South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

the grant of three Vāṭis (60 acres in modern calculation) of land in a village situated in the Kōṇṭharāṅga vishaya in favour of the god Kīrttivāsa (Kṛittivāsa) apparently for making provision for naivēdya or daily offerings to the deity. The name of the donee as well as that of the village in which the gift land was situated is totally lost. Another piece of land measuring one Vāṭi was granted by the same donor for provision of what is called Pānīyapatrī, the intended reading probably being pānīya-pātrī (Sanskrit pānīya-pātra, also called dhāra-pātra). It is a water jar which is usually hung in many parts of India above a Śiva-liṅga and through a small hole at the bottom of which water trickles down continuously on the Liṅga so that the god enjoys nonstop ablution. The done seems to have arranged for the proper supply of water for the purpose through the following persons :

(1) Pāṭhin Mahādēva, (2) Paṇḍita Purushōttama, (3) Gōvinda Karaṇa and (4) Śiunāta (Śivanātha) Karaṇa. One Mahādēva Pāṭhin is mentioned in some records of the time of Anaṅgabhīma III, found in the second entrance of the Pātālēśvara shrine within the Jagannātha temple at Purī. It is not possible to determine whether he was the same as the person mentioned in the inscription under discussion.

The following geographical names are mentioned in the two inscriptions : (1) Uchisama-grāma, (2) Vāṅkilāṇḍā in Uchisama-grāma, (3) Balabhadrapura, and (4) Kōṇṭharāṅga-vishaya. Of these the vishaya or district of Kōṇṭharāṅga appears to be no other than Kōṇṭarāvaṅga-vishaya mentioned in the Purī plates^[1] of Bhānu II.

TEXT^[2]

Inscription No. 1

1 Siddham^[3] svast[i] iti [|*] Bhagavat-Puru[shō]ttama^[4]-putra-
2 chatuḥ-sāgara-paryant-ādhipati-saka[la]^[5]-
3 vaddha^[6]-jan-ālaṁkṛita-Rāu[tta*]^[7]-śrī-Bhīmadēv-āvdē(bdē)
4 ^[8]trayō[viśaṁti]^[9]-saṁvatsarē Makara-kṛishṇa-tṛi-
5 [tī]yāyāṁ^[10] Guru-vārē Magha(ghā)-nakshatrē Kāśvya(śya)pa-[sa*]gōtrasya
6 [Cha]ṇḍēśvara-nāmnaḥ pautrasya Kāsya(śya)pa-sagōtrasya

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^[1] Journ. As. Soc., Letters, Vol. XVII, p. 25.
^[2] From impressions.
^[3] Expressed by symbol.
^[4] The akshara ru has a cursive form and shō is imperfectly formed. But there is no doubt about the reading which is supported by Inscription No. 2.
^[5] In place of la, na had been originally incised and was later made la. The reading sakala is supported by Inscription No. 2.
^[6] Inscription No. 2 reads vi instead of va ; but unfortunately the following letters of the expression are lost in that record. We may suggest the emendation vidvaj-jan-āº.
^[7] This restoration is suggested by Inscription No. 2. Some traces below the line may suggest that ta or tta, originally omitted, was later actually inserted.
^[8] Only the upper part of the letters of this line can be seen. The letter yō looks more like gō while the vowel-mark of vi and ti is not clear. Only the anusvāra of śaṁ is clear.
^[9] Read viṁśati.
^[10] The letter tī is completely lost and the following two aksharas are only partially preserved.