North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

fluenced by Marathi (see saṁvatu 1. 1). The inscription is very laconically worded and so its meaning is somewhat uncertain.

..The inscription mentions Mahāmaṇḍalēśvarādhipati Anantadēva without any reference to his royal family, But the findspot of the record and the title Mahāmaṇdalēśvarādhipati pre-fixed to his name leave no doubt that he is the first homonymuos Śilāhāra king. The date Śaka 1003 falls in his reign, as another record of his time, viz. the Khārepāṭan plates[1], is dated only thirteen years later, in later, in Śaka 1016. The date of the present record does not admit of verification for want of the necessary details.

.. The contents of the present inscription have been variously understood. Dikshit took them to mean that during the reign of the Śilāhāra king Anantadēva, Ajyapanāyaka, son of Mātaiya of the Viyāḍika family, donated a house in the village of Vēṇāpaṭaṇa and some drammas to a Siddha or holy person possessed of miraculous power named Khirāmaṇaṅgapai. Tulpule, on the other hand, took the present record to mean that one Khai Rāmaṇaṁyapa donated to a Siddha a house in Vēṇāpāṭana and some drammas. As stated before, the inscription is very laconically worded and so its meaning is rather uncertain. But as shown below, there is no reference at all to any Siddha.[2] The inscription seems to record the donation of the revenue dues, accommodation cess[3] and the house-tax in drammas in the village Khairāmaṇa[4] to Ājyapānāyaka, the son of Māvaiya,[5] who belonged to the family named Viyāḍika. The donor is not mentioned, but he was probably the Śilāhāra king as the whole revenue of a village was donated. The inscription seems to be a public notification for the information of the residents of the village.

.. There is only one place-name Khairāmaṇa, mentioned in the present record. It cannot be definitely identified in the Ṭhāṇā District. There are still several village named Khairīin that district as in other districts of Mahārāshṭra, but none corresponding to the one mentioned here. Dikshit, who read Vēṇāpaṭaṇa[6] in line 4, suggested that it might be the old name of Vihār, where the inscribed stone was found, but of this there is no evidence.

TEXT[7]

[1] Below, No. 19.
[2] The word siddhāya, meaning ‘produce in food grains or revenue dues’ is mentioned in some other Śilāhāra inscriptions also.
[3] Paḍana, corresponding to paḍaṇaka in line 16 of No, 16, above, seems to denote ‘a cess for the accommodation of royal servants’.
[4] Dikshit and Tulpule read Khirāma, but the medial vowel of the first akshara seeme to be ai. rather than i.
[5] See below, p. 155. n. 2.
[6] The correct reading is dēṇā-paḍaṇam.
[7] From Plate No. 3 in Tulpule’s Prāchīna Marāthī Kōrīva Lēkha.
[8] Read अनंतदेवविजयराज्ये.
[9] Read अमात्य्रुद्रपैयादिषु श्रीकरणचिन्तां वहुत्सु.
[10] Read मावैयसुत. The second akshara of the name appears to be बै, rather than तै. See the form of त in सुत which follows.
[11] Bhagvanlal read अजापा-. The genitive is used for the dative.
[12] Read खैरामणे सिद्धाय‒. For the expression यत्र सिद्धाय:, see the same wording in lines 77, 80, 83, 87, 91, 100, 111, 114, 125, 132, 165 of No. 34, above.
[13] This word occurs elsewhere as देणक in the sense of ‘dues’. Cf. Marathi देणे See No. 16, line 15. Dikshit and Tulpule read वेणापटणां, but the first akshara of the word is clearly दे. पडणं corresponds to पडणक in lines 15-16 of No. 16. So no place like वेणापटण is named here.
[14] Read For गृहद्रम्मा दत्ता: । For गृहद्रम्म (the cess levied on a house in the locality), see No. 4 line 79, above.