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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 11─ TEHRI PLATE OF CHANDELLA TRAILOKYAVARMAN, SAVAT 1264 (1 Plate) SANT LAL KATARE, NAGPUR This plate was discovered in 1943 by Pandit Govind Sitaram Harshe of the Lakshmipura Mohalla of Saugar, Madhya Pradesh, while he was digging a pit in his house. Tehri (old Ṭiharī) whence the grant was issued[1] is associated with Bānapur and called Tihari or Tehrī-Bānapur by the local people. It was formerly included in the Orchhā State of Bundelkhand, but now forms part of Vindhya Pradesh. It is situated at the eastern end of the State near the borders of U. P. The plate now belongs to the Central Museum, Nagpur. Dr. S. S. Patwardhan, Curator of the Museum, very kindly sent me at my request its photograph and permitted me to edit the inscription in this journal.[2] Dr. Patwardhan informs me that, when the plate was received, it was bent vertically in the middle and had to be straightened before its impression or photograph could be taken. Except a small portion of the metal broken off on the left lower corner, the plate is in a satisfactory state of preservation. The inscription was edited by B. M. Barua and P. B. Chakravarti in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIII (1947), pp. 46 ff., from an inked impression supplied to them by Sattase Vaidya of Saugar. But their treatment of the record is not quite satisfactory.[3]
The single plate, which is engraved on one side only, is very thick and heavy. It measures 14¼″ by 10½″ and weighs 275 tolas. In the centre of the plate, at the top, dividing the first four lines of the inscription, is engraved the figure of seated Gaja-Lakshmī which is found on all Chandēlla records so far published. There are small holes at the edges on all sides of the plate, which show that a small copper band was rivetted round it to protect the writing ; but it has fallen off. This surmise is confirmed by the teat that, in another plate of Trailōkyavarman, a similar copper-band rivetted on the four sides of the plate has been found intact.[4] This method of providing protection to the writing appears to have been at times adopted instead of the one of raising the edges. The letters are well preserved except in the middle of the plate where it was bent, thereby damaging or deforming them in the area affected by the bend. The letters are not of the same size throughout. The first six lines are written in large letters, each measuring about ⅜ of an inch ; but from the seventh line the letters become smaller and in the last two or three lines they are reduced almost to half the size. As much of the space available on the plate was in the beginning covered by a small portion of the text, the rest of the document was crammed into a much smaller space. The characters are Dēvanāgarī of the thirteenth century. The forms of v and ch are similar, as in Chaṁdrātrēya and vaṁśa in line 1. The consonant b has been indicated by the sign for v. There are in all 19 lines of writing. As for orthography, the consonants d, g, v, l, p, and m following a superscript r are generally doubled, as in Madanavarmmadēva in line 3 and Paramarddidēva in line 4, etc. Anusvāra has replaced the class nasal in Narēṁdra and chaṁdra (line 1), but not in mandira (line 15) and elsewhere. The text has comparatively few mistakes as contrasted with other Chandēlla grants.[5] __________________________________________________
[1] [The inscription should better have been named either as the Saugor plate after its find-spot or as the
Maṇḍāura grant after the gift village.─Ed.]
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