North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

fifteen verses which eulogise Jīmūtavāhana and the Śīlāra (Śilāhāra) kings born in his family from Kapardin I to Chhittarāja are repeated from the earlier grants of the Śilāhāras[1]. The next five verses which describe Chhittarāja and his brothers Nāgārjuna and Mummuṇi are new, but they contain mere conventional praise. The formal part of the grant except for the details of the donees, villages and lands granted is also repeated from the earlier grants of the family. The grant is written generally in correct Sanskrit. As regards orthography, the dental s is in many cases written for the palatal ś and vice versa also in one case (see sikhar-, line 2, and śva-dāna, line 49) ; v is usually written for b (see dugdh-āmvudhiḥ, line 9) and the consonant following r is reduplicated (see parārthhē, line 4).

..The genealogy of the Śilāhāras is given as in other grants of the family. In the family of Jīmūtavāhana, the son of Jīmūtakētu, who sacrificed his life to save Śaṅkhachūḍa from Garuḍa, was born Kapardin (I), the ornament of the Śīlara (Śilāhāra) family. He was succeeded by the following kings−Pulaśakti; Laghu Kapardin (or Kapardin II); Vappuvanna; Jhañjha, who built as many as twelve temples of Siva evidently at the sites of the twelve Jyōtir-liṅgas and named them after himself; his brother Gōggirāja; his son Vajjaḍa I; his son Aparājita, who welcome Gōmma, who sought refuge with him, established Aiyapadēva firmly on his throne and gave security from to Bhillama, Ammaṇa and Mambu- va. He assumed the title of Birudaṅka-Rāma. He was succeeded by Vajjaḍa II, and the latter by his brother Arikēsarin. The latter marched with his army to Sõmanātha-pāṭaṇ, where he offered his conquests to the god Sōmēśvara as directed by his father. His nephew Chhittarāja succeeded him. He was followed by his younger brothers Nāgārjuna and Mummuṇirāja, one after the other. The description of most of these princes is conventional and yields no historical information.

..The object of the present inscription is to record the grant, by the Śilāhāra Mummuṇirāja, of some villages and lands to learned Brāhmaṇas on the occasion of the lunar eclipse on the fifteenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Phālguna in the Śaka year 970, the cyclic year being Sarvadhārin. The date corresponds regularly to the 20th February A.D. 1049, when there was a lunar eclipse and the cyclic year also was Sarvadhārin according to the southern luni-solar system. The grant was made by the Śilāhāra king for the spiritual welfare of his crowned queen Padmai.

..The present plates record first the grant of the following villages in the Varēṭikā vishaya (district) to the fourteen Brāhmaṇas named below, who hailed from Karahāṭaka, viz. Ekasāla, Bhūtavali, Vaḍavalī, Āsalagrāma, Umbaravalī and one more, the name of which has now become indistinct. The grant was in the form of the stated number of drammas from the revenue of the villages besides one dramma per house and also a Kumāragadyaṇaka. The names and other particulars of the donees are given below.

[1] Of these, verses 18 and 19 occur as verses 17 and 18 in the description of Arikēsarin in the Ṭhāṇā plates of the king, dated Saka 939.