North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

sins together with minor sins and will experience for a long time (the pangs of ) hells such as Raurava, Mahāraurava and Andhatāmisra.

..And this has been declared by the holy Vyāsa :-

..(Here follows an imprecatory verse.)

.. (Line 70). And as it is, the giver of the charter records his approval by the hand of the scribe.” “What is written in this charter has been approved by Me, the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, the illustrious Chhintarājadēva, the son of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, the illustrious Vajjaḍarājadēva.”

.. And this has been written by me, the Treasury Officer, the illustrious Jōupaiya, the nephew of the Treasury Officer, the great poet, the illustrious Nāgalaiya.

..Whatever is written here−in deficient or redundant syllables−all that is authoritative. May there be prosperity ! May there be happiness ! May there be happiness and great prosperity !

No. 12 : PLATES XXXIII and XXXIV
CHINCHAṆĪ PLATE OF THE REIGN OF CHHITTARAJA : SAKA YEAR 956

THIS plate was found together with eight others at Chinchaṇī in the Ḍahāṇu tāluka of the Ṭhāṇā District, North Kōṅkaṇ, in 1955. They were noticed by an agriculturist while digging in his field. The nine plates formed five different grants. They were briefly noticed by Dr. U. P. Shah in the Bombay Secretariat Record Office Report for 1955-56, pp. 28 f. All the grants were later edited by Dr. D. C. Sircar with facsimile plates in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXII, pp. 63 f. The present plate is edited here from its facsimiles in that Journal, facing pp. 66-67.

..It is a single copper plate measuring 10.5” (26.67 cm.) in length and 7.5” (19.05 cm.) in height, its thickness being 1” (2.5 cm.). It has a ring-hole at the top, but no ring or seal was found with it. The plate weighs 77.5 tolās (903.96 gm.). The writing on it is in a good state of preservation.

..The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet as in the early inscriptions of the Śilāhāras. The record is rather carelessly written, the letters ch, dh and v having similar forms. The language is Sanskrit, and the record is written partly in prose and partly in verse. It has a considerable portion common with the Śilāhāra records of the age and was evidently drafted by some one who had good knowledge of them. As regards orthography, we may note the usual substitution of v for b and of s for ś and the reduplication of the consonant following r. See śavda, line 2, saraṇāgata, line 3 and sarvva, line 1 respectively.

..The inscription refers itself to the reign of Chāmuṇḍarāja, a feudatory of the Śilāhāra king Chhinturāja (i.e. Chhittarāja). It states that he was ruling over the Saṁyānapattana, which was made over to him by the Śīlāra king Chhinturāja. The latter bears in this record most of the titles mentioned in his other records such as Mahāsāmantādhipati, Tagarapuraparamēśvara, Suvarṇagaruḍadhvaja and so on. Chāmuṇḍarāja, though a feudatory prince, beras such high-sounding titles as Mahāsāmantādhipati, Nijabhuja-Vikramāditya, Arimaṇḍalikādhīśa and so on. He evidently occupied a high rank among the feudatories of the Śilāhāra king Chhittarāja. One of his titles mentioned here. viz. Lāṭa-prākāra-rāya-dhvaṁsaka refers to his victory over the ruler of Lāṭa (Central and Southern Gujarat). This was evidently a memorable victory which enhanced his influence at the Śilāhāra court.