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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 9.- KAHLA PLATE OF THE KALACHURI SODHADEVA ;
[VIKRAMA-]SAMVAT 1134.
BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., LL.D., C.I.E. ; GÖTTINGEN.
This plate was found on the 15the August 1889 by the cultivator Shiusewak Rai in his field
at Kahla, a village in the tappa Athaisi of the pargaṇa Dhuriâpâr of the Gôrâkhpur district in
the United Provinces, and presented by Dr. W. Hoey to the Provincial Museum of Lucknow
in January 1895. I edit the inscription which it contains from impressions, kindly furnished
to Dr. Hultzsch by the late Mr. E. W. Smith.[2]
This is a single copper-plate which, to judge from the impressions, is about 1’ 5¼” broad
by 1’ ¾” high. and is inscribed on both sides. In the middle of the lower part of it there is
a ring-hole, 1/1 3/6” in diameter, and together with the impressions of the plate I have received impression of a circular seal, about 3” in diameter, which contains in high relief the figure of
a bull, lying down and facing to the proper right ; below it, the ‘legend śrîmat-Sôḍhadêvasya, in Nâgarî letters about ⅜” high ; and below this again, an arrow pointing to the proper right.
An arrow is engraved also on the second side of the plate, in line 59, before the words sva-hastô= yaṁ. In general, both the writer and the engraver have done their work carefully. The writing on the second side of the plate is will preserved, but that on the first side has suffered from
corrosion so that in several places, which will be pointed out in the notes, the reading of the text
is doubtful. Fortunately, with a single exception in line 28, the names and dates may be given
with absolute certainty. The size of the letters is about ¼”. The characters are those of the
Nâgarî alphabet of the time and locality to which the inscription belongs ; they resemble those
of the copper-plates of Gôvindachandra and Jayachchandra of Kanauj. In lines 48-50 they
furnish signs for the fractions ½ and ¾, which I have not met with in other northern inscriptions :
1½ in denoted by the figure for 1 with two vertical lines after it, and the fraction ¾ by the circle
for nought followed by three vertical lines. The sign of avagraha occurs once, in saṁpradattô
ςsmâbhiḥ, l. 47. The language is Sanskṛit, but the names of some of the Brâhmaṇs mentioned
in lines 40-50 are gives in their vernacular forms or in forms based on them. Lines 1-32 contain
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[1] This is evidently the modern village of Vâyalpâḍu.
[2] After the lamented death of Mr. E. W. Smith─ he died on the 21st November 1901 in the Bahraich district
of Oudh─ I was informed by Mr. Gholam Rascol Beg, Head Draftsman of the Archæological Survey, United
Provinces, that the village Kahla is on the Gôrâkhpur to Azamgarh metalled road, about 28 miles from the former
town ; but I have not found the name in the Indian Atlas, sheet No. 102, which gives ‘Dhooreapar’ in long
83º 18’, lat. 26º 25’.─ Mr. Gholam Rasool Beg has kindly furnished me with two very good additional impressions
of the Kahla plate.
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