North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

which was omitted after khaṁḍana in 1.14, is written immediately below the line. In two other cases the omission is indicated by a kākapada, the position and the form of which indicate whether the addenda are given at the top or at the bottom of the plate. A figure following the addendum indicates the line where the omitted syllable or word is to be supplied.^¹ Thus suvṛitta and ga which were omitted in ll.11 and 14 are supplied with the figures 11 and 14 respectively at the bottom of the first plate. Similarly nē which was omitted in the second line of the second plate in incised with the figure 2 at the top of the plate.

The language is Sanskrit. Except for ōṁ Vrahmaṇē namaḥ in the first line and the particulars of the date and the place of issue in the last, the record is metrically composed throughout. The verses, of which there are twenty-nine, are all numbered, except the last one. In the genealogical portion, only five of the verses^²are taken from the old draft, the others appearing here for the first time. As regards orthography, we may note that v is generally written for b and the dental and palatal sibilants are confused, as in Vrahmaṇē and Sivam in 1.1 and āśīd=āśīma-, 1.16 ; and y is used for j in Vāyapēya-, 1.31.

The inscription is one of the king Pratāpamalla who belonged to the Kalachuri Dynasty of Ratanpur. The object of it is to record the grant, by Pratāpamalla, of a certain village to a Brāhmaṇa on the occasion of a saṅkrānti. The record was written by Pratirāja who was born in a Gauḍa family and was the light (i.e., the chief) of the Śri-karaṇa or Record Office.

The genealogy of the king down to Pṛithvīdēva II is given here as in the latter's Amōdā plates,^³ with the omission, obviously inadvertent, of one complete verse about Kamalarāja, the son of Kaliṅgarāja. About Ratnadēva II, the father of Pṛithvīdēva II, the present record gives the important information that he defeated Chōḍagaṅga and Gōkarṇa in battle. Several other records of this dynasty,^⁴ no doubt, mention Ratnadēva II's defeat of Chōḍagaṅga, but that he was accompanied by an ally named Gōkarṇa is known from this inscription only.

After Pṛithvīdēva II, the present inscription mentions his son Jagaddēva, omitting the name of his brother Jājalladēva II, probably because he was a collateral.^⁵ Jagaddēva was succeeded by his son Ratnadēva III, whose son Pratāpamalla made the present grant. From the description given here that though a boy he was a second Bali in strength, it appears that Pratāpamalla came to the throne while quite young. He is evidently identical with the homonymous prince whose round or hexagonal copper coins are found in large numbers in Chhattisgarh. It is noteworthy that like the seal of the present plates these coins also bear the figure of a sheathed sword on the reverse.

Verse 15-18 give the genealogy and description of the donee and state the occasion of the grant. There was a Brāhmaṇa named Suvarṇakara of the Pārāśara gōtra and three pravaras, viⱬ., Vasishṭha, Śakti and Pārāśara. His son was Divākara who was proficient in the Vēdas. From him was born Sādhāra, whose son Satyasādhāra^⁶ was honoured by
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¹ See also above, p. 327, n. 3.
² Viⱬ. Verse 1,2 and 4-6. Verse 5 is slightly altered; see below, p. 546, n. 2.
³ Above, Nos. 91 and 94.
⁴ Above, Nos. 93, 1.6; 97 1.4; 100, 1.7 etc.
⁵ Though a collateral he is mentioned in the Kharōd inscription of Ratnadēva III (above, No. 100, 1.10).
⁶ It appears better to regard Satyasādhāra as the son of Sādhāra than to identify the two as I did before; see Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, p. 8, n. 1