|
The Indian Analyst
|
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA do we not take one of them to stand for 2 and the other for 9 ? This is not possible. Firstly, in the case of Jyaishṭha-dinē (Sanskrit), we cannot but take (Sanskrit) to stand for 22. Secondly, in the statement, ēvaṁ śāsanika-brāhmaṇa <o (line 32), the figure <o must be taken to represent 20 and not 90, for, the Brahmins in whose favour the charter was granted are found to be twenty only. Similarly in line 18, the figures <ᴧ must be taken as 25 to tally with the income of 25 purāṇas expressed in words (pañchaviṁśati-purāṇ-ōtpattika). The language of the copperplate is Sanskrit. As regards orthography, we may note a perceptible tendency of Bengali to do away with the difference between b and v in the spelling of such words as brā(hmaṇa) and vrā(hmaṇa), byābhū and vyā-bhū. The word bandhu is spelt as vandhu (line 12), baddha as vaddha (line 15), and bahu as vahu (line 37). The letter rī is replaced by ṛi, e.g., Śṛipatēḥ (line 30) and Śṛivatsa (line 31). The present record, like the other plate of Dāmōdara and some of the Sēna inscriptions, contains a few abbreviated forms of words and phrases, such as brā, vrā, ṭi, byā-bhū, nā-bhū, gṛi-ṭī, mu-ṭī, bi-khi-mu-ṭī, sāṁ-hi, ē-da. The restoration of the intended words and phrases along with their technical significance has been attempted with tolerable success in the following pages. We shall be very glad indeed if any further light can be thrown on this point.
The inscription begins with the symbol for Ōṁ and closes with the date of transaction. The Ōṁ is followed by an adulatory stanza, which, too, confirms the Vaishṇava faith of the royal dynasty. In it, Purushōttama, the synonym of Vishṇu, is chosen in honour of the ādi-purusha of the dynasty, while in the other plate the synonym selected is Dāmōdara, which is also the name of the reigning king. In both plates, the royal family is claimed to have descended from the Moon ; in other words, they professed to have been Chandravaṁśīya Kshatriyas. Both mention four generations of the family, represented by Purushōttama, Madhumathanadēva (Madhusūdana of the other plate), Vāsudēva and Dāmōdaradēva. In the Chittagong plate, no phrases are used, indicating the kingly position of Purushhōttama, the first member of the family.1 In the present plate, he is introduced as a headman of the Dēva family, Dēv-ānvaya-grā-maṇī, a phrase which is in effect the same as Dēv-ānvaya-kamala-vikāśa-bhāskara applied to king Daśarathadēva in his Ādāvāḍī copperplate.2 It is not unlikely that from the position of a grāmaṇī Purushōttama’s son Madhusūdana rose to the eminence of a king. Further, in the present plate, Dāmōdaradēva assumes the birudas of Arirāja-Chāṇūra-Mādhava which cannot but remind us of similar birudas assumed by Viśvarūpasēna and Kēśvasēna in their inscriptions and applied by them to their three predecessors─Vijayasēna, Vallālasēna and Lakshmaṇasēna : Arirāja-vṛishabha-Śaṅkara, Arirāja-niḥśaṅka-Śaṅkara, Arirāja-Madana-Śaṅkara, Arirāja-vṛishabhāṅka-Śaṅkara, and Arirāja-asahya-Śaṅkara. These are all Śaivite in their form. It may indeed be shown that Vṛishabha-Śaṅkara and Niḥśaṅka-Śaṅkara were the epithets assumed respectively by Vijayasēna and Vallālasēna. But in their fuller forms, the birudas came to be applied symmetrically only in the inscriptions of Lakshmaṇasēna’s two sons and successors. The birudas with Arirāja ‘ arch enemy ’ prefixed to them are highly significant when considered together with the additional title, Garga-Yavan-ānvaya3-pralaya-kāla-Rudra assumed both by Viśvarūpa and by Kēśava. These are at once suggestive of their valorous and terrible struggles against the onslaughts of Muslim forces in Bengal. Though of the same political signi- _______________________
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|
