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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA just before the present record ; but this problem has been discussed at length in the other grants of the Paramāra-Mahākumāra house, on suitable occasions, and it need not be repeated here. The importance of the present record, however, lies in the fact that it tells us that Hariśchandra was the son of Lakshmīvarman, as mentioned in the sign-manual of the king in the end. In fact this is the only record to mention this relationship. Another importance of the present inscription lies in the fact that Hariśchandra succeeded in extending the boundaries of his kingdom to the south of the Narmadā, as we shall see below while identifying the localities mentioned therein. For whereas all the other grants made by the rulers of the Mahākumāra branch of the Paramāra house refer to the region lying to the north of the river, the present one is the only grant made by a prince belonging to that house in the Hoshaṅgābād District, which extends to the south of the Narmada. ...We know that at the time when this charter was issued the Kalachuris of Tripurī were at the fag-end of their existence, the throne being occupied by Gayākarṇa’s grandson Jayasiṁha or by the latter’s son Vijayasiṁha. Similarly, there was no fear from the Chandēllas, as their king, Paramardin, (c. 1166-1202 A.C.) was occupied in the north, as is indicated by his Pachhār and Charkhārī plates issued respectively in 1176 and 1178 A.C. And in the south, the last king of the western Chālukya house, viz., Sōmēśvara IV, was busy struggling with Vijjaṇa’s successors to regain his throne. Thus the circumstances appear to have favoured the task of Hariśchandra to extend the bounds of his territories in the south and the south-west.
...The mention of putting on white garments and going round a tawny cow from left to right while making the grant is interesting. Another point of interest that the record affords is about the splitting up of the donated village in three parts. It was, as we are told, measured out to be 40 mānikās by the kuḍava system as it was then prevalent in the Nīlagiri-maṇḍala ; The dictionary meaning of kuḍava is one-fourth of a prastha, containing twelve handfuls ; and this shows how grain was measured in that region, though the actual measure of a kuḍava may have somewhat differed in that locality. But the word mānikā, which too is stated to have been a measure, presents some difficulty. The word mānikā, mānī or māṇī, as pronounced, was actually current in Mālwā till recently before the metric system was introduced ; and it was equal to 12 maunds or 447.890 kilograms. According to this, 40 maunds would give a measure which can never be taken as the capacity of sowing seed even if the village be a very large one, and if we take it as measuring the produce, I know of no other instance of the type. Thus I am unable to solve the problem. ... The arrangement of the rest of the contents of the record is similar to what we find in many other Paramāra grants, viz., the motive of the grants, the condition that they are perpetually to be enjoyed by the donees, the usual admonition about continuing the grants and the Signature of the donor in the end. The last line which is in Hindi appears to have been apparently inserted by a person (Rāmachandra) in whose possession, the plate may have gone subsequently.
...Of the place-names mentioned in the inscription, Nīlagiri, the headquarters of the maṇḍala, has been identified by D. C. Ganguly, with the modern Nīlgaḍh fort, south of the Vindhyas,
about a mile north of the Narmadā
[1]
; this territorial division appears to have then comprised
a great part of the western portion of the region close to the reserved forest now known after the
name Nīlgaḍh and covering almost the whole of the eastern part of Hoshaṅgābād District up
to Sohāgpur, to the south of the Narmadā, stretching roughly from 77° 45’ to 78° 28’ E.
Long. and 22° 25’ to 22° 35’ N. Lat.
[2]
This region has still retained its old name in a slightly
changed from, reminding us of another region known after colour, viz., Pītaśaila-vishaya, occurring
in a Chandēlla inscription.
[3]
Palasavāḍā, which was then also known as Paṭasavāḍā and by its
shorter name Savāḍā (respectively in 11. 10, 23 and 28), may be identified with the modern
Parasavāḍā, situated about 10 kms. south-west of Sohāgpur, the headquarters of a parganā and
[1] I. 184. This fort is about 16 kms. north-west of Māndhātā and near the confluence of the choral river with the Narmadā.
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