North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

PIPLIĀNAGAR COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF MAHĀKUMĀRA HARIŚCHANDRA

course left for me is to edit the inscription from the transcript given by him and published in the Volume of the Journal referred to above, though it contains a number of errors.[1]

...The details of the plate with reference to its weight, measurement and the other points to be dealt with in editing an inscription are not recorded ; nor can its orthographical features be mentioned here. The inscription, as Wilkinson’s transcript indicates, contains 48 lines of writing.[2] The language is Sanskrit ; and with the two usual verses in the adoration of Śiva at the beginning, one in the middle, to speak highly of making donations, and as many as ten customary verses by way of the usual exhortations to succeeding monarchs, the record is all in prose. With reference to composition, there is nothing wroth pointing out, except that there are two words of lexicographical interest ; they are tala-haṭṭikā, meaning a market on the low land (i.e. on the surface or rising ground of the fort named here) and āvāsanikā, meaning a stall or shop (lit. a house). The latter of these words, though uncommon in Sanskrit literature, occurs in an inscription from Bhilsā, of V.S. 935 or 878 A.C.[3]

...The object of the inscription is to record that the village of Palasavāḍā or Paṭasavāḍā, or Savāḍā as the name is given below, situated in the Amarāpadra pratijāgaraṇaka in the Nīlagiri maṇḍala, was divided into three shares, two of which were donated to Paṇḍita –Daśarathaśarman, the son of Paṇḍita-Siṁha and belonging to the Kātyāyana-gōtra with there pravaras and one, on another occasion, to Paṇḍita-Mālūṇe, the son of Paṇḍita-Dēlū and belonging to the Pārāśaragōtra with three pravaras, some time later on another occasion. To both these gifts were added the dues from the shops from below the fort of Guṇapura.[4] The first of the gifts was made on the amāvāsyā day of the month of Pausha of Vikrama 1235, expired, when there was a solar eclipse, and the second, on the full moon day of Vaiśākha of Saṁvat 1236. Both the dates are mentioned in words and figures. The first of these would correspond to 11th December (for pūrṇimānta) and to 20th January (for amānta), of 1178 A.C. ; and the second to 23 April, 1179 A.C.[5] But on both these days there was no eclipse.

...Like many other Paramāra grants, the present record opens with two verses in honour of the god Śiva, and they are followed by prose passages containing the genealogy of the donor, mentioning the names of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara Udayāditya, his successor the P.M.P. Naravarman, his successor the P.M.P. Yaśōvarman, and the latter’s successor Jayavarman. This genealogy is the same as known from the other records of the house. But the information that follows is new ; it states that Hariśchandra, who enjoyed the five great sounds and was a Mahākumāra, obtained his principality through the last-mentioned ruler, i.e., Jayavarman (ētasmāt-pṛishṭhatama-prabhōḥ prasād-āvāpta-nijādhipatyaḥ). Prima facie this statement goes against that of the Bhopāl grant of this ruler, which has been edited
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[1] It is apparent that Wilkinson got the inscription transcribed by a local Paṇḍit who, as in some other instances that we have, committed blemishes in his reading ; and the translation which is based on this wrong reading, is also not free from errors. For example, the text in 1. 10 of the transcript reads smmati-grāma-nivāsinaścha for prati-grāma… ; and thus names a village which is not in existence ; and the translation gives mamati in place of it. The avagraha in the name Amarāpadra has been omitted in the translation which makes the word Maḍāpadra, the lingual ḍ in the name being written by the Paṇḍit, for the dental, as he has done in some other cases also. Wherever possible, I have made the necessary corrections and in other cases I have appended footnotes.–– Nothing is recorded about the dimensions and the weight of the plate, nor am I able to deal with the orthography of the writing which is full of errors, or doubtful, e.g., the word Vyōma in 1. 1 is written as byōma, and sarggāya, as it appears to me the correct from in 1. 1, is written as sargāya. In some of the cases it is not known whether the original writer or the persons who copied the text accompanying Wilkinson’s translation thereof is responsible for these errors.
[2] The lines in the text have been numbered by me, keeping in view as they appear in J.A.S.B., op. cit. Looking to the material inscribed, I also doubt the statement of Wilkinson who says that it is one plate.
[3] Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX. p. 214.
[4] The proportion of the dues accruing to both the donees is not mentioned in the record.
[5] In both the cases I have taken the Vikrama year as Northern expired, as shown by the word afita with the first of them. But there was no solar eclipse in Pausha (pūrṇimānta or amānta) for V. 1234, 1235 and 1236, and therefore the word parva appears to have been used with the first date only in the sense of a holy day. Neither of these dates admits of verification ; nor is the original now available for checking Wilkinson’s reading.

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