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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
TRANSLATION.
(Line 1.) (Be it) accomplished ! At (the city) of victory, the famous Vaijayantî, the
Dharmamahârâja[1]─ anointed after meditating on Svâmi-Mahâsêna and the assemblage of the
Mothers, belonging to the Mânavya gôtra (and) a son[2] of Hâritî, studying the requital (of
good or evil) as his sacred text,[3]─ the glorious Vijaya-Śiva-Mândhâtṛivarman of (the family
of) the Kadambas, who by his many good actions has accumulated an abundant store of
religious merit, and has acquired in war abundant and supreme enduring strength, on the
full-moon tithi of Vaiśâkha in the second year (of his reign), has given, with pouring
out of water[4] (and) with a present (of money), the plough-land called[5] Modekaranî within the
spiritual teacher[6] Dêvaśarman, who belongs to the Kauṇḍinya gôtra and is a student of the
Taittirîya Vêda,─ exempt from (the duty of providing) cots,[7] abode, and boiled rice, free
from the ingress of soldiers, (and) exempt from internal taxes and forced labour.[8]
(L. 13.) He who from wantonness or wickedness takes away this (gift), is guilty of sin.
And it has been said : Whosoever should take away land given by himself or given by
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[1] I.e. ‘ the Mahârâja who is devoted to religion ;’ but the whole is used as a title, as dharma-mahârâjâdhirâja and dharma-yuvamahârâja are in Pallava inscriptions.
[2] This must not be taken literally. The Kadambas generally were Hâritîputras, and therefore individual
Kadamba kings also have the same epithet.
[3] Instead of pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchika, which occurs also in the Halsî plates of the Mahârâja
Harivarman (Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 30), other Kadamba plates have pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchaka (ibid.
Vol. VII. p. 35), pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchâpâra (ibid. Vol. VII. p. 31 ; Ep. Carn. Vol. IV. p. 136 ; and below
p. 18), pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchâ-pâraga (Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 25, and Vol. VII. p. 33), and pratikṛita-charchâpâra (ibid. Vol. VII. p. 37), where the word svâdhyâya has probably been omitted by mistake.
Since all these epithets apparently are synonymous, it will be sufficient to analyse one of them ; and I select for
the purpose pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchâpâra. Charchâpâra, which in the Mahâbhâshya on P. III. 2, 1, is given
by the side of vêdâdhyâya, ‘ one who studies the Vêda,’ according to Haradatta denotes ‘ a person who repeats or
studies a particular text, (charchâṁ pârayati) ; and svâdhyâya-charchâpâra therefore would be ‘ one who studies
his Vêdic text.’ The word pratikṛita, in previous translation of Kadamba inscriptions, has been either omitted
or rendered by ‘ adopted,’ a meaning which pratikṛita cannot well convey. In my opinion, it well be safer to take
the word as a substantive and in its well-known sense of ‘ requital, recompense,’ and to regard pratikṛita-svâdhyâya as a Karmadhâraya compound (in the sense of svâdhyâya iva pratikṛitam or pratikṛitam êva
svâdhyâyaḥ), so that the whole epithet would denote ‘one who studies the requital (of good or evil) as his
sacred text.’ If this interpretation be correct, I cannot help thinking that the epithet alludes to the history
of the Kadambas, as told in the Tâḷgund inscription (Dr. Fleet’s Dynasties, second ed., p. 286 ; Ind. Ant.
Vol. XXV. p. 27). So long as the Kadambas were private Brâhmaṇs, it was one of their chief duties to study the
sacred texts ; in other words, they were svâdhyâya-charchâpârâs. When they had become kings, it was an
equally sacred duty for them to requite good and evil ; to do so was, what the study of the Vêda had been to them
before ; and thus, having been svâdhyâya-charchâpârâs, they then were pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchâpârâs.
[4] The phrase sa-pânîya-pâtam, which also occur below, p. 18, l. 17, and in Ep. Carn. Vol. IV. p. 136, is
equivalent to udak-âtisargêṇa, udaka-pûrvam, and similar expressions. In the same sense, but occasionally misunderstood, we repeatedly meet with udakaṁ pâtetvâ in the jâtakas ; compare e.g. Vol. III. p. 286, l. 3, udakaṁ
pâtetvâ adâsi ; Vol. II. p. 371, l. 13, suvaṇṇabhiṁkârena pupphagandhavâsitaṁ udakaṁ pâtetvâ adâsi ; and Vol.
VI. p. 344, l. 10, râjâ tussitvâ gandhodakapuṇṇaṁ suvaṇṇabhiṁkâraṁ âdâya . . . . . “ gâmaṁ râjabhogena
bhuñjâ” ti seṭṭhissa hatthe udakaṁ pâtetvâ. This last quotation clearly states the well-known fact that the water
was poured into the hand of the donee.─ With the sa-dakshiṇam of our inscription compare the sa-hiraṇya[ṁ*]
in line 9 of the (spurious) Hosûr plates, Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII. p. 97.
[5] Compare Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 23, l. 6 of the text, where also a field has a special name (Beḷovara).
[6] I take datt-ânuyôga to be equivalent to anuyôga-kṛit, which according to Goldstücker’s Dictionary denotes
‘ an Âchârya or spiritual teacher.’ Dêvaśarman was perhaps the king’s own teacher.
[7] Compare Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 6, l. 31 of the text, where also we have khaṭṭâvâsa (khaṭvâ-vâsa), in a
Pallava inscription.
[8] The expression antahkara-vishṭika apparently occurs also in the Hiṭṇahebbâgilu plates, Ep. Carn. Vol. IV.
p. 136, plate iii, b, l. 1.─ [With antaḥ-kara compare antar-âyam, ‘ internal revenue,’ and its counterpart
purav-âyam, ‘ external revenue,’ in South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. III. No. 61, text line 5 f.─ E. H.]
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