INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN
..Success ! During the increasingly victorious reign of the illustrious Mahārājādhirāja,
Paramēśvara, Pṛīthvīvallabha, the illustrious Mahārāja Amōghavarsha (I), while the great
Chief, the illustrious Pullaśakti is governing the whole country of Kōṅkaṇa headed by
Purī−(Pullaśakti) who meditates on the feet of the illustrious Kapardin (I) and who has
obtained (the titles of ) Mahāsāmanta and Kōṅkaṇavallabha by his (i.e. Amōghavarsha’s) grace−
the respectable old Amātya, the illustrious Vishṇugupta, son of the Sarvādhyaksha, the illustrious
Pūrṇahari, after having made obeisance to the Holy Community (Saṅgha) a
t the famous
Kṛishṇagiri, (has donated), out of great kindness, twenty drammas for the worship of the holy
(Buddha); three (drammas), for the repairs of what may be damaged or ruined in this very
vihāra. For the raiment of the Venerable Community, five drammas shall be expended and
for (religious) books, one dramma [1]. As a perpetual endowment [he has deposited] here forty
drammas (and) forty, and (also) one hundred and twenty drammas [2]
. (The disposition as to the
expenditure) of these drammas should be guarded like (one’s ) wife and sons. In the year [765].
No. 2 : PLATES III AND IV
..THIS inscription is engraved on the architrave of the verandah of Cave X, the Darbār or
Mahārāja’s Cave at Kānhērī. It was first brought to notice by Dr. E. W. West, who puplished an eye-copy of it in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol VI
(1862), pp. 1 f. He numbered this inscription as 15. Thereafter, Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji
published a translation of only its initial portion in the same Journal, Vol. XIII (1879), p. 11,
with the following remarks:- “As these (i.e. West’s) facsimiles cannot be read properly, I
went myself to the caves on 20th November 1876 to take a correct one; but the inscriptions
being at a great height, and having no means to reach them, I could, with difficulty, take a
transcript of the name of the king and the date, which are at the beginning of eh inscription.”
The translation of this inscription was republished in the Inscriptions from the Cave-Temples ofWestern India (1881), p.61. In 1884, Dr. Kielhorn published a transcript of the text and a
translation of it, and discussed its contents in the Indian Antiquary , Vol. XIII, pp. 133 f. His
edition was not, however, accompanied by a facsimile of the record. I edit the inscription
here from excellent impressions supplied by Mr. M.N. Deshpande of the Archaeological
Department. I have consulted Dr. West’s eye-copy and Dr. Kielhorn’s transcript in reading
the text of the present inscription.
..âThe inscription consists of six lines. The first three lines are each 11’ 81/2” (356.87 cm)
long, the two next each 17’ 8” (538.48 cm ) long and the last is 11’ 81/2” (356.87 cm) long. The
letters are about 2” (5.08 cm) high; they are not carved very regularly, but are broader and
deeper than in the other inscriptions (Nos. 1 and 3). The inscription is in a fair state of
preservation. [3]â ________________
The interest on the perpetual endowments was to be spent for the four objects mentioned here. The reading
and, therefore, the interpretation of this portion are, however, uncertain. I have followed Kielhorn in
regard to them. The deposited amounts (viz. 40, 40 and 120) are separately mentioned, because, as
Kielhorn surmised, they were entrusted to different persons or See C.I.I., Vol, pp. 1 f.
Kielhorn read kāṁchana (gold) in place of ekaṁ (one more), and supposed that the 120 drammas were of
gold. This is incorrect. The dramma was a silver coin. See Studies in Indology, Vol. IV, pp. 213 f.
Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 133.
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