North Indian Inscriptions

ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS

headquarters of the territorial division in which the denated village was situated, may be Vānkaḍ, about 20 miles south by east of the town Chhota Udaipur. No place like Kupikā can, however, be traced in its neighbourhood.

TRANSLATION

Success ! Hail ! From Prachakāśā;_Īśvarāta, mediating on the feet of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka (Great Lord), is in good health. Having stated his good health, (he) informs all his (officers) such as the Āyuktas, Viniyuktas,^¹² Kumārāmātyas, Uparikas,¹³ Dāṇḍīkas,¹⁴ Daṇḍapāśikas,^¹⁵ those in charge of elephants, horses and men, chāṭas and bhaṭas,^¹⁶ assembled at the village Kupikā, situated^¹⁷ in the territorial division (paṭṭa) of Vaṅkikā, as well as the residents of the village, headed by the Brāhmaṇas (as follows):__

(The subsequent portion of the grant is lost.)

____________

¹From a photograph of the plate kindly supplied by Mr. Amrit Pandya as well as its lithograph facing p. 12 in the New Dynasties of Gujarat History.
² Expressed by a symbol.
³ Pandya suggests ब्रह्मकाशायाः: as a possible reading of this word, but it is not supported by his lithograph.
⁴ The dot in the circle of the superscript dh is apparently due to a fault in the copper. Similar dots appear inside the curves of g, t and ś in some places below.
⁵ Pandya reads doubtfully ईश्‍वरराणकशकित. The last three aksharas are plainly कुशली. This word occurs in a similar context in several copper-plates of the Maitrakas, Rāshṭrakūṭas and others.
⁶ Pandya reads _ -भट्टि-. The first akshara is clearly प See - -प्रतिवासिनः in 1.4, below. The curve on the next aksharas is that of medial ē as in-सर्व्वनेवा- – further in this line. For the curve of medial i, see -kupikā-, 1.2.
⁷ Pandya reads भोव्य, which makes no sense. The second akshara of this word appears like ध्य, but it is probably a mistake for श्‍य. Compare प्रादेश्‍य which occurs in some Maitraka grants in the sense of ‘situated in'. See below, n. 17.
⁸ The photograph shows a dot joined to the left limb of the second akshara of this word, but it is plainly due to a fault in the copper. Pandya also gives the reading as here.
⁹ Read -भटादीन्व्राह्मणोत्तरांश्‍च. Curious as it may appear, a similar mistake occurs in 1. 2 of Nos. 2 and 3, above.
¹⁰ The same expression occurs in the Sunao Kala plates of Saṅgamasiṁha, above, No. 11, 1.3.
¹¹ Read बौधयति. The following words may have been अस्तुवौ विदितम्‌ as in No. 11, 1.4.
¹² Āyuktas and Viniyuktas were different kinds of officers. The latter may be those appointed to special posts (viśēshēṇa niyukta).
¹³ For Kumārāmātya and Uparika, see above, p. 36, notes 3 and 4.
¹⁴ Dāṇḍīkas may be Magistrates.
¹⁵ Daṇḍapāśīkas were probably Police Officers
¹⁶ For chāpas and bhaṭas, see above, p. 43, n. 9.
¹⁷ The text has vīśya, which corresponds to prāvēśya of the Maitraka grants. Hultzsch translated prāvēśya by ‘belonging to’. Sten Konow's rendering ‘which can be entered from,’ and Sukhtankar’s ‘which belongs to the pravēśa’ are both unsatisfactory; for, the former gives no good sense, and as for the latter, pravēśa occurs nowhere in the sense of ‘a territorial division’. Prāvēśya, like prāpīya, seems to have become current in the sense of ‘belonging to’ or ‘situated in‘.