North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

..bhaṭtōpādhyāya, who belonged to the Bhāradvāja gōtra and the Taittirīya śākhā and had hailed from Vārāṇasī. The purpose of the grant was to provide far the performance of bali, charu etc., the reception of guests and maintenance of the donee’s family. The object of the grant was the village Khairaḍī situated in the vishaya of Praṇālaka together with the orchards therein and also the royal tax in drammas levied on houses and tress situated therein. The boundaries of the donated village are mentioned as follows :‒on the east, the village Karajāṇi and a tree on the Kela river; on the south, the boundary of the village Tālasura; on the west, the river on the boundary of (the village) Haḍavatthara; and on the north, the village Uchchhupa and the river Kētaki.

..The grant was made by Aparāditya on the occasion of a lunar eclipse, on Monday, the 15th tithi of the bright fortnight of Āśvina in the expired Śaka year 1061 (expressed both in words and figures), the cyclic year being Siddhārtha. The date is perfectly regular and corresponds to the 9th October A.D. 1139, while was a Monday and on which there was a lunar eclipse. The cyclic year also was Siddhārtha according to the Southern luni-solar system.

.. It seems that Vikramāditya was very dear to Aparāditya, who had appointed him in supercession of his other sons, to govern the southern part of his kingdom with his capital at Praṇālaka in his life-time. So, having made the grant, he asked his son to execute it as the donated village lay in his territory (Praṇālaka-vishaya). It seems that after the death of Aparādītya, the kingdom was partitioned between Haripāladēva, who was probably the elder son who obtained North Koṅkaṇa, and Vikramditya, who continued to rule in South Koṅkaṇ. No successor of Vikramāditya is known. On the other hand, there are several inscriptions of Haripāladēva ranging in date from Śaka 1070 to Śaka 1075. They do not, however, give any genealogy of the king. Haripāladēva may have been Vikramāditya’s elder brother as the interval between the date of Vikramāditya’s present grant and that of the earliest record of Haripāladēva is only about 9 years. Haripāladēva may have extended his rule to South Koṅkaṇ after the death of Vikramāditya. That this territory continued to be under the rule of the Northern Śilāhāras is shown by the Chipḷūṇ stone inscription (No. 28) of Mallikārjuna, the successor of Haripāladeva. Later, it was occupied by the Śilāhāras of Kolhāpur as shown by the Kaśeḷī copper-plate inscription .

.. The present inscription mentions the following officers‒Mahāmātya Khētama Ṭhakkura, who was placed in charge of the whole kingdom, and Mahāpradhāna Śaṅkaranāyaka, who was placed in charge of the Praṇālaka-rājya, i.e. Sothern kingdom; the name of the Sāndivigrahika has not been mentioned, though some space for engraving it has been left blank. The Senior Treasury Officer was Mahāpradhāna Lakshmaṇaiyaprabhu; the Junior Treasury Officer’s name has, again, not been mentioned, though space has been left for engraving it. The scribe who wrote the grant with the permission of the Sāndhivigrahika was Lakshmīdhara Paṇḍita, son of Nāgasvāmī Paṇḍita. Of these officers, Lakshmaṇaiya Prabhu has been mentioned in the Vaḍavalī grant and in the earlier Cintra and Chānje ins- criptions. Again, Mahāmātya Khētama Ṭhakkura may be identical with Mālikhētaya Ṭhākura of the Cintra inscription.

.. As for the localities mentioned in the present grant, Praṇālaka, the headquarters of the vishaya of that name, is modern Panhāḷe Kājī, where the plates were found. Khairaḍī, the donated village, is modern Khērḍī, about 5 miles north of Dāpolī. Among its boundary villages, Karajāṇi is modern Karaganj, 11/2 miles south of Khairḍī. Uchchhupa is probably Ushipkhorē, 1 mile from Kherḍī; Haḍavatthara is Hoḍavāḍī, two miles to the north. Marutkshētra is evedently Muruḍ in the Kolābā District. It is probably identical Muru mentioned in the Chānje inscription (No. 22).