North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

gōtras. It is interesting to note that this list also includes a general and a pratīhārī (ll. 19-20), who appear to have been Brāhmaṇas like the others. Most of the Brāhmaṇas were also distinguished by their surnames which were subjects to change from father to son in the period to which the grant belongs.¹

The names of the donees are arranged according to their Vēdas, gōtras, fathers’ names with their surnames gives in an abbreviated form, followed by their own names with surnames in the abbreviated form, each of these being separated by a vertical stroke, and in the end is the mention of the share (pada) which he received. This procedure is occasionally deviated, e.g., in l. 74, where more than one donee is mentioned together, and also in ll. 113 and 115 where their names are jointly mentioned with the expression samāsatvē. Another point that is worth nothing here is that in l. 113 the number of the Brāhmaṇas mentioned in a group is written 82, in figures, and after the use of the expression samāsatvē, the shares which were really 41, as each of them was to receive a half, are mentioned to be 43., both in figures and words. It is thus evident that the remaining two shares consisted of land to be left fallow between the two adjoining fields.²

The gift was perpetual and was to be enjoyed by the donees and their sons and grandsons, in their turn. The conditions of the grant are mentioned in ll. 117-120; they are all usual, as to be found in the other Chandēlla grants. Following this, we have four benedictory and imprecatory verses in ll. 120-22, and then the sing-manual of the king in l. 123. This is followed by a verse giving the name of Prithvīdhara who wrote the document ‘with distinct and elegantly firmed characters and under the order of the king’ Pṛithvīdhara is stated to have belonged to the Vāstavya family of the exalted name, who had performed meritorious acts and possessed all good qualities and who was the writer of religious documents. A prose portion in the end states that the grant was incised by the brazier Pālhaṇa;³ and with the expressions meaning “auspiciousness, great fortune,” the inscription comes to a close.

Most of the place-names occurring in the present inscription have already been identified. Vikaura, which is probably the same as Vikrauṇī of the Garrāḥ plates of Trailōkyavarman,⁴ is Beekore of the maps, situated in N.L. 24 ̊ 13’ and E. L. 78 ̊ 41’ Sāgar District. It is about 6 kms. south-west of Madanapur. Khatauḍā (Khutourea) and Sēsayī (Sajee ?). as noted by Cartellierie, lie south-east of Beekore. Dudhai, mentioned as the principal town of another territorial division of the grant, is the modern place retaining its name in the form of Dudāhī (N.L. 24 ̊ 26’ ; E.L. 78 ̊ 27’) and the find-spot of the inscriptions of Kṛishṇapa, Dhaṅga’s brother.⁵ Iṭāva as suggested by Cartellierie, is the modern Etāwah (N.L. 24 ̊ 12’ ; E.L. 78 ̊ 16’). While proposing this identification he had some doubt, but his conjecture is justified by the consideration that the place lies about 30 kms. south-west of Dudāhī i.e., the modern Bīnā, a railway junction between Bhōpāl and Jhāṅsī and is known by its complete name Binā-Etāwa, in the khuraī tehsīl of the Sāgar District. Vaḍavāri, still another district mentioned in the inscription, is probably represented by the modern Bērwārā (N.L. 24 ̊ 30’ ; N.L. 78 ̊ 41’): and Uladana has been identified with Ooldana-khurd, about 12 kms. north-east of Madanapur but a place more appropriately falling in the vishaya in which it is stated to have been then included, is Uldan (24 ̊ 00’ N. : 78’ 45 E.). situated about 15 kms. south by east of Baṇḍā, the headquarters of a tehsīl in the Sāgar District. This place is on the junction of the rivers Dhasan and Bhander and a legend is associated with it.⁶ Patha, as read by Cartellieri in ll. 8-9, has been identified by him with the modern place of the same name lying about 6 kms. east of Bērwārā
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¹ For example, in l. 41, the father of Ālhū who was a Chau. i.e., Chaturvēdin, is mentioned as dvivēdin, and in the line that follows, the father is mentioned as Paṁḍita but the son as Ṭhakkura. For similar examples, see above, No. 60.
² For another instance of the kind, see above, No. 51.
³ It may be noted that Nos. 129-130 were also written and engraved respectively by the same persons. Pālhaṇa also engraved Nos. 129-132, 134.
⁴ Below, No. 141. The name of the place is spelt as Bikaura by Cunningham, who noticed some small temples there. See his A. S. I. R., Vol. XXI, p. 175.
⁵ Above, Nos. 101-106.
⁶ See Gaz. of Sāgar Dist., 1965, p. 549; A. S. L. R., Vol. XXI. pp. 173 f.