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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS of the letters being scooped out hollow. They are beautifully formed, being more cursive and round than those of the Vākāṭaka grants. They resemble very closely the characters of the Early Gaṅga grants of the sixth or seventh century A.C.¹ As regards individual letters, we may note the forms of initial u which occurs in 11. 8, 14, 19, 24 and 27, of initial ē in 1.13, and of initial au in 1.10. The right stroke of l, which is mostly vertical in the Vākāṭaka grants, sharply turns to the left and encircles the letter as in the later records of the Kalachuris and the Gurjaras of Gujarat; see kuśalī, 1.2; a final consonant is indicated by its small size; see Nāndīvardhanit, 1, 1; punctuation is generally indicated by a small horizontal stroke, but in some cases by two vertical strokes, the first of which is sporadically hooked at the top. The language is Sanskrit, and expect for two verses at the end in 11. 24-27, the record is in prose throughout. As regards orthography, the only peculiarities that call for notice are the use of ri for the medical vowel ṛi in -bhrātri-,1.2 and nisrishṭaḥ, 1. 20; of the guttural nasal ṅ for anusvāra in dvāviṅśē, 1. 28; and of anusvāra for final n indrāṅgi- kādīṁ, 1.3. In other respects, the record is remarkably free from errors of orthography, though in places it is not altogether devoid of uncertainty of meaning.
The plates were issued from Nandivardhana by Nannarāja, who meditated on the feet of his brother Svāmirāja, during whose reign the grant was made.² Svāmirāja is described as Bhaṭṭāraka-pād-ānudhyāta’ 4meditating on the feet of the lord paramount', which indicates his feudatory status. Neither the family to which these princes belonged nor the suzerain to whom they owed allegiance is mentioned in the present grant. No ancestors of Svāmirāja have been named. In all these respects the present grant resembles those of the Mahārājas of Khandesh3. The object of the inscription appears to be record two gifts: (i) one of two nivartanus of land in the village Chiñchapaṭṭīkā, which was made at the request of the Presidents (Sthavira) and Members of the Executive Committee (Pramukhas) of the assembly (Samūha) of the Corporation (Gaṇa) Mahāmātragaṇa, and (ii) the other of the village Aṅkōllikā, which was made by Nannarāja (or, perhaps by Svāmirāja) on his own account near the Chaṭuka-vaṭa⁴, situated in the stream of the Gaṅgā, on the occasion of an eclipse which occurred on the new-moon day of Chaitra in the cyclic year Āshāḍha. The donated village of Aṅkollikā was situated on the right bank of the river Śūla, to the west of the agrabāra of Achalapura and to the east of Śrīparṇikā. The donees were certain Brāhmaṇas of the White and Black Yajurvēdas and the Sāmavēda. The inscription contains another date at the end, when the plates were issued, viɀ., the fifth tithi (expressed by a symbol) of the bright fortnight of Kārttika in the year three hundred and twentytwo (expressed in words) of an unspecified era. The engraver was the Kshatriya Durgāditya, the son of Chandra. As stated before, the royal family to which Svāmirāja and Nannarāja belonged is
not specified in the present grant, but since these names occur in two early Rāshṭrakūṭa 1 See, e. g., the jirjingi plates of Indravarman, Gāṅga year 39 (537-38 A.C.), Ep. Ind., Vol. XXV,
pp. 281-88 and plate; and Tekkali plates of Indravarman, Gāṅga year 154(652-53 A.C.), ibid., Vol. XVIII,
pp, 307-11 and plate. The Gāṅga era began in the Śaka year 420 (498 A.C.) as shown by me, ibid.,
Vol. XXVI, pp. 326-36.
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