North Indian Inscriptions

BUGUDA PLATES OF MADAVAVARMAN.

______________________________________

No. 7.— MANDHATA PLATES OF JAYASIMHA OF DHARA.

[VIKRAMA-] SAMVAT 1112.

BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., C.I.E. ; GÖTTINGEN.

......I edit this inscription from excellent impression, prepared by Mr. Cousens, Superintendent of the Archæological Survey of Western India, and sent to me by Dr. Hultzsch. The original plates are at Mândhâtâ, an island in the Narmadâ river, attached to the Nimâr district of the Central Provinces.⁴

......The copper-plates, which are inscribed on one side only, are two in number, each measuring about 13¼’’ broad by 10’’ high. They are in a state of perfect preservation, so that the reading of the text, with perhaps the exception of a single akshara,⁵ is nowhere doubtful. Each plate contains fifteen lines of writing. The letters are boldly and regularly drawn and well engraved. In the lower part of the first plate, and the upper part of the second, there are holes for two rings. These rings had both been cut when the impressions were taken, and the seal which may have been on one of them, was not forthcoming. In the lower proper right corner of the second plate, however, there is a representation of Garuḍa, about 2½’’ high by 2¾’’ broad, with the body of a man and the head of a bird, facing the left, and looking at a serpent which is held by his left hand.⁶ The average size of the letters is about 7/16’’. The characters are Nâgarî, and the language is Sanskṛit. About twelve lines of the inscription (lines 1-2, 10-12, 22-28) are in verse ; The rest is in prose. As regards orthography, the letter b is throughout denoted by the sign for v ; the dental sibilant is used instead of the palatal in sirasâ, line 1, vinasvaraṁ, line 12, and samêtas=cha and Amarêśvarê, line 14, and the palatal instead of the dental in śâśanêna, line 17 ; the guttural nasal is employed instead of the anusvâra in the name Jayasiṅha, in lines 15 and 30 ; and the same name apparently is written Jayasiṅgha in line 6. Besides, it may be noted that the sign of the avagraha occurs twice, in ºvṛiddhayê dṛishṭaº in line 16, and vuddhvâ smadº in line 20.

......The inscription is one of the Paramabhṭṭâraka Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara, the illustrious Jayasiṁhadêva, who meditated on the feet of the P. M. P., the illustrious Bhôjadêva, who, again, had meditated on the feet of the P. M. P., the illustrious Sindhurâjadêva, who had meditated on the feet of the P. M. P., the illustrious Vâkpatirâjadêva (lines 3-6) ; and
__________________________________________________________________________________________

......¹ Read I take the first word of the line to be
......² Read
......³ Here one akshara, probably व, is almost entirely broken away, and before it three syllables (perhaps ) have been omitted by the writer or engraver.
......⁴ See C. Grant’s Gazetteer of the Central Provinces, second edition, p. 257.
......⁵ I mean the second akshara of the word read Maktulâ, in line 6.
......⁶ Compare the facsimiles of the copper-plates of Bhôjadêva, Ind. Ant. Vol. Vi. p. 52, and of Udayavarman, ibid. Vol. XVI. p. 254.