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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Dēvī or Bhagavatī)[1] and the feeding of nine persons belonging to the Pañcha-Gauḍīya-mahā-parshad of Saṁyāna. The goddess Daśamī was no doubt worshipped in the maṭhikā constructed by Annaiya or Annammaiya. The Pañcha-Gauḍīya-mahā-parshad seems to be the community of Gauḍīya or North Indian Brāhmaṇas settled at Saṁyāna. The five classes of these Brāhmaṇas are called : (1) Sārasvata, (2) Kānyakubja, (3) Gauḍa, (4) Maithila, and (5) Utkala.[2] Although it was Annaiya or Annammaiya who created the endowment according to verse 23, the prose part of the record refers to it as one created by the governor of Saṁyāna. This is because the creation of a rent-free holding was the prerogative of the government. The creation of the endowment was declared by the governor at an assemblage of the Haṁya-mana-pauras, Dhruvas and Vishayik-ādhikārikas of Saṁyāna. Of these, the third expression indicates the officers of the various administrative offices of the district round Saṁyāna. The Dhruvas were superintendents of the collection of the royal share of the produce of the fields from the farmers.[3] The expression haṁyamana-paura (or, haṁjamana-nagara-paura ) is met with in some records of the Northern Konkan region and it has often been understood in the sense of ‘ the citizens of Haṁyamana, i.e. Saṁyāna’.[4] Unfortunately Haṁyamana cannot be regarded as another form of the name of Saṁyāna since the latter name itself occurs in the compound immediately before haṁyamana. J. J. Modi seems to be right in tracing the origin of the word to Avestic hanjamana and Persian anjuman and in taking it to indicate the settlement of the Parsees.[5] He also thinks that this Parsee colony stood at Sanjan which was therefore called Haṁjamana or Haṁyamana. No doubt our inscription may refer to the Parsee community of Saṁyāna ; but it does not support the suggestion that Haṁyamana was another name (or another form of the name) of Saṁyāna. In the records[6] quoted by Modi, the reference may be to the Parsee colony in different cities of the Northern Konkan and not to a particular city of theirs, since the said charters appear to have had little to do particularly with the town of Sanjan.
The boundaries of the village of Kāṇāḍuka are quoted in lines 33-35 as : in the east─ a hill and a stream in western side ; in the south─the stream flowing from the said hill, a locality called Sēmbaka and the southern part of Bhammaharōṁgarikā to the west of Sēmbaka ; in the west─certain trees at the eastern fringe of Kallagrāma, a locality called Chinānu and the stream to the south of Hiṁguvāra ; in the north─the localities called Hiṁguvāra and Chavaśā and the stream running by the south of Vāghavāsa and flowing from its eastern part. The village was granted with the rights called udraṅga (i.e. major tax), parikara (i.e. uparikara, minor tax or cess), bhōga-bhāga (i.e. periodical offering of fruits, etc., and the royal share of the produce of the fields), daṇḍa-daś-āparādha (i.e. fines for the ten major crimes), dhānya-hiraṇyādēya (i.e. taxes in grains and cash), utpadyamāna-vishṭi-pratyāya (i.e. tax payable in lieu of free labour), abhyantara-siddhi (i.e. enjoyment of things found underground) and a-chāṭa-bhaṭa-pravēśa (i.e. inadmissibility of royal agents). But the rights did not include the following three : nidhāna (i.e. treasure trove), alīpaka (also called alīyaka, possibly meaning ‘ indestructible objects’ or ‘metal ores’) and kumārī-sāhasa-dōsha (i.e. fines for the violation of the modesty of unmarried girls). The gift lands were made a permanent endowment. _________________________________________________
[1] The name of the goddess reminds us that of Shashṭhī generally worshipped on the sixth day after the
delivery of a child or on the sixth tithi of a fortnight. It also reminds us of the tithi called Vijayā Daśamī
(Āśvina-śudi 10), famous for its association with the worship of Durgā Pārvatī.
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