is a set of five plates strung on a ring to which is affixed a rectangular seal depicting in relief the couchant bull and Garuḍa flying with folded hands. The record, which is in Sanskrit and Marāṭhī, belongs to the Yādava king Kṛishṇa. It cited the date by the chronogram nētra-adri-rudra (Śaka 1172) and the details given, viz. Sādhāraṇa, Māgha and the day of Purāri, yield the equivalent 1251 A.D., February 20. The passage in Marāṭhī prose in this record furnishes a specimen of old Marāṭhī earlier than that of the Jñānēśvarī. The record registers a grant of the village Mañjaravāṭaka by two brothers, Chandradēva and Kēśava, for the temple of Kalidēva built by them. The two brothers are described as the sons of Jalhaṇa-paṇḍita by his wife Kumāradēvī, daughter of Prabhāditya of the Viśvāvasu gōtra. Jalhaṇa is stated to be the son of Śriyānanda who was the 44DGA/55