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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
of the ring are soldered into a roughly square seal, which measures 2¾” in height and breadth, and
bears, in relief on a countersunk surface, as the principal figure, an image of Garuḍa, squatting
and facing to the full front, with his prominent beak-nose and expanded wings, and holding a
snake in each hand. On Garuḍa’s proper right there is a representation of Gaṇapati in the
upper corner, and lower down a chauri and a lamp; and on his proper left, some goddess, seated
on an animal, too indistinct to be recognized, and below her, a svastika.[1] Along the border of
the seal are to be seen certain emblems, among which a danger, a bow and an arrow, and a
thunderbolt are recognizable. Beneath the central figure certain letters were doubtless engraved,
but are now almost effaced.─ The engraving is clear and well executed.─ The characters agree
fully with those of the other Râshtrakûta records of this period, viz. the 10th century. The
average size of the letters is about ⅜”.─ The language is Sanskrit throughout. Excepting the
introductory ôṁ svasti, down to the beginning of line 38 the inscription is in verse ; sand the rest
is in prose, excepting the five benedictive and imprecatory verses (ll. 61-66) and another verse,
containing the name of the person who drew up the charter (1. 66 f.). All the verses of this grant,
excepting three of the introductory, and two of the genealogical, verses, occur in the Sâṅglî charter
of the same royal grantor, viz., the Râshṭrakuṭa prince Gôvinda IV.─ As regards orthography, it is sufficient to say (1) that the letter b is throughout denoted by the sign for v ; (2) that the
letters g, j, ṇ, t, d, p, m, l or v following r are doubled ; but in the case of ju or the conjunct dyu coming after r, the letter j or d is not doubled. There is also an indifference about the doubling
of y following r ; thus it is doubled in Nâgamâryyasya in 1. 60, but not in Nâgamâryâya in l. 52 ;
(3) that the letter dh is doubled (with d in the usual manner) in conjunction with a following
y, once in ºsamvaddhyamânaº in 1. 42 ; and (4) that the final m of a word, instead of being
changed to an anusvâra, is twice joined to a following p, in pulakam=pâyâmânt and phaṇinâm=patyuḥ in l. 4.─ As regards prosody, it is worthy of note that the metre of verse 7, which occurs also
in the Sâṅglî grant, cannot be determined. There can be little doubt that it is an instance of a
half-equal metre (ardha-sama-vṛitta). But it cannot be identified with any one of the half-equal metres, given in ordinary works on prosody. There is, indeed, a rule of prosody that any
two quarters of regular metres may be combined to form what is technically called an upajâti. But even here the unequal quarters of the verse in question cannot be severally identified with
those of the regular metres.
The inscription is one of the Râshṭrakûṭa prince Gôvinda IV. or, as he is described in lines
40-42, the Paramabhaţţâraka Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara, the prosperous Suvarnavarsha-
dêva-Pṛithvîvallabha, the prosperous Vallabhanarêndradêva, who meditated on the feet of the Paramabhaţţâraka Mahârâjâdhirâja, Paramêśvara, the prosperous Nityavarsha, i.e. his father
Indra III. Govindarâja had, when this charter was issued, gone from his capital Mânyakhêţa to
Kapitthaka near the bank of the Godâvarî, for the festival of paṭṭabandha[2] (1. 46). On that
occasion he weighed himself against gold. When he ascended the scales, he bestowed on
Brâhmans
six hundred agrahâras and three lacs of suvarṇa coins, and on temples eight hundred villages,
four lacs of suvarṇas and thirty-two lacs of dramas (11. 46-49). Afterwards, without descending from the pan, he granted the village of Kêvañja, lying near the holy place Kâvikâ and
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[1] The figures on this seal are identical with those on that of the Dêôlî plates, excepting the central figure, which
Dr. Hultzsch thinks to be that of Śiva. See above, Vol. V. p. 189, note 1.
2 The term paţţabandha, which literally means ‘binding of the fillet,’ has been generally supposed to signify
‘coronation-ceremony.’ Though evidence may perhaps be adduced in support of this signification, there can be little
doubt that it does not suit here. The earliest record of Gôvinda IV. gives for him the date Śaka 840 (expired),
which is prior to Śaka 852 (expired), the date of our grant, by no less than twelve years. It is hardly credible that
he remained uncrowned for at least twelve years, if paṭṭabandha is to be understood in the sense of ‘ coronation-ceremony.’ Besides, in these as well as the Sâṅglî plates he is expressly said to have been ‘permanently settled at his
capital Mânyakhêṭa’ when he issued the charters, Again, what can be more unnatural than that a king, instead of
getting himself crowned at his own capital, goes to some place far away from it for his coronation ? For these
reasons, I think, the word paṭṭabandha does not here at any rate mean ‘coronation-ceremony.â
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