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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA of the eleventh century). But a few of them may have also ruled between Sālastambha and Harjaravarman. The name of Vigrahastambha resembles that of Sālastambha and no other ruler of the family is known to have borne a name ending in the word stambha. He may therefore have been a son or grandson of Sālastambha and should probably be placed earlier in the genealogy. The object of the charters is to record the grant of a piece of land, yielding two, thousand measures (probably called Drōṇa) of paddy, made by Paramēśvara Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Balavarmadēva when he was staying at Haḍappēśvara. As we have shown elsewhere,[1] the real name of the capital of the Sālastambha kings was Haḍappēśvara and not Hārūppēśvara as is generally believed. The piece of land was singled out from the locality called Bappadēvapaṭaka which was situated in the vishaya or district of Vārāsē-pattana. The royal order in respect of the grant was addressed to the people of the countryside together with the Brāhmaṇas and the employees of the offices of the district as well as to the king’s subordinates and officers. The list includes the rājans (ruling chiefs), rājñīs (queens of the ruling chiefs), rāṇakas (smaller chiefs) and officers as well as to the rājanakas (minor chiefs or landlords), rājaputras (sons of the chiefs) and rāja-vallabhas (courtiers), who might be associated with the administration of the area in question at any time. It is interesting to note that the words rājanaka and rāṇaka are both used in this section of the record, even though actually rāṇaka appears to be a modification of rājanaka (also spelt rājānaka and rājanyaka). There was probably some difference in the meaning of the two words as used in early medieval Assam. The land was granted together with the vāstu (homestead land), kēdāra (low land), sthala (high land), jala (waters), gō-prachāra (pasture land) and avakara (probably, mounds) as well as with the income from hastibandha (entrapping elephants), naukābandha (anchoring boats) and chaurōddharaṇa (catching thieves). It was given as it stood within its demarcated boundaries together with the space above it and was exempted from all troubles associated with the daṇḍapāśa (police tax), uparikara (extra cess or tax on temporary tenants) and utkhēṭana (fears or troubles) arising from other causes, and also from the grazing of elephants, horses, camels, cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep.
The donee was the Brāhmaṇa Śyāmadēva-bhaṭṭa. It is stated (cf. verses 26 ff.) that there was a learned Brāhmaṇa named Garga who belonged to the Aupamanyava gōtra and the Kāṇva śākhā of the Yajurvēda. His son was Gabhishṭhira who was the father of Śyāmadēva, the donee of the charter. The name of the donee’s mother was Garbhēśvarikā. Verse 29 states that the king made the grant for the merit of his parents in the fifth year of his reign. The occasion of the grant was the abda-pūjā performed in connection with the Śakr-ōtthāna festival. The passage tath=ātmanaḥ (i.e. ‘ also of his own ’) in this stanza may be taken with puṇyāya or with abda-pūjā. Śakr-ōtthāna means the raising of the banner (dhvaja) of Śakra or Indra, which is a festival observed on the 12th day of the bright half of the month of Bhādra[2] although in early times it may have been held on the 8th of the bright half of the months of Praushṭhapada (Bhādra) and Āśvina.[3] The real significance of the expression abda-pūjā, literally ‘ worship of the year or cloud’, in this connection is not clear. It may, however, refer either to the anniversary of king Balavarman’s birth or accession to the throne, or merely to the ‘ annual worship ’ of the Śakra-dhvaja. The boundaries of the gift land as enumerated in lines 52-54 are : the stūpa or mound belonging to Vaikaṅka in the east ; a Śālmalī tree in the south-east ; a Tripatraka tree in the south ; ___________________________________________________ [1] Cf. above, Vol. XXIX, pp. 150-51. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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