North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

..The object of the inscription is to record the grant, by Chāmuṇḍarāja, of a ghāṇaka (oil-mill) in favour of the temple Kautuka-maṭhikā of the goddess Bhagavatī at Saṁyāna. The oil of the mill was to be used for burning a lamp in the temple and also for the besmearing of the feet of the Brāhmaṇa scholars that may visit the temple. The gift was made by pouring out water on the hand of the Svādhyāyika (scholar) Vīhaḍa, on the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight (i.e. amāvāsyā) of Bhādrapada in the Śaka year 956. The date corresponds, for the expired Śaka year 956, to Sunday, the fifteenth September, A.D. 1034. It does not admit of verification for want of the necessary details. The grant was evidently made by Chāmuṇḍarāja in connection with the worship of the manes on the tithi which is known as Sarva-pitr-amāvāsyā, though this is not stated explicitly.

..Among the persons who were addressed by Chāmuṇḍarāja in the connection with this gift are mentioned the chief artisans (haṁyamana-mukhyas), prominent citizens, the governor (Vishayī) of the place, traders, members of the local parshad, and merchants Alliya, Mahara and Madhumata. These last-mentioned persons were evidently of the Muslim community settled in the place. From two other charters[1] discovered at Chinchaṇī we know that the Saṁyānamaṇḍala was governed by Arab feudatory princes during the reigns of the Rāshṭrakuṭa Indra III and Kṛishṇa III. Since then there was evidently an influx of Muslims in North Koṅkaṇ. Soon after the downfall of the Rāshṭrakūṭas the Saṁyānamaṇḍala was conquered by the Śilāhāra king Aparājita[2]. Later on, Chhittarāja appointed Chāmuṇḍarāja, who had distinguished himself in the war with Lāṭa, as the ruler of the Saṁyāna-maṇḍala.

.. Some of the epithets applied to Chāmuṇḍarāja and his father Vijjarāṇaka in lines 29-31 are curious. Vijjarāṇka bears the title Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara and Āhava-nīla. The latter title probably refers to his skill or bravery in fighting. He is further described as having sixty-four black horses[3], which were probably regarded as auspicious. Chāmuṇḍarāja himself bears, besides the title Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, that of Tribhuvana-nīla[4] meaning perhaps ‘an ornament of the three worlds.’

.. Among the officers of Chhittarāja, two are mentioned by name in this record, viz., the Mahāmātya Nāgaṇaiya[5] and the Mahāsāndhivigrahika Vāupaiya. The scribe who wrote the present charter was the Dhruva (revenue-collector) Mammalaiya.

..Of the localities mentioned in the present grant, Tagara and Lāṭa have already been identified. Saṁyāna is modern Sanjān in the Umbargaon tāluka of the Ṭhāṇā District.

Text[6]
First Side

[1] Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXII. pp. 45 f.
[2] See No. 5, above, line 40, and No. 6, above, line 38. Aparājita may have placed the Saṁyāna-maṇḍala in charge of Vijjarāṇaka, the father of Chāmuṇḍarāja.
[3] Perhaps the horses were of the syāma-karṇa type (of white body with black ears) such as are required for the aśvamēdha.
[4] Perhaps in the birudas Āhava-Nīla and Tribhuvana-Nīla, there is a reminiscence of the Vidyādhara prince Nīla, who together with his brother Mahānīla, got some Caves excavated at Dhārāśiva near Tagara, the original habitation of the Śilāhāras.
[5] Nāgaṇaiya is mentioned as Sarvādhikārin n the Bhāṇḍup plates of Chhittarāja (above, No. 9, line 22) and as Mahāmātya in the Berlin Museum plates (No. 11, line 32), but the Sāndhivigrahika was different (viz. Sīhapaiya). Perhaps, he was subordinate to the Mahāsāndhivigrahika Vāuppaiya named in this grant. The Berlin Museum plates name Nāupaiya as Mahāsāndhivigrahika. It is noteworthy that both this and the Berlin Museum plates were issued in the same Śaka year 956. Perhaps Vāupaiya is wrongly written for Nāupaiya.
[6] From the plate facing pp. 66-67 in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXII.
[7] Expressed by a symbol.