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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 44─TWO GRANTS OF SAILODBHAVAS (2 Plates) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND My article entitled “ Two Sailodbhava Grants from Banpur ” has appeared in this journal.[1] I edited in it a copper-plate inscription of Ayaśōbhīta II Madhyamarāja (circa 665-95 A. D.) and another of his son Mānabhīta Dharmarāja (circa 695-730 A.D.). In the following pages I am editing two other copper-plate grants of the family, one issued by Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II Śrīnivāsa (circa 610-650 A. D.) and the other by his grandson Mānabhīta Dharmarāja. Both these records were published previously by Pandit Satyanarayana Rajaguru, the first recently in the Orissa Historical Research Journal, Vol. II, Nos. 3-4 (September 1953─January 1954), pp. 6 ff., and the second a few years ago in the now defunct Journal of the Kalinga Historical Research Society, Vol. II, No. 1 (June 1947), pp. 65 ff. As Pandit Rajaguru’s treatment of the records did not appear to me quite satisfactory, I was eager to examine the original plates which are now preserved in the Orissa State Museum at Bhubaneswar. At my request, the Superintendent of Research and Museums, Government of Orissa, kindly sent me on loan both the sets of copper plates for examination about the middle of 1954. My sincere thanks are due to him for his kindness. A.─Purushōttampur Plates of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II Śrīnivāsa, Regnal Year 13 It is reported that the inscribed plates were dug out from the compound of the temple of Jagannātha at Purushōttampur in the Pūrvakhaṇḍa sub-division of the Ganjam District, Orissa. The inscription was acquired for the Orissa State Museum in 1952.
This is a set of three thin rectangular plates held together by a ring (2½ inches in diameter), the joint of which is soldered to the lower part of the circular seal. The plates measure 6 inches by 3¼ inches each. The hole for the ring to pass through, about the centre of the left border of the plates, is ½ inch in diameter. It was made in the plates apparently after the work of engraving had been completed although some space may have been left out for that purpose. The second plate is engraved on both the sides while the first and third bear writing on the inner side only. There are altogether 46 lines of writing on the four sides (12+12+13+9). The preservation of the plates is quite unsatisfactory. The writing on all the three plates is damaged here and there. A portion is broken away from a corner of the first plate resulting in the loss of the concluding letters of the last two lines of writing on it. The counter-sunk surface of the seal attached to the plates has the figure of a humped bull facing left. Below the bull is the legend śrī-Sainyabhītasya which has suffered considerably from corrosion. There is a floral design below the legend. The weight of the three plates is 21¼ tolas and that of the seal 12 tolas. The characters in which the inscription is written resemble very closely those employed in the Puri plates[2] of the Śailōdbhava king who issued the present charter. A slightly more developed form of the same script is, however, noticed in the Buguda plates[3] of the said ruler. But this is satisfactorily explained by the fact that, in the case of the Buguda plates, the original inscription was beaten in and re-engraved on the same plates at a later date.[4] More important is the fact that the Ganjam[5] (Gupta year 300=619 A.D.) and Khurda[6] plates of Sainyabhīta Mādhavavarman II _______________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XXIX, pp. 32-43.
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