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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Arali was added to the main charter as a subsidiary issue is further suggested by the fact that the boundaries of the gift land quoted in lines 24 ff. refer to the village of Pāḍali (i.e. Pāṭṭali) only. The village of Pāṭṭali or Pāḍali was bounded in the east by a naidhāni-śilā (probably meaning ‘a boundary pillar ’) and a bilva tree ; in the south by a pit and another naidhāni-śilā ; in the west by a pit (called Bhuṭṭaka probably after the name of the locality or its owner) and a mango tree ; and in the north by a pit (called Kāśimbi probably after the name of the locality or its owner) and certain forests. The above section of the charter is followed in lines 26 ff. by some of the wellknown imprecatory and benedictory verses. The date of the grant, viz. year 313, is quoted in lines 34-35 as the year of the victorious reign of the Gāṅgēya dynasty. The document was written by Mahāsāndhivigrahika (i.e. the officer in charge of war and peace) Sāmirāja and the plates were engraved by the akshaśālin (i.e. goldsmith) Dāmachandra. The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it is one of the few charters issued by a crown-prince, the most well-known instance of this class of documents being the Mayidavolu plates[1] of the Pallava Yuvamahārāja Śivaskandavarman who flourished in the first half of the fourth century A.D. The circumstances leading to the issue of a charter by the crown-prince instead of the king himself in these cases cannot be determined.
In order to determine the identity of the Gaṅga crown-prince Rājēndravarman, son of king Anantavarman, we have to take note of the following records of the family : (1) Alamanda plates[2] of Anantavarman son of Mahārāja Rājēndravarman, dated year 304 ; (2) Indian Museum plates[3] of Mahārājaū Dēvēndravarman, son of Mahārāja Rājēndravarman, dated year 308, (3) Tekkali plates[4] of the same king, dated year 310 ; (4) Nāmpali grant[5] of Yuvarāja Rājēndravarman, son of king Anantavarman, dated year 314 ; and (5) Mandasa plates[6] of Rājēndravarman, son of Anantavarman, dated year 342. These records show that the Gaṅga king Rājēndravarman was succeeded by his sons Anantavarman (year 304) and Dēvēndravarman (years 308 and 310) and that Dēvēndravarman was succeeded by Rājēndravarman, son of his elder brother and predecessor Anantavarman. The charter under study, issued by Anantavarman’s son Rājēndravarman as Yuvarāja in the year 313, is therefore the third of his known records, the other two being his Nāmpali grant issued likewise as Yuvarāja in the year 314 and his imperfectly deciphered Mandasa plates of the year 342 probably issued as king. The present epigraph mentions Lōka-mahādēvī, mother of _______________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. VI, pp. 86 ff. Another such instance is the Uruvupalli grant (Ind. Ant., Vol. V, pp. 5 ff.) of the
Pallava Dharma-Yuvamahārāja Vishṇugōpa ; but the record is dated in the regnal year of the reigning monarch
Siṁhavarman. If, however, the dating would have been in an era, as in the present case, Siṁhavarman’s name
could have been omitted since it is not mentioned in the formal part of the grant. Cf. the Halsi plates of the
Kadamba Yuvarāja Kākusthavarman, probably dated in the Gupta year 80 (Suc. Sāt., p. 334). For a grant issued by a Mahēyuvarāja, see B. Ch. Chhabra, Antiquities of Chamba State, Part II, p. 64.
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