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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the country of Chandrâvatî,[1] each day being assigned to a certain local community. The inscription enumerates many of these laymen by name, adding in each case the name of the father and the jñâti. About half of them belonged to the Prâgvâṭas ; the rest was divided between the Ûesavâlas or Ôisavâlas, the Śrîmâlas and the not very numerous Dharkaṭas. The places inhabited by them were the villages of Uṁbaraṇîki, Saraüli and Kâsahrada,[2] Brahmâṇa, the village of Dhaülî, the great tîrtha Muṇḍasthala, the villages of Phîliṇi, Haṇḍâüdrâ and Ḍavâṇî, Gaḍâhaḍa, Sâhilavâḍâ. In a subsequent clause (ll. 25, 26) it is stipulated that the five kalyâṇikas of Nêminâthadêva, i.e. the feasts on the anniversaries of the conception birth, initiation, enlightenment and final deliverance of the saint, are to be celebrated annually on the fixed days by all the laymen (śrâvaka) residing at Dêülavâḍâ on the holy mountain Arbuda.
The names of the persons to whom the care of the temple was entrusted are recorded in the next section, which runs as follows (ll. 26-30) : ‘ Thus is this agreement : The lord of the prosperous Chandrâvatî, the illustrious râjakula Sômasiṁhadêva ; again his son, the illustrious râja[kula] Kânhaḍadêva, and the other princes, all royal persons ; again the sthânapatis bhaṭṭârakas, etc., of the prosperous Chandrâvatî, kuvilâsa ;[3] again the Gûgulî Brâhmaṇs,[4] all the trustees (who belong to the caste of the) merchants ; again all persons, (viz.) sthânapatis, ascetics, Gûgulî Brâhmaṇs, râṭhiyas and others residing at (the temples of) the holy Achalêśvara (and) the holy Vaśishṭha on the mountain Arbuda and in the neighbouring villages, (viz.) the village of Dêülavâḍâ, the prosperous village of Śrîmâtâmahabu, the village of Âbuya, the village of Ôrâsâ, the village of Ûtarachha, the village of Sihara, the village of Sâla, the village of Hêṭhaüñjî, the village of Âkhî, Kôṭaḍî belonging to the holy Dhândhalêśvaradêva, and others─ twelve villages (in all) ; again all the râjaputras belonging to the race of the illustrious Pratîhâras, residing in the villages of Bhâlibhâḍâ, etc., having sat down one by one in the hall of (the temple of) the holy Nêminâthadêva took upon themselves, each according to his own wish (and) for his own delight, from the mahan[ta], the illustrious Têjaḥpâla, the whole burden of the care of this temple called the holy Lûṇasîhavasahikâ. Therefore, acting up to this promise of their own, all of them, as well as their descendants, have to take care of this temple as long as the sun and the moon (endure). For─ ‘ What need is there of alms-bowl, water-jar, clothes of bark, white (or) red garments (and) tufts of twisted hair, (since) this splendid vow is performed by the noble-minded ?’
Prince Kânhaḍadêva mentioned in line 26 is identical, of course, with the Paramâra
Kṛishṇarâjadêva spoken of in the former inscription.
The last line (31) records that the mahârâjakula, the illustrious Sômasiṁhadêva, in this holy
Lûṇasiṁhavasahikâ, presented by an edict the village of Ḍavâṇî in Vâhirahadî to the holy
Nêminâthadêva, for his worship and personal allowance, and the inscription concludes with
Sômasiṇhadêva entreating the future kings of the Pramâra race to protect his gift as long as
the sun and the moon will last.
[1] I take the term ‘ the body of the śrâvakas, namely, all the merchants, all the trustees of Jina temples, etc.
belonging to Chandrâvatî ’ as the collective designation of the persons enumerated in detail later on.
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