North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF SOUTH KONKAN

village of) Vyaṅgarula and a jūhaka at Sayyāpalī—these three villages and other gifts, limited by their four boundaries specified above, which are not to be interfered with by any royal officer, together with the right of adjudication of suits[1], which are not to be entered by chāṭas[2] and bhaṭas and which, with the exception of previously made gifts to gods and Brāhmaṇas, are to be enjoyed by the learned teachers of religious students belonging to the Karkarōṇī branch of the holy Mattamayūra clan, and are to be preserved as long as the Moon and the Sun endure.

.. I have, besides, assigned a gadiyāṇa of gold from every vessel coming from foreign lands, and a dharaṇa of gold from every ship coming from Kandalamūlīya with the exception of Chēmūlya and Chandrapura and also families of dēva-dāsīs, a family of oilmen, a family of gardeners, a family of potters, a family of washermen and also land for the courtyard (of the temple) within the fort, the boundaries of which are stated (as follows):- on the east, the wall of a Jaina temple ; on the south, the Monkey gate ; on the west, the road to Śīvaṭa ; and on the north, a street-well ; and also, for a flower-garden, the land formerly known as ‘the Mare’s ground’ outside the fort. .

.. Therefore, future wise kings should preserve this religious gift of mine. And it has been said by the sages :—

(Here follow four verses about the preservation of gifts.)

..(line 68) He who, though thus entreated, will abolish this old religious gift, his mind being clouded by the Kali age, will experience its effect in a hell.

.. And it has been said (by the sages)

.. (Here follow two benedictory and imprecatory verses.)

.. (Line 71) Having understood these sayings of the sages, all future kings should only covet the religious reward of the preservation of this gift and should not incur the infamy of its confiscation.

.. In confirmation of the above gift, Raṭṭarāja puts his hand to his signature :—

.. “This is the signature of Me, the illustrious Raṭṭaaraja.”

.. (V. 27) A charter becomes authoritative when it is faultless in regard to its seal, faultless in regard to observance of rules, faultless as regards possession, and has the requisite marks, and is faultless as regards the king’s signature.

.. May there be bliss! This has been written by the son, named Lōkapārya, of the Sāndhivigrahika, the illustrious Dēvapala.

No. 42 : PLATES LXXXIII—LXXXVII
BALIPATTANA PLATES OF RAṬṬARĀJA : SAKA YEAR 932

.. THE original findspot of these plates is not known. They were in the possession of Prof. S. R. Bhandarkar, from whom his brother Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar obtained them. The latter made them over to Mr. Haran Chandra Chakladar, who has edited them with indifferent facsimiles in the Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. IV, pp. 203 f. As the original plates are not procurable now, they are edited here from the same facsimiles[3].
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[1] See C.I.I., Vol. IV, p. 154, n. 1.
[2] Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 25, n. 1.
[3] As the original find-spot of the plates is not known. Chakladhar named them as ‘Valipattana plates’.] The correct name of the royal capital from which the plates were issued was, however, Balipattana as va has been used for ba in several places in these grants of the Śilāhāras of Southern Koṅkaṇ.