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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA KHANAPUR PLATES OF MADHAVAVARMAN Quarterly (in Marāṭhī), Vol. VIII (1927), pp. 163 f., and again in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), Vol. IV (1928), p. 89. The plates are not forthcoming now. In view of their importance for the ancient history of Mahārāshṭra, they are edited here from photographs and impressions taken by Mr. Y. R. Gupte twenty-two years ago. The grant appears to have originally consisted of three plates strung together by a ring, but the first plate and the ring together with the seal, if it had any, have long been lost. The second plate which is inscribed on both the sides, is irregularly broken at the top and the bottom with the result that two lines, one at the top and the other at the bottom, are almost completely lost. This plate was too brittle to yield an ink impression. Both the sides of it had, therefore, to be photographed. The third plate which is inscribed only on the inner side was in a good state of preservation. The photographs of the second plate and the ink impression of the third are reproduced here. Judging by the impression of the third plate, the plates appear to have been of the size 10·9″ by 5·5″. Their weight has not been recorded. The characters belong to the southern alphabet. They have been boldly, but carelessly, incised, and resemble, in a general way, those of the grants of the Early Rāshṭrakūṭas discovered in Mahārāshṭra, with this difference that some letters like ch, th, m and sh show a notch at the base. The letter b has such notches all round, see, e.g., Kadaṁbatīrthaṁ, lines 16-17. The writer may have been a resident of the Āndhra country where such characters are seen in the records of the period.[1] As regards individual letters, we may note the rare initial ai in aiśvaryyēṇa, lines 3-4, the medial u which is generally shown by a curve turned to the right, see bahubhir=, line 2, and chāturvvarṇṇa, line 4, (but see in bahusuvarṇṇ, lines 2-3), the cursive medial ō in kōśa, line 21, and the bipartite au in sārvvabhaumasya, line 3. Kh appears cursive in Malakhēṭaka, line 14, and likhitam, line 30 ; chh is written either horizontally as in Chhandōga, l.8, or slantingly as in āchhēttā, lines 26-27, and dānāchhē(ch=chrē)yō, line 28 ; t appears generally unlooped, but its looped form occurs sporadically, as in sōtōr=, line 4 ; d in many cases shows a notch, see daśa, line 3 and dāna, line 6, being then indistinguishable from ḍ[2], see Puṇḍari(rī)ka, line 2 ; s has a peculiar cursive form in some places, see sya in sārvvabhaumasya, line 3, and tasya, line 23.
The language is Sanskrit and, except for the benedictive and imprecatory verses at the end, the extant portion is in prose. The record is very carelessly written and contains several mistakes of grammar and orthography.[3] As regards orthographical peculiarities, the only points that call for notice are the use of ri for ṛi as in -vabhrithē, line 2, the reduplication of the consonant after r as in chāturvvarṇṇa, and the use of chh for chchh as in āchhēttā. The inscription refers itself to the reign of Mahārāja Mādhavavarman who performed several śrauta sacrifices such as Puṇḍarīka, Bahusuvarṇa and eleven others which are not specified.4 He is said to have assumed the title of Sārvabhauma (Emperor) and resembled the sun in splendor and Indra himself in prosperity. He is eulogized as the mainstay (sētu) of the religious duties of the four varṇas and the four āśramas. The plates register the grant, by this Mādhavavarman, of the village Rēṭṭuraka together with three tīrthas or fording places, viz., Vaṅkatīrtha, Tambatīrtha (or Stambhatīrtha) and Kadamba-tīrtha, and three vāṭikās, or hamlets, viz., Bēlavāṭikā, Kōlikāvāṭikā and Vaṭṭarikā. Rēṭṭuraka, the _______________________________________________
[1] See, e.g., the Chikkulla plates of Vikramēndravarman II, above, Vol. IV, pp. 193-8, and plates. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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