North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

ṭṛitīyā tithi.^¹ The record was written by Vatsarāja, the son of Kīrtidhara, the owner of the village Jaḍēra. He was the writer of the First Set of the Amōdā plates also. The charter was engraved by Chāndārka.

The inscription is dated on Tuesday, the 6th day of the bright fortnight of Āśvina in the year 905 (expressed in decimal figures only) of an unspecified era. The date must, of course, be referred to the Kalachuri era. According to Kielhorn's final view, the Kalachuri era began on Āśvina śu. di. I (the 5th September) in 248 A.C. The date of the present grant should, therefore, fall in 1152 A.C. if the year 905 was current, and in 1153 A.C. if it was expired. But in 1152 A.C. the afore-mentioned tithi ended 7 h. 30 m. after mean sunrise on Saturday (the 6th September) and 1153 A.C. it ended 7 h. after mean sunrise on Friday (the 25th September). In neither case was the tithi connected with a Tuesday. The date would, therefore, have to be taken as irregular. On the other hand, if we suppose that the Kalachuri year began in some month later than Āśvina (say in Kārttika), the details of the date work out regularly; for the 6th tithi of the bright fortnight of Āśvina in 1154 A.C., corresponding to the expired Kalachuri year 905, commenced I h. 15 m. after mean sunrise on Tuesday (the 14th September). It is true that on this day also the tithi was not current at sunrise, but since it practically filled the whole of that day and was probably current at time of the gift, it may have been coupled with that week-day. Tuesday, the 14th September, 1154 A.C. is, therefore, the date of the present record. Like the date of the Jabalpur plates of Jayasiṁha^² it clearly shows that the Kalachuri year must have commenced in some month later than Āśvina. The preceding akshaya-tṛitīyā or Vaiśākha-śukala-tṛitīya, on which the grant was made, fell on Saturday, the 17th April 1154 A.C.^³ The plates were thus actually issued nearly five months after grant was made.

Of the geographical names occurring in this inscription, Madhya-maṇḍala and Jaḍēra have already been identified.^⁴ The donated village Buḍubuḍū was, like Avalā, probably situated in the vicinity of Amōdā, but it cannot be traced now. R.B. Hiralal identified it with Burbur in the former Lāphā Zamindarī, 2 miles south-west of Pāli in the Bilaspur tahsil, but it is situated too far from Amoda.

¹ Hiralal calls it rājy-ākshaya-tṛitīyā, but the first word is a misreading for rājñā meaning 'by the king'. See below, p. 494, n. 3.
² Above, No. 63.
³ Hiralal's statement that it fell on Saturday, the 17th March 1154 A.C. (I. H. Q., Vol. I, p. 407) is obviously a mistake.
⁴ See above, pp. 425 and 475.
⁵ From the original plates.
⁶ Expressed by a symbol.
⁷ Read सद्रदझ
⁸ Metre: Anushṭubh.