South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

28 sa[ṁ*] ravēś=cha vimalaṁ yāvat=tapēt(pēd) bhāsvaraṁ(ram | ) yāvatvi(t=tv=I)nd[u]śikhā- maṇē[r=yu]va-na(ta)nau dhanē(ttē)
29 dhṛiti[ṁ*] Pārvvatī bhōya(gāṁ)s=tāvad=ih=āniśaṁ vitanutāṁ śrī-Vi[jja]ladēvaḥ^[1] sadā |[| 10*] Sa(Śa)kmu(ka)-vatsa^[2]
30 969 likhitam=idaṁ Limvā(mbā)dityēna ||

3. Grant of Vījala (Vija, Vīja or Vijja), Śaka 975

This is also a set of two plates, each measuring 10″ in length, 7·15″ in breadth, and ·15″ in thickness. They have writing only on the inner side. A ring bearing the seal of the issuer of the charter passes through a hole made in the side of the plates. The ends of this ring are soldered beneath the seal. The figure on the countersunk surface of the seal is similar to that found on the seal attached to the second of the two inscriptions edited above. There are in all 50 lines of writing on the two plates, 24 of them on the first and 26 on the second. The two plates together with the ring and seal weigh 278¾ tolas.

In respect of palaeography, language and orthography, the inscription resembles the two other epigraphs from Chinchani edited above. Initial i has been written for yi in lines 25 and 31. The draft of the document and its engraving exhibit considerable carelessness on the part of the scribe and the engraver. The date of the charter is quoted in lines 27-29 as the expired Śaka year 975 (in words only), Vijaya, Kārttika-badi 15, and the occasion of the grant is stated to have been a solar eclipse. The details of the date work out correctly and it corresponds to the 13th November 1053 A.D.

The inscription begins with the symbol for Siddham followed by the Praṇava. Next follow the passages : ‘Salutation to Vināyaka (Gaṇēśa)’, and ‘May there be victory and prosperity’. The above is followed by the stanza in adoration of Gaṇanāyaka (Gaṇēśa), which is also found in the Chinchani plate of Chāmuṇḍa, edited above, and several Śilāhāra grants. Lines 3-4 introduce the chief Vija-rāṇaka who is described as born in the Mōḍha family and as having obtained the grace of the goddess Khadirāvatī, apparently the family deity of the Mōḍhas of Saṁyāna. The name of the ruler also occurs elsewhere in the inscription in lines 4, 7, 8, 48 and 49 in various forms. In lines 8 and 48 it is spelt as Vijja, while in lines 7 and 49 it is written respectively as Vījala and Vīja.

In the sentence referred to above (lines 3-4), Vija-rāṇaka is stated to have been śrī-Dīmarāka-śrī-Aigala-suta. This passage may mean to say that Vija-rāṇaka was the son of Aigala alias Dīmarāka. But considering the carelessness of the scribe and engraver exhibited by the inscription, it is not impossible that a word like pautra has been omitted through oversight after the mention of Dīmarāka, so that the passage was really intended to indicate that Vija-rāṇaka was the son of Aigala and grandson of Dīmarāka. No royal title is applied to either of the two names. The next sentence in the same ruler’s description in lines 4-5, which is extremely corrupt, states that he was responsible for the prosperity of the Mōḍha family even when he was a child. It is, however, interesting to note that this sentence is a modification of a stanza in the description of the Śilāhāra ruler Chhittarāja as found in the records of the Śilāhāra dynasty probably suggesting that Chhittarāja ascended the throne fairly early in his life. The same may have been the case with the Mōḍha chief who issued the charter under review. The following sentence or clause in lines 5-8 speak of Vījaladēva of the Mōḍha family, described as Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, Samadhigat-āśēsha-pañcha-mahāśabda, Mahāsāmantādhipati and Tagarapura-paramēśvara. It is really unnecessary and uncalled for in the text. But apparently it was modified from a passage in the earlier records of the Mōḍha

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^[1] The akshara la in the name is in excess of the metrical requirement.
^[2] This is a contraction of the word vatsara.