North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

orthography shows the usual peculiarities of the reduplication of a consonant after r (see chakravartti, line 2), and the use of chh for ts in the line saṁvachharē, line 6. Several old Marathi forms occurring in lines 6-11 are also noteworthy.

..The inscription refers itself to the reign of Sōmēśvara, evidently the last Śilāhāra king of that name ruling over North Koṅkaṇ, who bears the imperial titles of Mahārājādhirāja and Kōṅkaṇachakravartī. It is dated on the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight of Chaitra in the Śaka year 1181, the cyclic year being Siddhārtha. The following ministers of his government are mentioned in this connection‒Mahāmātya Jhampaḍaprabhu, Mahāsāndhi vigrahika Taijaprabhu, and the Minister in charge of the Secretariat Dādaprabhu. Of these, Jhampaḍaprabhu is mentioned also in the Chaudharapāḍā inscription of Kēśidēva II, dated Śaka 1161.

.. The object of the inscription is to record the grant, by the King (Rāula), of the proceeds of some fields in Uraṇa-Paḍivasē (i.e. Padivasē near Uraṇ)[1], on the occasion of a Sūrya-parvan (a holy occasion sacred to the Sun). This was not a solar eclipse; for no such eclipse occurred on the date mentioned above. It was Saṅkrānti as stated at the end. The dated of the inscription cannot be verified for want of the necessary details, but the cyclic year corresponding to Śaka 1181 was, according to the southern luni-solar system, Siddhārtha, as stated here. The date corresponds to the 25th March A.D. 1259, when the amāvāsyā of the Adhika Chaitra ended 19 h. 40 m. after mean sunrise. Gifts are not generally made in an intercalary month, but this tithi was chosen probably because it was also the day of the Mēsha-saṅkrānti. The latter occurred 18 h. 15 m. after mean sunrise on that day. The date can thus be verified in a way.

..The only place-names mentioned in the present inscription are Uraṇa and Paḍivasē. Of these, Uraṇa still retains its ancient name and lies 10 miles from Panvēl in the Kolābā District. Rānvaḍ, where the inscribed stone was found, is near Uraṇ, but no place like Paḍivasē can now be traced in the neighbourhood.

Text[2]

[1] See a similar expression Nāgapura-Nandivardhana occurring in the Deoḷi plates of Kṛishṇa III (Ep. Ind., Vol. V, pp. 192 f.), which is taken to mean Nandivardhana near Nāgapura.
[2] From an estampage supplied by the Chief Epigraphist and Plate XXXV in P.M.K.L.
[3] Expressed by a symbol.
[4] Sankalia-Upadhyaya read चंद(द्र)प्रभु.
[5] Read समयीं (Marāṭhī). Sankalia-Upadhyaya suggest the reading सोमे.
[6] All previous editors read लेऊन, but it makes no sense. The first akshara appears to be न. नेऊन (Marāṭhī) means ‘having taken or invited’.
[7] Dikshit reads नारायणपर्वनिमित्तें, and takes it to mean अमावास्यानिमित्तें, but नारियले is quite clear here Sankalia-Upadhyaya read नारियले पावें निमित्तें and Tulpule नारियलें पर्वनिमित्तें. Our reading gives a better sense.
[8] Read ह्या वृत्ती (these fields).
[9] Sanskrit-Upadhyaya have not read these nine words. Dikshit reads एतेषां चरितार्थ-निमित्तें, and Tulpule follows him, but चरितार्थ is a modern Marathi word, not noticed in early Marathi.