South Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

  Two sets of plates (Nos. 10 and 11, published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, pp. 272 ff. ) were received for examination from the Superintendent of Archaeology and Museum, Government of Orissa. Both of them belong to the Bhañja dynasty. No. 10, issued from Vañjulvaka, is dated in the first year of Śilābhañja Tribhuvanakalaśa and records the grant of the village of Dēūlaḍḍa in Śalvaḍa-vishaya in favour of the Brāhmaṇa Lumvādēva. This is the only record of the king so far discovered. It furnishes the information that Śilābhañja was the son of Diśābhañja and grandson of Raṇabhañja. Since the grant was issued from Vañjulvaka and not from Dhṛitipura, the earlier capital of these Bhañjas, Śilābhañja Tribhuvanakalaśa may be identified with Śilābhañja II, represented in some records of the family as the son of Digbhañja (a variant of Diśābhañja) and grandson of Raṇabhañja of Dhṛitipura. No. 11 was also issued from Vañjulvaka by Rāṇaka Nēṭṭabhañja Tribhuvanakalaśa who bears the epithet Paramavaishṇava. The king is represented as the son of Rāyabhañjadēva and grandson of Pṛithvībhañjadēva. It seems that Nēṭṭabhañja Tribhuvanakalaśa flourished sometime after another king of the Bhañja family of Vañjulvaka, named Nēṭṭabhañja Kalyāṇakalaśa II. The charter records the grant of the village of Sēḍā in the Nānākhaṇḍa vishaya to Bhaṭṭa Dāuli hailing from Vātalaviḍima in the 13th year of the king’s reign. The document which is stated to have been registered by Jīvalōkamahādēvī, probably a queen of Nēṭtab6hañja, bears on its seal the emblem of a lion facing left.

  No. 12 discovered at Ghūmlī in Nawanagar (Saurashtra) was secured for examination from the Superintendent of Archaeology, Government of Saurashtra. It belongs to Rāṇaka Bāshkaladēva, surnamed Kuṁkumalōla, and registers the grant of the village of Karalī situated in Jyēshṭuka-dēśa in Bhūtāmbilī that formed a part of Nava-Surāshṭra-maṇḍala. The donee was the Brāhmaṇa Dāmōdara, a resident of Aṇahilapura. The grant was made by the king at Yajñavaṭa-tīrtha on the occasion of his pilgrimage to Piṇḍatāraka on Monday the 15th of the bright half of Vaiśākha in V. S. 1045. The date corresponds to April 22, 989 A. D. The village of Ghūmlī previously yielded six other copper-plate grants, all of which belong to kings of the Saindhava family ruling at Bhūtāmbilikā (modern Ghūmlī) from circa 740 to 920 A. D. (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVI, p. 222). Between Jāīka II (899-919 A. D.), who is the latest known member of the family claiming descent from the Jayadratha vaṁśa, and Rāṇaka Bāshkaladēva of the present record, there is a gap of about 70 years. Bāshkaladēva was apparently not a member of the same family. The inscription has been published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXI, pp. 11 ff.

   No. 1, from Bangaon (Bhagalpur District, Bihar), is a Pāla charter issued from the Jayaskandhāvāra at Kāñchanapura which is as yet unknown from any other Pāla inscription. It is dated in the 17th year of the reign of king Vigrahapāla III, son of Nayapāla. The date is important inasmuch as it proves that scholars, who favour a short reign-period for Vigrahapāla III and a longer one for his grandfather Vigrahapāla II, are wrong. The charters records the grant of a plot of land, situated at Vasukāvartta in the Hōdrēya vishaya of Tīrabhukti (modern Tirhut in North Bihar), actually made by a Brāhmaṇa officer of the Pāla emperor out of his own fief, although it has been represented as a grant of the emperor himself. This was due to the fact that the king had to ratify the creation of rent-free holdings by his fief-holdings. The inscription points to the great esteem in which the Brāhmaṇas of Kōlāñcha were held by the local Brāhmaṇas of Eastern India in the early medieval period. This fact may have been responsible for the growth of Kulinism in North Bihar and Bengal. Prahastitarāja, described as a son of the Pāla king, figures as the dūta of the record and is also referred to as a mantrin. This record is published in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIX, pp. 48 ff.

   No. 3 from Pañjim (Goa) is a charter of king Jayakēśin I of the Kadamba house of Goa. It records the grant of a deserted village called Laghumōrambikā in Gōpaka-dvīpa-vishaya to Chhaḍama, the chief of the king’s bodyguards, evidently for populating it. It was stipulated that the donee should pay rent at the rate of thirty Bhairava-nishkas annually for the first ten years and thirtyfive Bhairava-nishkas per year subsequently. The record is dated Śaka 981 corresponding to 1059 A.D.

   Another copper-plate charter (No. 2) of this family comes from Sadāśivagaḍ (North Kanara District, Bombay). It records the grant of land at Aruvige, a village included in the tract of Marruvaṭṭugaḍalu, by king Vijayāditya in favour of a Brāhmaṇa named Gōvinda. It is interesting to note that Vijayāditya is