South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

of the Malwa region. An inscription^[1] in the Gwalior Museum, recently examined by me, mentions one Bhāilla-bhaṭṭa, although, as the epigraph is palaeographically assignable to a date about the ninth or tenth century, it is uncertain whether the person in question was named after the Sun-god of Bhīlsā. That sometimes other representations of the god in different parts of the Malwa region ware named after the famous deity of Bhīlsā is possibly suggested by a Siyadoni (Jhansi District, U.P.) epigraph^[1] of V.S. 1005 (948 A.D.), which mentions a god named Bāillasvāmin installed in a temple of that locality by a merchant named Vikrama ; but it is also possible to think that Bhāillasvāmin of Siyadoni was named after another person called Bhāilla. In the latter case the Siyadoni Bhāillasvāmin may not have represented the Sun-god. Vā(Bā)illa-bhaṭṭa, mentioned in a Gwalior inscription^[2] as a person, after whom the god Vishṇu established in a local temple was called Bāillabhaṭṭa-svāmin, may be a variant form of the same personal name.^[3]

Of geographical names, the inscription only mentions Khahanāsithī. It was probably situated in the Bhīlsā area. The inscription also indirectly refers to its findspot (i.e. Mahalghāṭ at Bhīlsā) as iha (i.e. ‘here’).

TEXT^[4]

1 Siddham ^[5] Samva(Saṁva)t 935 V[ai]śākha-sudi 3 ady=ēha ch=āṇyōya-tīrthē^[6] vaṇi-
2 [k-śrī]-Haṭiākēna Chchhiāka-sutēna Pāravā[ḍa]-jātyēna^[7] sva-
3 ya-dadhē-jalābhyāṁ^[8] akshayanikā^[9] pradanā(ttā) |^[10] śrī-[Bhā]illasvā-
4 .. ^[11] yatanē [ | *] Vaṇik(ṇig)-Vuvāka-satka-vīthī bhōg-ādhi(dhī)nā^[12] gṛihītā pa^[13] 13^[14]
5 .. ^[15] cha mayā^[16] pradat=ā(tt=ā)g[rah]āraṁ^[17] Nārāyaṇasya(ṇāya) aṇya(nya)-vaṇik(ṇig)-[Jña]-
6 ..[pā]ka-satka-vīthī bhōg-ādhi(dhī)nā Khahanāsithyāṁ^[18] gṛihīta(tā) pa^[13] 50
7 .. pa cha^[19] Gōvinda-satka(tkā) tasy=aiva^[20] vïthī bhōg-ādhi(dhī)nā gṛihītā pa^[13] 40

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^[1] No. 169 of App. B, 1952-53.
^[2] Above, Vol. I, p. 177.
^[3] For the same name and its variants, see also above, Vol. I, p. 168 ; Bhandarkar’s List, Nos. 287, 1537 ; Cunningham’s Reports, Vol. III, p. 43, etc.
^[4] From impressions.
^[5] Expressed by symbol.
^[6] Read ch=āny-ānya-tīrthēshu.
^[7] Read jātīyēna.
^[8] The intended reading seems to be svayaṁ dadhi-jalābhyām.
^[9] Read akshayanīvikā.
^[10] The daṇḍa is unnecessary.
^[11] The lost akshara seems to have been myā so that the reading of the passage is Bhāillasvāmy-āyatanē.
^[12] I.e. bhōg-ādhīnatvēna.
^[13] This akshara has a sign (resembling an old medial ō mark) at the top. It seems to be an abbreviation of Pañchiyaka-dramma which was the name of a coin current in the Malwa region in the early medieval period. Note the same contraction in lines 6, 7 and 11 below.
^[14] We are not sure whether a figure has been broken away after this. See, however, line 11 below, where the same number is possibly given as 130.
^[15] The lost akshara may have been sā.
^[16] In the context, tēna is more suitable. Could the author mean ātmanaḥ puṇyēna (i.e. puṇy-ārtham) as opposed to mātā-pitṛi-punyēna in line 8 below ?
^[17] Better rend ºhāratvēna.
^[18] The implication is possibly Khahanāsithī-haṭṭē.
^[19] The original reading may have been api cha.
^[20] This may suggest that the vīthī in question was in the direct possession of the owner while the two other vīthīs were under tenants paying rent for them to their owners.