North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF SOUTH KONKAN

..(V. 20). From him was descended king Avasara (III), possessed of great discrimination. Wise as he himself was, he gave support to learned men. He was brave and had a very handsome form.

.. (V. 21). From him was born the king, Raṭṭa by name, the foremost among the meritorious, conversant with political wisdom, and self-controlled, who waits upon those who are proficient in the principles of political science. .

.. The Māṇḍalika the illustrious Raṭṭarāja, who meditates on (the feet of) the illustrious Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja Satyāśraya, having called together all residents of towns and villages (and) chief Amātyas connected with himself, (informs them as follows) :—“Be it known to you, that having realised that youth is being devoured by (the demoness) Pūtanā in the form of old age hidden inside (the body), that the pangs of separation from dear persons are like those experienced in a hell, that the body is affected by diseases, old age and death, and that wealth and life are like the drops of water on a lotus-leaf tossed by wind, and having thought over the rewards of gifts and having understood the import of the sayings of sages, viz.,

.. “Gold was the first product of Agni, land belongs to Vishṇu and the cows are offsprings of the Sun. So, he who gives in charity gold, a cow and land would get the merit of donating the three worlds, viz. those of Agni, Vishṇu and the Sun,”

.. I have donated—in honour of My parents and for My own spiritual welfare¬—on the full-moon tithi of Jyēshṭha in the years nine hundred increased by thirty which have elapsed by the era of the Śaka king, the cyclic year being Kīlaka, for the worship with fivefold offerings of the holy Avvēśvara, for the repairs of what may be broken and dilapidated (of the god’s temple), for the food and raiment of the ascetics and for the use of students, learned people and visitors, as a reward of learning, to my learned preceptor, the illustrious Ātrēya, who is a bee inside the lotuses in the form of the feet of his preceptor, the holy Ambhōjaśambhu, who has dispelled the pitchy darkness of ignorance by the sun of true knowledge obtained from a series of preceptors of the Karkarōṇī branch of the famous Mattamayūra clan ; who, by his great austerities, has destroyed all attachment to worldly objects ; who, by the light of ture knowledge, has revealed the way to heaven and liberation ; and who has secured fame in the three worlds by his success in profound meditation (samādhi),—the following three villages—

(1) the village of kūshmāṇḍī, the boundaries of which are stated (as follows)— on the east, the cistern (prapā[1]) of Maṇigrāma; on the south, by the road to the village of Vāparavaṭa; on the west, by the water-course of the village Sachāndalakapittha; on the north ; (and) by a salt river (kshāra-nadī)[2] ;

(2) the village of Asanavīra; which has on the east Dhārāvāhalā[3] ; on the south, the river of the village Kāraparṇī, on the west, the sea ; (and) on the north, the river of the village Gavahaṇa (and)

(3) the village Vaḍaṅgula, which is bounded on the east by the twin rock of the Bhōgadēva hill ; on the south, by the water course of Akhaḍada ; on the west, by the rock of Paṭasaḍa; (and) on the north, by the Sīsavī hill of the village Stāmāna ;

.. Besides these, a jīvalōka (field) at the village of Dēvalakshmī, a Chākāntara at (the
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[1] Prapā usually means a place where water is supplied to thirsty cattle and travellers. That meaning is inapplicable here. Bāl Gaṅgādhar Śāstrī took it to mean ‘a creek’, because ‘the Marathi synonym poi in the dialect of ‘Southern Koṅkaṇ has that meaning’. Kielhorn translates it as ‘a cistern’.
[2] This may mean ‘ a creek’.
[3] Kielhorn translated this as ‘a water-course caused by heavy showers of rain’, but suggested also that it may be a proper name like ‘Akhaḍada-vāhalā’ below. Vāhaḷa, in Marathi, means ‘a small stream’.