South Indian Inscriptions

MISCELLANEOUS

the Hānsōt plates¹ of Bhartŗivaddha which were issued as late as V.813 (756 A.C.) have their date expressed in numerical symbols. These plates were issued from Bharukachchha. Similarly the Āntrōli-Chhāroli plates2 of the Rāshţrakūţa Karka,who succeeded the Chālukyas in Southern Gujarat, use similar symbols to express their date Ś.679 (757 A.C.). Except for the doubtful case of the present grant, the earliest record from North India which contains a date in decimal figures is the Shērgadh Buddhist inscription³ of the Sāmanta Dēvadatta, dated V.847 or 791-92.A.C. It would seem, therefore, that the decimal notation began to supersede the numerical symbols in North India about the last quarter of the eighth century A.C.⁴ The present grant which purports to have been made as early as 595 A.C. and still has its date expressed in decimal figures, appears to be suspicious⁵.

There is another circumstance which strengthens the suspicion. The drafter of the present grant seems to have borrowed certain expressions from earlier Sēndraka grants. Compare, for instance, the expression avanata-sāmant-āmala-mukuţa-maŋi-nighŗishţa-charaŋa- yugal-āravindah in 1.1 of the present grant with praŋat-āśēsha-sāmanta-śirō-muku[ta*]-nighŗishţa- pada-pamkajah in 11.45 of the Bagumrā plates of Allaśakti. Similarly, Kalpatarur=iv= ōpabhujja (jya)mān-ākshīņa-vibhavah in11. 5-6 of this grant bears unmistakable resem- blance to Kalpaumam=(druma)=iv=ābhivā nichhit-aśēsha-jan-ōpabhujyama(mā)na-vibhav 0̃ in lines 7-8 of the Sēndraka grant.6 As these expressions occur in more than one genuine Sēndraka record, we cannot doubt that they originally belonged to them. The Sēndrakas were ruling in Gujarat in the second quarter of the seventh century. The present grant, which seems to have borrowed these expression from Sēndraka records, could not therefore have been made in 595 A.C.

The evidence detailed above seems to point to the conclusion that the present plates were forged some time in the second half of the eight century A.C. when the decimal notation came into vogue. The palæography of the grant as well as the shape of the numerical figures do not militate against this conclusion. These characters were probably current in Gujarat till the close of the eighth century A.C. The afore- mentioned Hānsōţ plates of Bhartŗivaddha dated V.813 (756 A.C.) and the Āntrōli- Chhārōli plates of Karka, dated Ś.679 (757-58 A.C.) are incised in similar characters. As for numerical figures, there are only three used in the present grant, viz.,3, 4 and 6. Of these, the symbol for 3 occurs in this very form in the Gōņdal plates (Set A), _______________________

¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XII, pl. facing p. 203.
² J. B .B .R .A. S.,Vol.XVI, pl.facing p. 108.
³ See the plate of the date in the Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, p.351. The dates of some earlier inscriptions recorded in the Gupta era are supposed to be in decimal figures. (see, e.g., G. 347 of Bhandarkar’s I .N. I. No. 1357, G. 365 of No. 1361 and G. 387 of 1368). But they cannot be verified for want of facsimiles. Besides, later dates from the same locality such as G. 386 of No. 1367, G, 403 if No. 1370, etc.,are known to be in numerical symbols, which raises a strong presumption that the earlier dates also were in similar letter-numerals.
⁴ Dr .G. S. Gai has recently drawn attention to two earlier northern records, the dates of which are given in decimal figures, viz., the Sakrai stone inscription (V.699) and the Dhiniki grant of Jāikadēva (V.794), Journal of the Ganganath Jha Institute, Vol. VI, pp. 306 f. The evidence of both these records is, however, doubtful. The date of the former has also been read as V.879 and V.749 (I. N. I., No. 23and An. Rep. Rajputana Museum for 1933-34, p.2), while the latter is regarded as a forged document, see Ind. Ant., Vol. XVI, p.198 and Vol. XIX, pp. 370-71.
⁵ Kaye also says that ‘the ninth century A. C. is about the time when these symbols ceased to be fashionable for Indian inscriptions’, Ind. Ant., Vol. XL, pp. 44-45.
⁶ Some other ideas such as fame being white like the moon and crossing the ocean are also common, but they are quite conventional and therefore afford no conclusive evidence of borrowing.