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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA first found. The plates are inscribed on one side only, and have raised rims. The inscription runs across the length of the plates and is well preserved. There are altogether thirty lines of writing, each plate containing fifteen. There are holes for two rings ; but the rings, and the seal that must have been on one of them, have been lost. The two plates weigh 178 tolas. The characters are of the western variety of the Southern alphabet and resemble those found on the inscriptions of the kings of Valabhī, both in the prevalence of round strokes instead of angular ones and in the size of the letters. The royal signature is written in perfectly formed Dēvanāgarī letters. With regard to the formation of individual letters we may note the immoderate length of the superscribed ā (lōkapāla, l.4, and =ōchitayā, l.20) and ō (-prabhāvō, l.11) and of the subscribed r (-praṇita, l.8, and prāchya-, l.12). Attention may be drawn also to the form of the final t (vasēt, l.25, dadyāt, l.27 and saṁvat, l.29). In the last example the right hand stroke of the letter is unusually long. The letter l has two forms, (kamal=, l.3, and likhita, l.29). The first is by far the more frequent. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit, and, with the exception of the imprecatory and benedictory verses at the end, the whole composition is in prose. In respect of orthography the following points are noticed : (1) anusvāra has taken the place of n (Viṁdhy=, l.25), m (gaṁbhīr-, l.3), ṅ (Gaṁgāditya-, l. 19), and ñ (-chaṁchala-, l.22) ; (2) the vowel ṛi is replace by ri (krishataḥ, l.20) ; (3) a consonant after r is in most cases doubled (-Karṇṇ=, l.2, the form of the subscript ṇ resembling that of n) ; (4) occasionally a consonant preceding r is also reduplicated (gōttra and puttra, l.19). The reduplication of sh in Harshsha (l.4) and varshsha (l. 24) is, however, ungrammatical. The text of the grant agrees closely with that of the Nausari plates1 of Jayabhaṭa III and of the Prince of Wales Museum plates2 of Jayabhaṭa IV.
The document is issued from Bharukachchha, which is modern Broach. Its object is to record the grant of the village of Uvarivadra in Kōrilla chaturaśīti (i.e., a district or subdivision named Kōrilla, which comprised eighty-four villages) by the Gurjara king Dadda III. The donee’s name has been omitted, perhaps inadvertently, but he is described to be son of Gaṅgāditya, grandson of Dundubhibhaṭṭa, a resident of Sāvatthī (Śrāvastī ?), a member of the Chāturvaidya community (of that place), and a religious student of the Bahvṛicha śākhā (of the Ṛigvēda), who belonged to the Bhāradvāja gōtra. The date is given at the end in figures as Rathasaptamī of the bright half of Māgha in the year 427 (of the Chēdi era3), corresponding to A. D. 675. The grant was written by the Mahāsāndhivigrahādhipati Saṅgulla, son of Durgabhaṭa. The record ends with the sign manual of śrī-Dadda. The present inscription gives the following partial genealogy :─ Dadda Jayabhaṭa Dadda, or Bāhusahāya The dynasty is referred to here as Karṇ-ānvaya, ‘ lineage of Karṇa ’. It thus traces its origin to the Mahābhārata hero Karṇa, the half-brother of the Pāṇḍavas. There is, however, no doubt that the chiefs mentioned in the present inscription belonged to the Gurjara dynasty. The names Dadda and Jayabhaṭa occur in the two Kaira grants4 of Dadda II, who is distinguished by his second name Praśāntarāga. The dynasty in these two records is specifically mentioned as Gurjara (Gurjjara-nṛipati-vaṁśa). _________________________
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