North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF SOUTH KONKAN

..“These are three copper-plates, the second of which is engraved on both sides ; the other two are engraved on one side alone, except that the third plate has one line on the reverse side also. Each plate measures about 71/8”(18.10 cm.) long by 31/8”(7.94 cm.) broad. The plates are strung on a circular ring about ¼( .63 cm.) thick and about 2” (5.08 cm.) in diameter. The ring has soldered on to it the image of Garuḍa, who is represented as a man squatting with his hands clasped on the chest. There is a wing on the left shoulder, and the corresponding wing on the right shoulder is partially broken. The engraving is generally good and well preserved, but the corners of the second and third plates have got worn off with the loss of a few letters, and on the third plate the last line on the obverse and the line on the reverse side have become rather indistinct. Besides, the second plate has got a crack about 2” (5.08 cm.) from the top, but none of the letters has been lost. The size of the letters is about 3/16” (.48 cm.)”

.. The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet and generally resemble those of the preceding inscription, which as shown below, was written by the same scribe. He has, however, written this record more carelessly. The reading and interpretation of several words, especially in the formal portion of the grant, are uncertain. The language is Sanskrit, and the inscription is composed partly in verse and partly in prose. There is an admixture of Marathi words here and there. The grammatical construction is faulty in several places. In this respect, the preceding inscription was much better composed and written. The orthography shows the same peculiarities as in the Khārepāṭaṇ plates, as the writer of both was the same. .

.. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Mahāmāṇḍalika Raṭṭarāja of the Silāra (Śilāhāra) family. Unlike the preceding inscription, it does not give in the beginning the genealogy of the Rāshṭrakūṭas, nor does it mention any Chālukya suzerain of the Śilāhāra king, though, as shown below, the present inscription was issued only two years later. It gives the genealogy of the Śilāhāras exactly as in the Khārepāṭaṇ plates, all the verse being repeated, though there are minor variations in wording in a few places. Raṭṭarāja called himself Māṇḍalika in the Khārepāṭaṅ plates, and described himself as meditating on the feet of the Later Chālukya king Satyāśraya, who is mentioned with Imperial titles therein. Here the name of the suzerain is omitted, and Raṭṭarāja is seen to have assumed a higher title, viz. Mahāmāṇḍalika.

.. The inscription was issued from Balipattana, which was evidently the capital of Raṭṭarāja. It is dated I the Śaka year 932, expressed both in words and numerical figures, on the occasion of the Uttarāyaṇa Saṅkrānti, which fell on Sunday, the 1st tithi of the dark fortnight of Pushya (i.e. Pausha), the cyclic year being Sādhāraṇa. The date can be completely verified. The cyclic year corresponding to Śaka 932 (expired) was Sādhāraṇa according to the Southern luni-solar system, as stated here. The first tithi of the dark fortnight of Pausha fell on Sunday, the corresponding Christian date being the 24th December A.D. 1010. The Uttarāyaṇa or Makara-Saṅkrānti occurred at 23 h. 20 m. on Saturday, the 23rd December A.D. 1010. The religious rites on the occasion must have been performed in the morning next day.

.. The object of the inscription is to record certain gifts made by Raṭṭarāja to Saṅkamaiya, son of the Brāhmaṇa Nāgamaiya. No. information about the gōtra or Vedic learning etc. of the donee is given, but his father Nāgamaiya is called Sēṇāvaї (Sanskrit, Sēnāpati ?)[1]. So the gift seems to have been made for some consideration other than religious. The things donated were (1) a rice-field, yielding two crops annually (known as vāiṅgaṇa in Koṅkaṇ) in the rice-village Kalvāla, and (2) an areca-nut orchard in the hamlet Āvaḍa, west of the agrahāra village Palaürē. The boundaries of both were sated, but owing to bad preservation of the record, the place-names are doubtful in many cases. The inscription closes with the same
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[1] Perhaps Sēṇāvaї is modern Śēṇavī, a Brāhmaṇa sub-caste noticed in Koṅkaṇ. Many persons of this caste are mentioned in an inscription at Paṇḍharpur (P.M.K.L., pp. 178 and 180.)