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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA of the Gaṅgā for attaining salvation and made the grant in question on that sacred occasion. In that case only is the epithet svīya-mukti-bhūmi, applied to the locality, easily explainable. I do not see how it can be interpreted in any other equally satisfactory way. Of kings ending their lives in the waters of the holy rivers we have the well-known instances of Chandēlla Dhaṅga (953-1002 A.C.), who committed suicide in the Trivēṇī at Prayāga or Allahabad[1], and Chālukya Sōmēśvara I Āhavamalla (1043-68 A.C.) who drowned himself in the Tuṅgabhadrā described as ‘ the Gaṅgā of Dakshiṇāpatha’.[2] According to Bilhaṇa’s Vikramāṅkadēvacharita, the Chālukya king’s proposal to end his life in the Tuṅgabhadrā was hailed by his ministers as a right act and the king made grants of a heap of gold before entering the waters On the authority of Hindu scriptures, Colebrooke speaks of the custom of making gifts by a dying man as he says, “ When at the point of death, donation of cattle, land, gold, silver or other things, according to his ability, should be made by him, or, if he be too weak, by another person in his name”.[3] There is thus no absurdity in Ḍōmmaṇapāla granting a village on a similar occasion. Verse 12 of the Jubbulpur inscription[4] of Yaśaḥkarṇa says that Kalachuri Gāṅgēyadēva Vikramāditya (circa 1015-41 A.C.) attained mukti, i.e., committed religious suicide, at Prayāga together with his hundred wives. Prayāga was thus the mukti-bhūmi of Gāṅgēya and those of his queens who died with their husband. The Adbhutasāgara[5] seems to say how king Ballālasēna of Bengal gave numerous gifts at the time of committing religious suicide, together with his queens, in the waters of the Gaṅgā. King Kalaśa (1063-89 A.C.) of Kashmir, “ knowing in his helpless condition that his life was about to escape, hurried to proceed to a tīrtha to die ”, and there he dedicated a gold image of the god worshipped at the place.[6]
vMr. Ghohal’s explanation of the expression ratna-traya, which not only occurs in the present record and the Manahali plates of Madanapāla, as pointed out by him, but also in such other inscriptions as the Ashrafpur plate (B)[7] of the Khaḍgas, the Kailan (or Kailain) plate of Śrīdhāraṇarāta[8] and the Tipperah plate[9] of Bhavadēva, is clearly wrong. It can neither be “ right over the wealth (deposited underground) ”, as suggested by Mr. Ghoshal, nor “ a tax levied for the maintenance and upkeep of big Buddhist establishments ”, as suggested by others and referred to by him. Ratna-traya means primarily a Buddhist religious establishment symbolising the _________________________________________________
[1] Cf. above, Vol. I, p. 146 (Khajuraho inscription, verse 55) : Rakshitvā kshitim=ambu-rāśi-raśanām=ētām=
anany-āyatiṁ jīvitvā śaradāṁ śataṁ samadhikaṁ śrī-Dhaṁga-pṛithvīpatiḥ | Rudraṁ mudrita-lōchanaḥ sa hṛidayē
dhyāyañ=japañ=Jāhnavī-Kālindyōḥ salilē kalēvara-parityāgād=agān=nirvṛitim. For religious suicide at Prayāga,
see JUPHS, Vol. X, 1937, pp. 65 ff. See also Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, Vol. IV, pp. 604-13, on such suicides.
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