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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA akshaya-nīvikā[1] which means ‘ a permanent endowment (providing a periodical income to be regularly and perpetually enjoyed by the donee)’. The donor was a merchant of the Pāravāḍa[2] community(jāti). His name was Haṭiāka and that of his father Chachchhiāka. It is stated that the grant was made by the libation of curds and water at the various tīrthas or bathing ghāṭa of the locality. This reminds us of the fact that the inscription was actually found at Mahalghāṭ at Bhīlsā. The inscribed stone seems to have been originally embedded in the stairs of the ghāṭ in question. We know that grants were made in ancient India by the donor by pouring water in the donee’s name or, when the latter was a person present to receive the donation, in the cavity of his folded hands.[3] The mention of curds along with water in the same context in the inscription under review is interesting. The endowment consisted of the income derived from three vīthīs. The word vīthī is used in Sanskrit literature in the sense of ‘ a market, a stall, or a shop in a market ’,[4] although in some parts of ancient India it was often used in the sense of a territorial unit smaller than a district.[5] That the word vīthī in the inscription under review means ‘a stall or shop in a market’ is suggested by certain early medieval records of the Malwa region, incorporated in the Siyadoni (Jhansi District, U.P.) inscription[6] (in corrupt Sanskrit). Vīthīs are frequently mentioned in these records as lying in haṭṭas or market-places and as objects belonging to persons or deities, or gifts made in favour of deities worshipped in a local temple, or standing on the boundaries of other vīthīs. They are sometimes stated to have stood on the haṭṭa-rathyā or market-road and often to have faced this or that direction. Some of the epithets (such as āchchhannā, avaliptā, kṛit-ōpasannā and uvaṭaka-sahitā), applied to the vīthīs, are also used in the records in relation to houses. An āvāsanikā or house is stated to have been granted with all the rooms and vīthīs in it (asy= ābhyantarē samasta-gṛiha-samētāṁ samasta-vīthī-samētāṁ) and in this connection it is further said : yah=kō=pi vīthīshu pravasati sa cha gōshṭhī-bhāvitaṁ bhāṭkaṁ dadāti dāyādasya adhikāraṁ n=āsti. The reference to bhāṭaka (rent) for staying at the vīthī makes its nature fairly clear. As will be seem from our discussion below, the word vīthī has been used in the Siyadoni inscription and the record under discussion in exactly the same sense.
The first of the three vīthīs, the rent of which appears to have been assigned by the merchant Haṭiāka as an akshayanīvikā, is described as follows : vaṇik(ṇig)-Vuvāka-satka-vīthī bhōgādhi(dhī)nā-(natvēna) gṛihītā pa 13 (or 130) [sā] cha mayā pradat=a(tt=ā)grahāraṁ(ratvēna) Nārāyaṇasya-(ṇāya). The word satka is a Sanskritized form of Pali santaka and means ‘ belonging to ’. The passage bhōg-ādhīnā gṛihītā seems to mean ‘ taken under possession ’. This suggests that the vīthī in question was purchased by Haṭiāka from its owner Vuvāka. Unless such was the case, Haṭiāka could not have included its income in the akshayanīvikā created by him. The suggestion appears to be supported by the following grant recorded (in corrupt Sanskrit) in the Siyadoni inscription : śrī-Vishṇu-bhaṭṭārakasya vaṇika-Śrīdharēṇa Mahāditya-sutēna vilē-pana-sanmārjjana-pūjāpana-dhūpa-pradīpa-naivēdy-ārthaṁ śrīmad-Ādīvarāha-drammasya pād-aikaṁ pradattaṁ ētad-arthē māsān=māsaṁ prati dīyamānaṁ Pañchiyaka-dramm-aikaṁ sāsanaṁ likhitaṁ ankē paṁ dra 1 ētad-arthē sā cha vīthī Nāga-satkā dakshiṇ-ābhimukhā uvaṭaka-sahitā kṛit-ōpasannā bhōg-ādhīnā tishṭhāti……..asyā vīthyā mōchāpana-kālē apara-vīthī anurupā sāsanē likhāpya _______________________________________________
[1] Some early medieval inscriptions of the Malwa region use the form akshayanīmī or akshayanīmikā (above,
Vol. I, pp. 160, 165).
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