North Indian Inscriptions

ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS

TRANSLATION

Success ! May there be victory and prosperity !

..(For the translation of the verses, see that of the corresponding verses in Nos. 8 and 11, above.)

..Now, while the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, the illustrious king Chhittapaiyadēva—who has, by his own religious merit, obtained the right to the five mahāśabdas (and) who is adorned with all royal titles such as Mahāsāmantādhipati, ‘the lord of the City of Tagara,’ ‘a king of the Ṡilāra family’, ‘(he) who is a born Vidyādhara’, ‘(he) who has the ensign of the Golden Eagle’, ‘(he) who has excelled the (whole) world by his liberality’, ‘the ocean of truth’, ‘a goad to the elephant that is the Kali Age’ (and) ‘a scion of the family of Jīmūtavāhana’—is ruling over the whole Kōṇkaṇa country consisting of fourteen hundred villages headed by Purī together with several maṇḍalas (countries) conquered by his own arm, and while his Mahāmātya, the illustrious Nāgaṇaiya, and his Sarvādhikārin, the illustrious Prabhu Dādapaiya are shouldering the burden of the cares of administering his whole kingdom (entrusted to them) by his favour —[the King] has made the following Government settlement in respect of the tax on the orchards of the learned Brāhmaṇas who are (always) engaged in the performance of their six religious duties such as sacrificing for themselves and for others, and studying and teaching (sacred texts), and are proficient in the performance of sacrifices, such as Kramavid Kōṭama who hails from Karahāṭa and is now residing at Chipaḷūṇa—(the Brāhmaṇas) who are residents of the two villages Karadāṇḍa and Kōlapallikā comprised in the vishaya (district) of P¬āṇāḍa—in the presence of the five Ministers such as the illustrious Saṅgalaiya and the illustrious Tikkapaiya.

.. Having realised the worthlessness of the whole worldly existence, I, with my mind excellently engaged in discriminating between what is righteous and what is not, have settled the tax in respect of garden-trees by levying four drammas per hundred fruit-bearing arecanut trees in all orchards situated in the afore-mentioned two villages, Karad¬āṇda and Kōlapallikā, with the consent of (My) five Ministers and at the bidding of the Mah¬ārājñī, the illustrious and all-prosperous Padmaladēvī. That tax should be paid by all businessmen in respect of all land enclosed on (all) the four sides, as has been the old custom. This order applies to (all) cocoanut, panasa (bred-fruit), champaka, mango and other trees, whether in orchards or in the (adjoining) forests. The trees of spirituous liquor, whether in orchards or outside, belong solely to the Government. They should not be uprooted, cut or damaged by anybody. Again, none should prevent the Br¬¬āhmaṇas (of the villages) from fetching grass, fuel and so forth from (the outskirts of) the villages.

.. Having regard to the sayings of the sages who are adept in discriminating between what is righteous and what is not, none should, under the influence of anger or greed, transgress the regulations laid down. None should go against the royal order in this matter.

..Again, the settled custom is to regard fifty ripe areca-nuts as a unit while counting the areca-nuts. At the time of selling the areca-nut trees the tax to be paid is three per cent on the amount of the sale.

.. As it is, the Giver of the charter records his approval by the hand of the scribe:—“What is written here has been approved by Me, the illustrious Mahāmaṇḍlēśvara Chhittapaiyadēva, the son of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, the illustrious Vajjaḍadēva.”
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[1] Natu’s text has दैदपैय but the name of this person occurs as वेद्पैय in the Ṭhāṇā plates of Arikēsarin (No.8). His son is named मानधरपैय not धारप्पैय as in Natu’s text.