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South
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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 13.-TWO GRANTS OF DANDIMAHADEVI.
BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., LL.D., C.I.E. GÃTTINGEN.
The two grants of which at Dr. Hultzsch’s request I give an account here from excellent
impressions supplied to him by Mr. Venkayya, were preserved in the office of the Collector of
Gañjâm and will be deposited in the Madras Museum. There is no information as to where or by
whom they were discovered. They have been briefly noticed already in Mr. Sewell’s Lists of
Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 32 f., Nos. 216 and 217 ;[5] and I have for years been in possession of
rubbings of them which formerly belonged to the late Sir A. Cunningham. The grants record
donations by a lady named Daṇḍîmahâdêvî, whose ancestors are enumerated in both, in almost
identical verses.
A.─ DAṆḌÎMAHÂDÊVÎ’S GRANT OF THE YEAR 180.
This is a single copper-plate which measures about 1ʹ ¼ʺ broad by 10⅛ʺ high, and is
inscribed on both sides. On to its proper right is soldered a seal, half of which sticks to the
plate, while the other half projects beyond it. This seal rests on an expanded lotus flower the
petals of which enclose it ; it is circular and measures 2¾ʺ in diameter. It bears in relief on a
countersunk surface, across the centre, the legend śrîmad-Daṇḍimahadêvî, in characters
resembling those on the first side of the plate ; above the legend, a couchant bull facing
to the proper right, with the sun and the moon’s crescent above its hump and a conch-shell
above its hips ; and below the legend, two straight lines over an expanded lotus flower the stalk
of which rises out of the margin of the seal.─ The writing is well preserved. The size of the
letters is between ⅜ and 7/16ʺ on the first side of the plate, and between about ¼ and ⅜ʺ on the
second side. Both the general style of writing and forms of individual letters shew that
the two sides of the plate were written by different persons. The writer of the first side, who
affects a monumental style of writing, apparently has taken some pride in his work and has
done it fairly well ; the writer of the second side, who writes in a current hand, has performed
his task in a very slovenly manner and committed many blunders, some of which I am unable
to correct. The characters on both sides belong to the northern part of Eastern India. They
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[5] The prince ‘ Indulâlâ’ of Mr. Sewell’s account to whom is ascribed the feat of having rescued his brother’s
throne, owes his existence to the epithet vyûḍha-bhôgîndra-lîlaḥ in verse 6 of the two grants. Most of the
princes who are really mentioned in the grants have been omitted by Mr. Sewellâs informant.
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