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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
GANESGAD PLATES OF DHRUVASENA I. the lower end of a well-preserved oval seal, which measures about 2¼ by 1⅞ inch. The back of the seal is of convex shape. On the front of the seal, a oval border, measuring 1¾ by 1⅜ inch, is divided by a pair of horizontal lines into two compartments, of which the upper one contains, in bas-relief, a recumbent bull which faces the proper right, and the lower one, in raised letters, the usual legend [Sanskrit]:. The weight of the two plates is 3 lbs. 7½ oz. and that of the two rings and the seal 7½ oz. ; total, 3 lbs. 15 oz. ......The date at the end of the inscription furnishes of the numerical symbols for 5, 7, 10 and 200, and the symbol for 300 occurs in line 14. The language is tolerably correct Sanskṛit. The proper name Bhaṭakka (for Bhaṭârka) in line 3 and on the seal,1 and the relapsed from Sanskṛit into his Prâkṛit vernacular. ......The plates record an order, issued from (his capital) Valabhî (line 1) by Dhruvasêna [I.] (l. 10) and conferring on a Brâhmaṇa eight measures (khaṇḍa) of land two cisterns in the village of Hariyânaka, which belonged to Akshasarakaprâpa, a subdivision of Hastavaprâharaṇî (l. 12). I am unable to identify the village of Hariyânaka and the subdivision in which it was included. The district of Hastavaprâharaṇî, Hastakavaprâharaṇî, or Hastavaprâhâra is mentioned in three other Valabhî grants.2 Hastavapra or Hastakavapra, to which it owes its name, has been identified with Hâthab, six miles south of Gôghâ in the Bhâvnagar State, and with the ‘Astakapra’ of Ptolemy and of the Periplûs.3
......The Dûtakaof the grant was the door-keeper Mammaka, and the writer of the edict was Kikkaka (l. 28). the latter also wrote the three other published grants of Dhruvasêna I.4 and the former acted as Dûtaka of one of these three grants.5 The date of the subjoined grant was the 15th tithi of the dark fortnight of Vaiśâkha of the (Gupta) year 207 (l. 29 f.), i.e. A.D. 526-27. Another grant of Dhruvasêna I., published by Professor Bühler,6 is dated in the same year, which forms the earliest date of the Valabhî dynasty that has been hitherto found in inscriptions. ......From my translation of the genealogical portion of this inscription it will be seen that I
have added a fresh rendering of the passage which mentions the Maitrakas, to the earlier
translations of it.7 In line 1, the original clearly and unmistakably reads maitrakâṇâm=atulabala-sapatnaº. This is also the reading of the published facsimiles of the remaining early
Valabhî grants,8 the editors of which have read sapanna because they had in their minds the
reading saṁpanna, which actually occurs in the later Valabhî grants. As all the earlier grants
raed sapatna, we must, in the absence of cogent reasons to the contrary, assume that this was
also the reading of the original draft of the Valabhî vaṁśâvali, and that saṁpanna, the
reading of the later grants, is a mere clerical error. I am obliged to dwell on this detail
because the reading sapatna finally disposes of the possibility of constructing the word
Maitrakâṇâm with the next following compound, and forces us to connect the word with the
verb abhavat, which is omitted, but must be supplied to complete the sentence. Whether we ......1 The same spelling occurs in another grant of Dhruvasêna I. (Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 205) and on the seals of
other Valabhî plates.
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