North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

GAONRI COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF VĀKPATIRĀJADEVA

too), but it is likely that they were of copper”. [1] Both the plates together weigh 2.25 kilograms.

...Each of the plates is inscribed on one side only. In all there are 29 lines of writing, of which 16 lines are on the first plate and the rest on the second. The last line is engraved after leaving a blank space which measures about a little more than one-third of the rest of the lines in length ; the purpose of this blank space cannot be ascertained. [2] The inscription is written in the Nāgarī characters and the language is Sanskrit. The technical execution is beautiful; the letters are boldly and symmetrically drawn and cut deep. The work is more carefully accomplished than in the case of the plates of the grant that just precedes. But the inner parts of some of the letters show redundant chisel strokes. There are a few minor mistakes of writing or engraving ; e.g., the omission of the sign of anusvāra in sukhitaṁ and śāntiṁ, both in 1.3, but marking it wrongly on the preceding letter in chaṁchat, 1.2, and the omission of the superscript r in paryaṁta, 1.16 ; but with the exception of such minor errors, the language is correct. The average size of the letters is about .8 cms.

... In respect of palaeography, the script bears a close resemblance to that of the immediately preceding inscription ; but some of the letter are here advanced in form. The lower limb of the initial i has a fine tail attached to it, e.g., see iti, 1.27 ; the triangle of the right limb of kh and that of g occasionally gives place to a loop ; cf. e.g., in sukhitaṁ, 1.3, sakhā, 1.14, grāmaḥ, 1.16, but also vinirggata, 1.17 ; the antique forms of t and n are found to be generally disappearing, giving their place to the modern forms of the letters, as in pratinivāsi, 1.10 ; and the sibilants ś and s show their forms somewhat advanced, as in Paramēśvara, 11.5 and 6, and in samasta. 1.10. With the exception of specifying the grant-portion and the date, the present inscription is a copy of the preceding grant ; and the orthographical features are almost the same as to be found in that. It may however be remarked in this respect that the present inscription uses the signs of anusvāra more often than those of the nasal; and the upadhmānīya sign is used once in 1.17. It resembles the sign for sh.

...After two verses paying obeisance respectively to Śiva (Śrīkaṇṭha) and Kṛishṇa (Mura-ripu) and invoking their blessings, the inscription gives the pedigree of the donor, the Paramabhatṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Vākpatirājadēva, who meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Siyakadēva, who meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Vairisiṁhadēva, who meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Kṛishṇarājadēva. As stated above, this portion with the maṅgala-ślōkas is worded exactly as in the preceding grants of the king. Then follows the announcement of the king, telling us that while staying in (the region of) Pūrṇa-pathaka, he donated the village of Kaḍahichchhakā, lying in the Maddhukabhukti, connected with Pūrva-pathaka in the vishaya of Ujjayanī in the Avantī-maṇḍala (11. 9-11), to the Brāhmaṇa Sarvānanda, the son of Dīkshita Lōkānanda of the Sa(Saṁ)kṛiti gōtra and Āśvalāyana śākhā with three pravaras. It is interesting to note that the donee is identical with Sarvānanda, the first-mentioned person in the other grant from Gaonrī, where he is given special preference. It may also be noted that while mentioning his name in the present grant, he is stated to have hailed from the village of Kaṇōpā ; the same place is mentioned as a bhaṭṭa-grāma in the other inscription, which calls his father Paṇḍita-Dīkshita, whereas the present grant mentions him only by the latter of these titles. Moreover, the king is stated to have made the grant after taking his bath in puṇyābhra-sarit (1.12), which I am unable to identify. It is, however, not known if it is a wrong engraving for puṇyāmbhaḥ (of holy waters). [3]

...The date of the grant, as recorded only in words in 11. 11-12, is the winter solstice (Udagayana) in the month of Māgha of the (Vikrama) year 1943, which corresponds to 22nd December 986 A. C. In the end there is another date given in figures ; it is thirteenth day of the dark half of the month of Māgha and corresponds to Friday, the 31st of December, 986 A.C. [4] The date is important as it is furnished by the latest known epigraphical record of Vākpatirāja, though we know from some other sources that he continued for some more years. [5]
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[1] Dikshit. op. cit., p. 101.
[2]This vacant space was possibly left for the Garuḍa figure which was not carved for some unknown reasons.
[3] A variation of the same type appears in the name of the pathaka which is engraved as pūrvva in 1.9 but pūrṇṇa in 1.11.
[4] See Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII. p. 104. The latter is the day when the plates were actually donated.
[5] Amitagati in his Subhāshitasandōha tells us that the work was composed in Vākpatirāja’s reign in V.S. 1050. or 993-94 A.C. See Kāvya-mālā Series, No. 82, p. 104, v. 922.

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