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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA was the son of Rāyavallabha Mahāsēnāpati and Mēḍamadēvī, otherwise called Mēḍamāmbā. It is of course impossible to identify Mēḍamadēvī of the Siṁhāchalam record with her namesake of the Bhubaneswar inscription under study. It is stated in our record that Mēdamadēvī’s father, whose name was Kōmi-nāyaka, and her mother, whose name began with the letters nuka, were residents of Padādhvāva-khaṇḍa. It is further said that, apparently to cover the expenses of the perpetual lamp, the lady purchased, in conjunction (samavāya) with a leading merchant (sādhu-pradhāna) named Jayadēva who was resident of a locality attached to Kūrmapāṭaka, from the hands of a śrēshṭhin of Dāsapura, a piece of land entitled Vāhiḍā at Dēvadhara-grāma, and granted it is favour of the god. The name of the locality where Jayadēva lived and that of the śrēshṭhin who resided at Dāsapura are broken away and lost. Inscription No. 2 records the grant of another perpetual lamp in favour of the same god by Āchana Pradhānī who was the son of Divākara and resident of a locality, the name of which is lost. Apparently to cover the expenses of the said perpetual lamp, the donor granted seven Vā (i.e. Vāṭis) of land in a village called Aṇḍīdō-grāma which was situated in the Uttara khaṇḍa (i.e. the northern sub-division) within the Kalambōra vishaya (district). There are some other details of the grant in the last three lines of the record. An expression occurring in this damaged part is chandana-samāi, the meaning of which is not quite clear. Whether it may be Sanskrit chandana-samayē, i.e. chandanayātrā-samayē, and suggest that the grant was made actually on the occasion of the festival called Chandana-yātrā held in the month of Vaiśākha cannot be determined. It must, however, be admitted that the said festival is now associated usually with the Vaishṇava deities. This section also mentions the names of the persons, with whose cognizance the grant of the seven Vāṭis of land was made. The names of two of these persons may be Āditaka (probably the same as Sanskrit Ādityaka) and Varāhila. The concluding part of the inscription in the last line reads nd-ārka-thitī which apparently stands for the expression ā-chandr-ārka-sthiti referring to the permanent nature of the grant.
The following geographical names are mentioned in the two inscriptions : (1) Padādhvāvakhaṇḍa (possibly a khaṇḍa or sub-division called Padādhvāva), (2) Kūrmapāṭaka, (3) Dēvadharagrāma, (4) Dāsapura, (5) Vāhiḍā-khaṇḍakshētra, (6) Kalambōra-vishaya (i.e. the district called Kalambōra), (7) Uttara-khaṇda (i.e. the northern sub-division of the Kalambōra district) and (8) Aṇḍīdō-grāma. I am not sure about the identification of these localities. Kūrmapāṭaka may be the same as Kūrmapaḍā mentioned in such other inscriptions of the Gaṅga family as the Puri plates[1] of Bhānu II. The Kalambōra district is also known from other records.[2] TEXT[3] Inscription No. 1
1 Svasti [|*] śrī-Rāghavadēvasya pravarddhamāna-[vijaya-rā]….[4]
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[1] See JBRS, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 228.
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