North Indian Inscriptions

TORKHEDE PLATES OF GOVINDARAJA.

and dauhittra, line 35, but not in tri, line 23 ; and (4) the doubling of d before r, in bhûmichchhiddra, lines 42-43, and bhaddra, line 44.

......The inscription refers itself, in lines 5 and 6, to the reign of the Râshṭrakûṭa king Prabhûtavarsha-Jagattuṅga-Gôvinda III. ;¹ and, in line 12, to the time of his nephew and feudatory, Gôvindarâja of Gujarât. And the object of it is to record that a subordinate of Gôvindarâja, the Mahâsâmanta Buddhavarasa,² of the Śalukika family, granted to some Brâhmaṅs a village named Gôvaṭṭaṇa, situated in an estate, belonging to him, which was known as the Sîharakhî or Sîharakkhî Twelve.

......The date on which the grant was made, is the seventh tithi, called vijaya-saptami (line 43),― the week-day is not mentioned,― of the bright fortnight of the month Pausha in the Nandana saṁvatsara, Śaka-Saṁvat 735 ; the year being expressed both in words and in decimal figures. The saṁvatsara may be determined either by the mean-sign system, according to which it began on the 9th May, A.D. 812, in Śaka-Saṁvat 735 current, and ended on the 5th May, A.D. 813, in Ś.-S. 736 current ; or by the southern luni-solar system, according to which it coincided with Ś.-S. 735 current. In either case the given Śaka year has to be applied as a current year. And, for the tithi, the corresponding English date is the 14th December, A.D. 812 ; on this day the tithi was current during all the daylight hours, and ended at about 31 gh. 10 p., = 12 hours 28 minutes, after mean sunrise (for Bombay).

......As regards the places that are mentioned, Sîharakhî or Sîharakkhî is very probably the modern ‘Serkhi,’ which, according to the Postal Directory of the Bombay Circle, seems to be somewhere close in the neighbourhood of Baroda. But I have no maps at hand in which to look for its exact position, and to see if any modern representatives of Gôvaṭṭaṇa and its hamlet (?) Mêshuvallikâ can be found.

TEXT.³

First Plate.

1 Ôm⁴ Śaka-nŗipa-kâl-âtîta-saṁvatsara-śatêshu saptasu pañcha-tṛi(tri)ṁśaty-adhikêshu Pausha-śuddha-
2 saptamyâm=aṅkatô=pi saṁvatsara-śatâni 735 Nandana-saṁvatsarê Paushaḥ śuddha-
3 tithiḥ 7 asyâṁ saṁvatsara-mâsa-paksha-divasa-pûrvvâyâṁ [|*] Paramabhaṭṭâraka-
4 mahârâjâdhirâja-paramêśvaraḥ śarach-chhaśâṅka-kiraṇa-nirmmala-yaśô-ṅśukâvaguṇṭhi-
5 ta-mêdinî-yuvati-bhôktâ Prabhûtavarshaḥ śrîvallabhanarêndrô Gôvindaraja-nâmâ ||
6 Jagatuṅga⁵-tuṅga-turaga-pravṛiddha-rêṇ-ûrddhva-ruddha-ravi-kiraṇaṁ grîshmê=pi nabhô nikhilaṁ
7 prâvṛiṭkâlâyatê spanshṭaṁ | (||) Rakshatâ⁶ yêna niḥśêshaṁ chatur-aṁbôdhi-saṁyutaṁ râjyaṁ dha-
8 rmmêṇa lôkânâṁ kṛitâ tushṭiḥ parâ hṛidi | (||) Bhrâtâ⁷ tu tasy=Êndra-samâna-vîryyaḥ śrîmâṁn⁸=bhu-
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......¹ I take this opportunity of publishing a revised table of the Râshṭrakûṭa dynasty of Mâlkhêḍ, with its Gujarât branches. The numbers prefixed to some of the names indicates the members of the family who actually reigned and the order in which they succeeded each other.
......² The termination of this name seems clearly to be the Kanarese arasa, ‘a king’. The person, therefore, had probably migrated to Gujarât from the Kanarese country.
......³ From the original plates.
......⁴ Represented by a plain symbol.
......⁵ Metre : Âryâ.― At the beginning of the verse, jagatuṅga is used by metrical license for jagattuṅga.
......⁶ Metre: Ślôka (Anushṭubh).
......⁷ Metre : Indravajrâ.
......⁸ Read śrîmân.