South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

four plates are held together by two copper rings passing through holes made in them. While the first plate has writing only on the inner side, the other three plates bear inscription on both obverse and reverse. In the left side of the empty space beneath the writing on the reverse of the last plate, the figure of Garuḍa, the royal emblem of the Paramāras, is engraved as in so many other Paramāra charters.^[1] There are altogether 140 lines of writing in the inscription and they are distributed on the inscribed faces of the plates in the following order : I─21 lines ; IIA─22 lines ; IIB─23 lines ; IIIA─23 lines ; IIIB─23 lines ; IVA ─23 lines ; IVB ─5 lines.

The characters of the inscription are Nāgarī. Its language is Sanskrit. The record is written in a mixture of prose and verse. Its palaeography and orthography do not call for any special remark. The letter b is indicated by the sign for v. There is a general tendency to represent class nasals by anusvāra. Final m is often wrongly changed to anusvāra at the end of the second and fourth feet of verses, although it is generally used correctly at the end of sentences in the prose part of the document. The date of the charter is quoted in words in lines 91-92 as Friday, Maitra (Anurādhā)-nakshatra, Bhādrapada-sudi 7 in the year (Vikrama Saṁvat) 1331 called Pramāthin (according to the Northern Cycle of Jupiter). The details of the date correspond regularly to those of the 10th of August in the year 1274 A. D.

The object of the document is to record a grant of land made by Sādhanika Anayasiṁhadēva while he was staying at Maṇḍapa-durga, with the permission of the Paramāra king Jayavarman alias Jayasiṁha, described as the lord of Dhārā, after having worshipped the husband of Pārvatï, i.e. the god Śiva. Anayasiṁha’s order in this respect was addressed to the officials as well as the villagers including Brāhmaṇas and Paṭṭakilas (i.e. Patels) who were associated with the following localities : (1) Kumbhaḍāuda-grāma in Vardhanāpura-pratijāgaraṇaka, (2) Vālauda-grāma in the same Pratijāgaraṇaka (i.e. Pargana), (3) Vaghāḍī-grāma in Saptāśītipratijāgaraṇaka and (4) Nāṭiyā-grāma in Nāgadaha-pratijāgaraṇaka. It is stated that Anayasiṁha, together with his four sons named Kamalasiṁha, Dhārasiṁha, Jaitrasiṁha and Padmasiṁha, granted the said four villages in favour of a number of Brāhmaṇas residing in the Brahmapurī (i.e. Brāhmaṇa settlement) at Māndhātṛi and belonging to various gōtras and śākhās, whose families hailed from several localities. It is interesting to note that the four villages were divided into 16 parts, each called a pada and that, while 14 of these padas were granted to the 14 Brāhmaṇa donees, 2 padas were made over by Anayasiṁha to his own self. It may be that Anayasiṁha purchased the four villages from the Paramāra king for the purpose of creating a rent-free holding to be granted in favour of Brāhmaṇas, although he was allowed to retain a small part of the land for himself. There are other instances of this kind in inscriptions.^[2]

The donees mentioned in the list are the following : (1) Dī(Dīkshita) Padmanābhaśarman, son of Avasathin Vidyādharaśarman and grandson of Cha(Chaturvēdin) Kamalādharaśarman of the Gautama gōtra, the Āṅgirasa, Auvathya and Gautama pravaras and the Ṛigvēda śākhā and hailing from Ṭakārī ; (2) Cha(Chaturvēdin) Mādhavaśarman, brother of No. 1 ; (3) Paṁ(Paṇḍita) Śrīkaṇṭhaśarman, son of Pañchapī(pā)ṭhin Miśra Uddharaṇaśarman and grandson of Miśra Dharmadharaśarman of the Bhāradvāja gōtra, the Āṅgirasa, Bārhaspatya and Bhāradvāja pravaras and the Ṛigvēda śākhā and hailing from Ṭakārī ; (4) Dvi(Dvivēdin) Gōvardhanaśarman, son of Paṁ(Paṇḍita) Vidyāpatiśarman and grandson of Cha(Chaturvēdin) Bhūpatiśarman of the Kāśyapa gōtra, the Kāśyapa, Āvatsara and Naidhruva pravaras and the Rigvēda śākhā and

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^[1] Cf. above, Vol. IX, Plate facing p. 111.
^[2] See IHQ, Vol. XXIII, p. 236. The Baud plates of Pṛithvīmahādēvī appear to offer another instance (cf. above, Vol. XXIX, p. 211 and note 1) ; but the expression dāna-pati (i.e. the person creating a rent-free holding with the approval of the royal authority) has been misunderstood by the editor of the inscriptions.