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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA DEPĀLPUR COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF BHOJADEVA Brāhmaṇas. While editing the inscription in the Ind. Hist. Quarterly, Ojha has rightly drawn our attention to the fact that herein we do not find mention of any parvan, as in the other plates of Bhōjadēva, nor do we have any special occasion for granting the land ; and the long phrase pāra-dvi(gavi)-prabhṛiti-prāṇi-vadha-prāyaśchitta-dakshiṇāyāṁ suggests an indirect reference to the river Chambal (old Charmaṇvatī) and brings to our mind the legend of its origin. [1] Agreeing with him in his statement that “the composer of the inscription was anxious to display his pedantic skill by alluding to the Chambal through a round about reference to the origin of this sacred river’’ appears to have been made here probably also to serve another purpose, viz., perhaps to show the occasion of the present grant. It is possible to hold tentatively that this grant was issued by Bhōja in course of his return from a successful invasion in which he had killed a large number of his enemy warriors and the donation was by way of an expiation of the same on the Chambal. This presumption gets some support from the fact that the village of Kirikaikā in which the land was donated is obviously the same as the modern village Karkī which is situated on the Chambal, about 10 kms. from Dēpālpur, the find-spot of the plates. ...After the stipulations laid down for the perpetual enjoyment of the grant by the donee(11.18- 21). we have four of the customary imprecatory verses ; and then the inscription records the date in figures only, as the fourteenth day of the bright half of Chaitra of the (Vikrama) year 1079. Ojha has calculated the date, according to the i reckoning, as equivalent to 19th March, 1022 A.C. [2] But as we have seen in a number of instances, the year mentioned in the grants made by Bhōjadēva has to be taken as beginning with Kārttika, [3] and following the same practice, the year of the present grant has to be taken as corresponding to 1023 A.C. We have to admit, however, that the record contains no further details for verifying the date. Then, with the mention of the usual expression maṅgalaṁ mahā-śrīḥ, followed by the sign-manual of Bhōjadēva, the record comes to an end.
...Of the place-names mentioned in the inscription, Ujjayinī (1.6) is the well know city of Ujjain ; and Dhārā, where the king is stated to have stayed, i.e., which was his capital (1.6), is the modern town of Dhār, which too, like Ujjain, is the headquarters of a District. Kirikaikā (1.6), as we have seen above, is the modern village of Karkī, situated about 10 kms. from Dēpālpur. It is on the Chambal, about 65 kms. from Ujjain, and was thus included in the western district of the Province of Ujjain. TEXT
[4]
[1] Mbh., Drōṇā-parva, Ch. 67. Also see Mēghadūta, pūrva-mēgha, v.47, where the river is stated to be “rantidēvasya kīrti.
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