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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA and probably in allusion to it, in verse 6, his ‘column of the best elephants, well-equipped in battle-array’ is highly spoken of. The other suggestive title that he assumes in that plate is Arirāja-Chāṇūra-Mādhava. The editors of the plate have rightly pointed out that this biruda ‘cannot but remind us of similar birudas assumed by Viśvarūpasēna and Kēśavasēna in their inscriptions and applied by them to their three predecessors─Vijayasēna, Vallālasēna and Lakshmaṇasēna’. The assumption of these titles suggests that Dāmōdaradēva came into conflict with the Sēna ruler of Vaṅga, and was probably able to win these titles for himself ; or, at any rate, Dāmōdaradēva considered himself strong enough to assume these titles in opposition to the Sēnas. But strange it is to note that Dāmōdaradēva adopts these titles in the fourth year of his reign, i.e. in 1234 A. D., while in the present plate, issued in the year 1236 A.D., only the title Gajapati is retained, and in the Chittagong plate dated 1243 A.D., both these titles are dropped. Does it imply that Dāmōdaradēva suffered a set-back towards the close of his reign ? The answer cannot be definitely given in the present state of our knowledge. The inscriptions of Dāmōdaradēva, at least, do not speak of any loss of territory. Another information that we get from the present plate is the name of Dāmōdaradēva’s minister, Gautamadatta, who is given the title of mudr-ādhikāri-sachiva, and is said to be ‘devoted to the feet of Śrī-Gautama’. Here, Gautama probably refers to the Buddha, and hence the minister was perhaps a Buddhist. It was through his request that the present grant was made by the king to the Brāhmaṇas. The fact clearly shows the spirit of toleration then prevalent in East Bengal.
The plate records the grant of three adjoining villages, viz. Sundaraya, Āhaśyaga[1] and Vāṇḍura together with 15 drōṇas of homestead land. The boundaries of the villages are given. They lay in the Chhātihara khaṇḍala, comprised within the Miḍillī vishaya in the Samataṭa maṇḍala within the Pauṇḍravardhana bhukti. The gift villages cannot be definitely identified. Śobhārāmpur, the find-spot of the present plate, may represent one of the villages, as the plate was discovered inside a brick-work about a cubit below the surface of the earth. This conjecture receives support from the fact that adjacent to it lies a village called Sundram, which recalls the name of Sundaraya. If this identification is correct, then Chhātihara-khaṇḍala lay in P.S. Burichong, and Miḍillī vishaya indicated a larger administrative division including Burichong. Therefore, Samataṭa maṇḍala, which comprised this vishaya as well as the Paralāyi vishaya of the Mehar plate, included the greater part of the Tippera District of East Pakistan. The donees are two Brāhmaṇas, Kauśika and Dēvarāta, of the Agnivēśya gōtra. The villages were granted along with the right of enjoying barren lands, waters and fields. Besides, 15 drōṇas of homestead land were also given ; but the exact location of this land cannot be made out. At the end I must express my indebtedness to Mr. D. K. Chakravarti of the V.R. Museum, Rajshahi, for cleaning the plate ; to the Director of Archaeology, Pakistan, for permission to publish it ; to Mr. S. C. Banerji of the Dacca University and Dr. N. P. Chakravarti for some suggestions in deciphering the plate. TEXT[2] [Metres : verse 1 Śārdūlavikrīḍita ; verses 2, 6, 8-11 Anushṭubh ; verse 3 Upajāti ; verse 4 Sragdharā ; verses 5, 7 Vasantatilaka ; verse 12 Pushpitāgrā.] Obverse
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[1] [See below, p. 188, note 3.─Ed.]
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