South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

No. 4─ RASHTRAKUTA CHARTERS FROM CHINCHANI

(2 Plates)

D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND

In its issue of the 28th of June, 1955, The Times of India, Bombay, announced the discovery of a number of inscriptions in the village of Chinchani in the Dahanu Taluk of the Thana District, Bombay State. It was stated that an agriculturist of the said village found nine copper plates bearing inscription while digging in his fields. The villager handed over the plates to the Mamlatdar of Dahanu, who brought the discovery to the notice of higher authorities. Ultimately the plates were transferred to the office of the Collector of Thana, from whom they were received by the Director of Archives, Bombay. In January 1957, I visited Bombay in the course of my annual tour in search of inscriptions. The Director of Archives kindly allowed me to examine the plates and copy the inscriptions in his office. It was found on examination that the nine plates formed five different records. One of the five sets consisted of three plates ; two of the sets contained two plates each ; and the remaining two plates each contained a complete record. Two of the five charters belong to the Imperial Rāshṭrakūṭas, one pertaining to the reign of Indra III (915-28 A.D.) and the other to that of Kṛishṇa III (939-67 A.D.). These are edited here with the help of impressions prepared by me. The other three inscriptions belonging to the local chiefs of Saṁyāna (modern Sanjan, 20º 12′ N., 72º 52′E., in the Dahanu Taluk of the Thana District) are being edited in a separate article. My thanks in this connection are due to Dr. P. M. Joshi, Director of Archives, Government of Bombay, and Dr. Motichandra, Director of the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India Bombay.

1. Grant of the time of Indra III, Śaka 848

This is set of three plates each measuring 9·6 inches in length, 5·8 inches in height and ·115 inch in thickness. The plates are strung on a ring passing through a hole in them. The joint of this ring is secured beneath a seal bearing the blurred representation of an emblem which looks more like a recumbent bull facing the proper left than Garuḍa generally found on the seals of the Rāshṭrakūṭa emperors, together with the symbols of the sun and moon above. The first and third plates bear writing only on the inner side while the second plate is engraved on both the obverse and reverse. The inscription has altogether 67 lines of writing, there being 16 lines on the first plate, 19 and 16 lines respectively on the obverse and reverse of the second plate, and 16 lines on the third plate. The writing is neatly done and is in a satisfactory state of preservation. The three plates together with the ring bearing the seal weigh 236 tolas.

The characters belong to the North Indian alphabet of the tenth century. The letter b is indicated by the sign for v. The upadhmānīya is once used in line 22 and the avagraha once in line 60. The numerical figures 4 and 8 occur in line 60. The following initial vowels are found in the inscription : a in lines 5, 24, 44, 53 (twice) and 60 ; ā in lines 20, 38 and 51 ; i in line 57 ; u in line 15 ; and ē in lines 6 and 36. Final t occurs in lines 10, 15 and 67, final n in lines 16, 21 and 25, and final m in line 26. The language is Sanskrit and the record is composed in prose and verse. As regards orthography, mention may be made of the reduplication of some of the consonants following r and in rare cases also those preceding r. The change of the final m to both the anusvāra and the class-nasal is noticed. It has been wrongly changed to n in one case in