South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

The characters belong to the proto-Bengali alphabet current in Eastern India in the 12th century A.D. They resembles, generally, those of the Ādāvāḍi plate of Daśarathadēva,^[1] the Maynāmatī plate of Harikāladēva Raṇavaṅkamalla,^[2] the Chittagong plate of Dāmōdara,^[3] and also those of the Gayā Vāsudēva temple inscription of Gōvindapāla.^[4]

Some of the special paleographical features of the Rākshaskhāli inscription are as follows: initial a occurs in lines 3, 5, and 8 ; initial ā in lines 9 and 18 ; i in l. 19 and u in l. 16 ; l presents two forms : cf. kuśalī and Pāl-in line 3; v and dh are almost identical in shape ; and a chandrabindu (anunāsika) sign occurs in l. ^[5] and the comparatively uncommon kh in lines 3 and 9,and jh in l. 8.

The numerals1and 8, and possibly also 9,5 appear in the date which is given in l. 22.

The orthography presents but little complication. Consonants are doubled after r, the exceptions being karshakaiś= in l. 13 and –varsha in l. 17. Consonants appearing in conjunction with subscript r have been doubled in four cases (lines 10, 11) out of seven ; in three (lines 4, 9, 14) there are no changes whatever. The letters b and v have been generally distinguished by separate signs. The rules of sandhi have not been observed in some cases : e.g., -vahiḥ chatuḥº (l. 7).

The language is Sanskrit. Barring the six imprecatory verses coming at the end, the whole of the inscription is in prose.

The inscription records the grant of the village of Dhāmahithā by Mahāsāmantādhipati, Mahārājādhirāja, Sāmantarāja Maḍōmmaṇapāla as a mitradāna to Mahārāṇaka Vāsudēva, son of Purushōttamadēva and grandson of Sōmadēva, who belonged to the Vārdhīnasa gōtra and was a student of the Kāṇva school of the Yajurvēda, and was a good friend of the king. The village granted was situated in Pūrvakhāṭikā. The grant was formally announced in a large assembly of executive officers at Dvārahaṭāka, which is called the mukti-bhūmi of the donor. The donor of the gift was a member of the Pāla dynasty which had come (viniḥsṛita) from Ayōdhyā, He was a devotee of Vishṇu, while his chief, whose name is uncertain,6 was a paramamāhēśvara.

The date, which is given in figures only, is Vaiśākha of the Śaka year 11187 and corresponds to April-May, A.D. 1196.

Maḍōmmaṇapāla of the present inscription is otherwise unknown to history. He was apparently subordinateto another ruler of equally obscure antecedents. In any case, he must have commanded influence only over a very restricted area. It appears as if Maḍōmmaṇapāla was really

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^[1]N. G. Majumdar, Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 181-82 ; N. K. Bhattasali, Bhāratavarsha (Bengali), Pausha 1332 B.S., pp. 78-81.
^[2]Asiatick Researches, Vol. IX (1807), pp. 401-06 ; V.R.S.Monograph No. 5, pp. 10-16 ; I.H.Q., Vol. IX, pp. 282-89.
^[3]J.A.S.B., Vol. XLIII (1874), Pt. I. pp. 318-24 and Plate XVIII ; N. G. Majumdar, op. cit., pp. 158-63.
^[4] R. D. Banerji, Pālas of Bengal (Memoirs of A.S.B., Vol. V), Plate XXVIII.
^[5] See infra p. 123, f.n. 6.
^[6] See infra p. 122, f.n. 3.
^[7] This makes the present record the earliest known inscription, dated in the Śaka era, so far found in Bengal. Kalidas Datta, however, speaks (V.R.S. Monograph No. 5, pp. 4-5) of a copper-plate inscription, lost long ago, of a king called Jayantachandra. This plate, which is said to have been dated in the Śaka year 897 was unearthed somewhere very near to the temple called Jaṭār Dould in Lot No. 116 of the Sundarbans in the Diamond Harbour Subdivision. Mr. Datta, really speaking, only quotes from an old List of Ancient Monuments in the Presidency Division, published by the Government of Bengal in 1896. The extract quoted by Mr. Datta betrays, however, some confusion on the part of the compiler of the official report as regards the nature and the date of the inscription.