South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

40 khanitaṁ^[1] suvarṇṇakâra-Gaṇêsva(śva)rêṇa || Saṁvat^[2] 1167 Phâlva(lgu)na-sudi 2 Sa(śa)nau pradattam=iti || gva^[3] ||

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No. 11.- LAR PLATES OF GOVINDACHANDRA OF KANAUJ ;
[VIKRAMA-]SAMVAT 1202.
BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., LL.D., C.I.E. ; GÖTTINGEN.

These copper-plates were found at the village of Lâr in the Gôrâkhpur district, United Provinces, the ‘Larh’ of the Indian Atlas, sheet No. 103, long. 84º 2’, lat. 26º 14’.They were handed over to Dr. W. Hoey by Babu Ramsaran Singh and Babu Mahadeo Singh, and presented by him to the Provincial Museum. Lucknow, in September 1898. My account of them is based on impressions, sent to Dr. Hultzsch by the late Mr. E. W. Smith.

The plates are two in number, each of which, to judge from the impressions, measures about 1’ 3½” broad by 11” high, and is inscribed on one side only. There is a ring-hole in the centre of the lower part of the first plate and a corresponding hole in the centre of the upper part of the second plate ; and together with the impressions of the plates there has been sent to me the impression of a circular seal, about 2¾” in diameter, which bears in high relief, across the centre, the legend śrîmad-Gôvindacha[n]dradêva[ḥ], in Nâgarî letters about 9/16” high ; above the legend, apparently a figure of Garuḍa ; and below the legend, a conch-shell.─ The first plate contains 21 and the second 17 lines of writing, which is generally very well preserved. The size of the letters is about ⅜”. The characters are Nâgârî, and the language is Sanskṛit. As regards orthography, the letter b is denoted by the sign for v, except in the word babhramur=, l. 11 ; the dental sibilant is frequently employed instead of the palatal, and the palatal occasionally instead of the dental ; and the words âmra and tâmra are written âmvra and tâmra, in lines 19 and 37.

The inscription is one of the Paramabhaṭṭâraka Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara Gôvindachandradêva.^[4] The king records in it that, when in residence at Mudgagiri, after bathing in the Ganges on the occasion of the Akshaya-tṛitîyâ festival, on Monday, the third tithi of the bright half of the month Vaiśâkha in the year 1202 (given both in words and in figures, ll. 20 and 21), he granted the village of Pôtâchavaḍa in the Pândala pattalâ, in Gôvisâlaka that belonged to Dudhâli in Saruvâra, to the Ṭhakkura Śrîdhara, the son of the Ṭhakkura Mâdhava and son’s son of the Ṭhakkuru Uddharaṇa (?), a Brâhmaṇ (learned in the four Vêdas) of the Kâśyapa ,gôtra, whose three pravaras were Kâśyapa, Âvatsâra and Naidhruva.─ The taxes specified (in line 26) are the bhâgabhôgakara, pravaṇikara and turushkadaṇḍa. The grants (tâmra-paṭṭaka) was written by the Karaṇika, the Ṭhakkura Sêlhaṇa.

The date regularly corresponds, for the Kârttikâdi Vikrama-Saṁvat 1202 expired, to Monday, the 15th April A.D. 1146, which was entirely occupied by the third tithi of the bright half of the month Vaiśâkha.^[5] Of the localities, Mudgagiri is the modern Monghyr, the ‘chief town and administrative head-quarters of the Monghyr district, Bengal ; situated on the south bank of the Ganges.’ Regarding the other place or districts mentioned, I can only say that Saruvâra
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^[1] Wrong for khâtaṁ.
^[2] Read saṁvat.
^[3] Compare the symbol which looks like chha, e.g. above, Vol. IV. p. 101, note 8.
^{[4 ]} Compare the inscriptions edited by me above, Vol. IV. p. 99 ff., and Vol. V. p. 113 ff.
^{[5 ]} The tithi commenced 0 h. 47 m. before mean sunrise and ended 1 h. 4 m. after mean sunrise of the next day, and was therefore, for the Monday, a prathama-tṛitîyâ.─ The date would shew that the date of the inscription edited by me above, Vol. V. p. 115, must after all be taken to correspond to Monday, the 19th April A.D. 1143, because the king could not have bathed in the Ganges both at Benares and at Monghyr on one and the same day.