North Indian Inscriptions

KOLHAPUR INSCRIPTION OF BHOJA II.

have suffered considerably, from exposure to the weather or rather causes, so that in several places it is impossible to make out the exact wording of the text.¹ At the top of the stone are some sculptures : immediately above the writing, on the proper right the moon, and on the left a crooked sword or dagger ; and above these, again, on the right the moon, and on the left the sun.― The average size of the letters is about ⅞”.― The characters are Nâgarî.― The language is Sanskṛit ; and the whole inscription is in prose. Both the style and the language are very simple ; but this record contains several words which apparently are not Sanskṛit, and the exact meaning of which I do not understand. In respect of orthography, it need only be stated that the rules of saṁdhi are frequently disregarded.

......The inscription divides itself into three parts. The first part, from line 1 to the beginning of line 13, records that the Mahâmaṇḍalêśvara Vîra-Bhôjadêva, ruling at his residence of the fort of Pranâlaka,─ on the occasion of the sun’s entrance upon his northern course, on Tuesday, the twelfth lunar day of the dark half of Pushya (or Pausha) of the Sâdhâraṇa year, when 1112 years had elapsed since the time of the Śaka king,─ granted a śâlikhalla² field, which by the Eḍenâḍa measure measured 550 vapyakas,³ and in connection with it a dwelling-house measuring 12 hastas, and connected with this again a khaḍavalaka,⁴ all belonging to, and the field lying on the eastern side of, the village of Kopparavâḍa in Eḍenâḍa, to the four Brâhmaṇas Âdityabhaṭṭa, Lakshmîdharabhaṭṭa, Prabhâkaraghaisâsa of Karahâṭa,⁵ and Vâsiyaṇaghaisâsa, who were settled at a maṭha (i.e. temple or other religious establishment) founded by the Nâyaka Lôkaṇa,― for performing the fivefold worship of the god Umâmahêśvara, a form of Amṛitêśvara (Śiva), and for the purposes of feeding the Brâhmaṇas dwelling at the maṭha, of offering eatables three times a day to the goddess Mahâlakshmî, and of keeping the maṭha in proper repair. And the inscription adds that the land so granted lay to the east of a karada⁶ filed which was to the east of the road from Tîravâḍabîḍa to the fort of Pannâle, to the north of the edge of an empty tank marked by a field-deity, to the west of a karañja⁷ field (or wood), and to the south of two other fields belonging to Dêsilêya and Cheṇḍi-kêya (?).

......On the Mahâmaṇḍalêśvara Vîra-Bhôjadêva, otherwise known to us as Bhôja II. of the Śilâhâra family, it will suffice to refer the reader to Dr. Fleet’s Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 105, and Dr. Bhandarkar’s Early History of the Dekkan, p. 95. The date of this grant of his corresponds, for Śaka-Saṁvat 1112 expired which was the Jovian year Sâdhâraṇa, to Tuesday, the 25th December, A.D. 1190, when the uttarâyaṇa-saṁkrântî took place 14 h. 2 m. after mean sunrise, during the 12th tithi of the dark half of Pausha which ended 19 h. 7 m. after mean sunrise of the same day.― Of the localities mentioned, Pranâlaka-durga or Pannâle-durga, the residence of Vîra-Bhôjadêva, is the well-known fort of Pannâla (or Panhâla), about 11 miles north-west of Kôlhâpur. The village of Kopparavâḍa I am unable to identify with confidence. The district of Eḍenâḍa, to which that village belonged, is mentioned also in a copper-plate grant of the Śilâhâra Gaṇḍarâdityadêva⁸ of Śaka-Saṁvat 1032, and in an unpublished stone inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1161 ; and the former of these inscriptions states
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......¹ From the rough facsimile in Major Graham’s Report it would appear that, when the inscription was first brought to public notice, it was in a better state of preservation than it is now.
......² Śâli is ‘rice,’ and khalla denotes, in addition to other things, ‘a canal, cut, trench, deep hole,’ etc.; but the meaning of the whole term I do not know.
......³ This measure I have not found elsewhere. [Perhaps the word is connected with vâpa, on which see Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 161, note 19.― E. H.]
......⁴ This words occurs several times (in the phrase gṛihaṁ=êkaṁ khaḍavalakaṁ cha) in an inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1161.
......⁵ Dr. Bhandarkar, Early History of the Dekkan, p. 95, joins the word Karahâṭaka of the text with the two names preceding it. On the names ending in ghaisâsa see ibid. and Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 74.
......⁶ The only meaning of this word known to me is ‘tax-paying.’
......⁷ This is the name of a plant or tree.
......⁸ See Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XIII. p. 3.