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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The charter under review is dated in the 17th regnal year of king Vigrahapāla III whose reign has been roughly assigned to the period 1055-70 A.C. in the latest authoritative work on the history of Bengal.[1] As will, however, be shown below, this dating requires modification in view of the evidence afforded by the present record.
The inscription begins, as usual, with the symbol for siddham and the word svasti, which are followed by fourteen verses (in lines 1-21). These verses are found exactly in the same order in both the known charters of Vigrahapāla III and have been fully discussed in our paper on the Belwā plates of Mahīpāla I and Vigrahapāla III. Lines 21-23 quote the usual description of the Pāla jaya-skandhāvāra (possibly, temporary capital) whence the charter was issued. It is well-known that several of such jaya-skandhāvāras are already known from the Pāla charters, the same description (suggesting their situation on the river Bhāgīrathī or Ganges) being applied to each one of them. Our record adds a new name to the list of the Pāla jaya-skandhāvāras so far known. Lines 24-25 of the inscription say that the charter was issued by the Paramasaugata (devout Buddhist) Paramēśvara Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Vigrahapāladēva meditating on (or favoured by) the feet of his father, Nayapāladēva, from the jaya-skandhāvāra at Kāñchanapura which is as yet unknown from any other Pāla grant. Line 25 speaks of the land to be granted as a part, yielding five hundred of the standard coins (called Purāṇa?)[2] of the locality called Vasukāvartta in the Hōdrēya vishaya (district) of Tirabhukti. The lines that follow (lines 26-31) quote the list of feudatories, officials and others, associated with the above piece of land. The same list is also found in other Pāla grants, including those of Vigrahapāla III himself. The charter then goes on to say (lines 32-40), in the well-known style of the Pāla grants, that the above mentioned portion of the village of Vasukāvartta was granted in the name of Lord Buddha with the specified privileges (including the right to enjoy the pratyāyas such as bhāga, bhōga, kara, hiraṇya and others) in accordance with the bhūmichchhidra-nyāya (i.e., the principle of the rent-free enjoyment of a piece of land by a person who cultivated it for the first time) by the king, for the increase of the merit of himself and his parents, in favour of a Brāhmaṇa. Like many other Pāla grants, this one was also made by the king after having taken a ceremonial bath in the waters of the Ganges on the occasion of the Vishuvat saṅkrānti. As expected, this portion of the charter is almost a replica of the corresponding section of the Belwā plate already discussed by me. The donee of the present charter was Ghāṇṭūkaśarman who was an inhabitant of Iṭṭāhāka or Iṭuhōka. He was the son of Tuṅga and grandson of Yōgasvāmin. The original home of the donee’s family is stated to have been Kōlāñcha. He is described as well-versed in mīmāṁsā, vyākaraṇa and tarka and as belonging to the Śāṇḍilya gōtra having the Śāṇḍilya, Asita and Dēvala pravaras. The donee is further said to have been a sabrahmachārin of Narasiṁha and student of the Chhandōga śākhā. It is well-known that, in a similar context, charters of ancient Indian rulers usually speak of a Brāhmaṇa as a sabrahmachārin or adhyāyin, i.e., a student, of a particular śākhā or charaṇa of a Vēda.[3] In later Pāla charters, however, we have often mention of the donee as sabrahmachārin of an individual. It appears that the word in such cases has the sense of ‘a pupil’. Thus Ghāṇṭūkaśarman was probably a pupil of Narasiṁha. future rulers of the region not to confiscate the gift land. This is followed by the date of the charter : the 28th day probably of the month of Aśvayuj in the 17th regnal year of Vigrahapāla III. Next follow in lines 42-47 some of the usual imprecatory and benedictory verses. The two verses that _________________________________________________
[1] History of Bengal, Dacca University,Vol. I. p. 177.
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