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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA is still worshipped in a temple on the river Tel near Sonepur. What we have read as ºï Naēḍa-visaya-grāma vāraha has been read by Tripathi as ina Eḍaviya-paṇamu vāra, in while ina has been taken to be a local word meaning ‘ here ’ and the purpose of the document has been supposed to be to record the grant of twelve coins called Eḍaviya-Paṇa in favour of the god. But, in such a case, ina would be meaningless in the context. A coin called Eḍaviya (the last akshara is certainly sa)-Paṇa is also as yet unknown from any other source. The next sentence in lines 6-8 reads ēhā jē haraï harāvï tāhāra kapālē Sīva-tāla Vrakma-tāla Vishṇu-tāla tīni tāla paḍaï (Sanskrit etat yaḥ harati hārayati [vā] tasya kapālē Śiva-tālaḥ [cha] Brahma-tālaḥ [cha] Vishṇu-tālaḥ [cha] trayaḥ lālāḥ patanti). The word kapāla has been used here in the literal sense of ‘forehead’ and the figurative sense of ‘ lot ’ and tāla (literally, ‘ the palm of the hand’) apparently to indicate ‘ a slap ’. A ‘ blow on the forehead ’ figuratively means in the East Indian languages ‘ the destruction of one’s good luck’ or ‘one’s ruin’. The idea here is that, if any person confiscates the gift land or causes its confiscation, his forehead would be struck by a blow each from the hands of the gods Śiva, Brahman and Vishṇu. Tripathi and others read Rudra-tāla in the place of Vishṇu-tāla without noticing that Śiva-tāla is mentioned side by side. The word tāla is translated by Tripathi as ‘ a bolt ’, although it means ‘ a bolt ’ only in the sense of ‘ the bolt or lock of a door ’.
The last sentence of the inscription in line 8 reads : tāhāra kapālaï nṛivansa hōi (Sanskrit tasya kapālē nirvaṁśaḥ bhavati). To become nirvaṁśa means ‘ not to have any progeny ’, or ‘ to lose all of one’s own children and their progeny ’, i.e. ‘ to have none in one’s line to offer one a piṇḍa after death ’. The sentence means to say that the loss of progeny would fall to the lot of one responsible for the resumption of the gift land. Tripathi reads tāhāra kapāla ina hō vasa hōi and translates the sentence as ‘ His forehead becomes subdued or ruined’. The akshara hō has been inadvertently introduced in the text while vasa (the reading is clearly ºvansa) has been taken to stand for Sanskrit vaśa. The word ina (meaning ‘ here ’ according to Tripathi) has been left out in the translation. As a matter of fact this word does not occur in the inscription under study or in any other Oriya inscription known to me. The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it testifies to the inclusion of the district around Sonepur in the dominions of the Imperial Gaṅgas in the thirteenth or fourteenth century A.D. We know that the Telugu-Chōḍa king Sōmēśvaradēvavarman III was ruling at Sonepur about the second half of the twelfth century.[1] He was also a devotee of the god Vaidyanātha (Śiva) whose temple may have been built by the Telugu-Chōḍas. It now appears that the Gaṅgas ousted Telugu-Chōḍa rule from that region. But it is difficult to determine as to which of the Gaṅga kings was responsible for the achievement. The geographical names mentioned in the inscription are Sūnapūra, the location of which has already been indicated above, and the district of Naēḍa the name of which reminds us of the locality called Laida about 33 miles from Sambalpur. TEXT[2] 1 Svast[i] [||*] śrī-vira-Bhāṇudēvasya pravadhyamāna-vījaē samvata 2 [sr]ā[3] 7[4]srāhi Mīna-kṛishṇa 3[5] Sa[[6]üri-vārē Sūnapūra-kaṭaka ____________________________________________________
[1]Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 283 ff.
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