|
The Indian Analyst
|
North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF KOLHAPUR
..The characters are of the old Kannaḍa alphabet. They are neatly engraved, but appear cursive in a few places. The language is old Kannaḍa. .. The record is not dated, but evidently belongs to the reign of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Ballāla, a Śilāhāra king of Kolhāpur. His brother Gaṇḍarāditya, who was associated with him in governing the kingdom, is also mentioned, but without any title. The object of the inscription is to record that the two Śilāhāra brothers Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Ballāladēva and Gaṇḍarādityadēva donated two hundred kammas and a house measuring six cubits for the purpose of providing food (evidently to the ascetics) in the Jaina Basadi (temple) constructed by Bamagāvuṇḍa, the guḍḍa (disciple) of Rātrimatikanti of the Punnāgavṛikshamūlagaṇa of the illustrious Mūlasaṅgha. .. The inscription contains no date, but as it belongs to the reign of Ballāla, it is evidently of the first quarter of the twelfth century A.D. TEXT[1] TRANSLATION ..Success ! Hail ! The illustrious Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Ballāladēva and Gaṇḍarādityadēva have donated two hundred kammas and a house of six cubits . . . . for the purpose of providing food to (the ascetics of) the basadi (temple) constructed by Bamagāvuṇḍa, the guḍḍa (disciple) of Rātrimatikanti of the Punnāgavṛikshmūlagaṇa belonging to the illustrious Mūlasaṅgha.
No. 45 : PLATES XCII-XCVI .. THESE plates were discovered by Ramchandrarao Appaji, one of the bodyguard of the Governor of Bombay, while he was digging in a field at Tāḷale in the Kolhāpur District. They were first edited by Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji with plates and an English translation in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XIII (Old Series), pp. 1 f. They are edited here from the same facsimiles as the plates are not procurable now. .. The grant is inscribed on three copper-plates. Each plate is101/2” inches (26.67 cm.) long by 81/2” (20.96 cm.) wide. The first and the third bear inscription on one side only, the second on both sides. The inscription runs longitudinally, and there is a hole on each plate for a ring to hold the plates together, as usual. .. On the front side of the first plate there is an engraving of a cow and its sucking calf, with a double-edged sword in an upright position on one side, the whole surmounted by the figures of the sun and the moon.
..
This kind of engraving is found in almost all inscriptions relating to the grant of land in
Southern India. The cow is intended to represent land, the milk the produce of the land, the
calf the enjoyer, and sword the royal power. The sin and the moon denote perpetuity. They [1] From an estampage kindly supplied by the Chief Epigraphist.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|