Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

  During the year 1945-46 the Epigraphical Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India examined 56 copper plate charters and copied 355 stone inscriptions, the majority of which belong to South India. Among the copper plates the following are of outstanding importance.

  Two (Nos. 52 and 53) pertain to the Śarabhapura king Mahāsudēvarāja. They are both dated in the 7th regnal year. One of them is issued from Śarabhapura and the other (No. 53 ; plate) from Śrīpura. The latter describes the king as the son of Mahādurggarāja, a name hitherto unknown in the genealogy of the Śarabhapura kings. It mentions Sarvādhikārādhikṛita Śrī Mahāsāmanta Indrabalarāja as the dūtaka. This individual may be identical with Indrabala of the Kharod inscription (Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1651), the ancestor of the Pāṇḍava kings of Southern Kōsala. From this it would follow that the Śarabhapura chiefs were succeeded by the Pāṇḍava kings of Southern Kōsala. The Pāṇḍava kings might have started their career as feudatories of the Śarabhapura kings whom they eventually overthrew about the 6th century A.D.

   The Bārdūla plates of the Sōmavaṁśī king Mahāśivagupta (No. 51), the Jurērpur plate of the Nanda king Dēvānandadēva (No. 56) and the Bilaigarh plates of the Kalachuri ruler Pṛithvīdēva II dated in the Kalachuri year 896 (No. 50) are again among the charters that come from the Central Provinces and Chhattisgarh. The first, dated in the 9th year of the king’s reign, registers a gift by the king of the village Vaṭapadraka situated in the Kośīra-Nandapura¬vishaya to Nārāyaṇa-haṁsōpādhyāya and other Brāhmaṇas. The second, issued from Jayapura, mentions the territorial division named Airāvaṭa and records the gift of a village situated in this division to Dēvapāla Bhaṭṭa. Airāvaṭa has been located in the Cuttack District, the place having been identified with Raṭāgarh ; and Jayapura from which the charter was issued may be held to be identical with Jaipur in the Dhenkanal State. The last mentioned Bilaigarh plates record the grant by the king of the village Paṇḍaratalāī in Ēvaḍimaṇḍala to a Brāhmaṇa named Dēlhuka alias Brahmadēva of the Vasta-gōtra. The gift-village which is also mentioned in one of the Sheorinārāyan temple inscriptions may possibly be identified with the village Pendria, the nearest of the villages bearing the same name, to the findspot of the plates.

   Three charters (Nos. 1, 2 and 3) received from the Collector of Vizagapatam belong to the Eastern Chālukya king Pṛithvī-Jayasiṁhavallabha. One of them (No. 1), dated in the 18th regnal year, cites a lunar eclipse and gives other astronomical details which show that this king began to rule in A.D. 641 and also fix the starting point of the Eastern Chālukya chronology at A.D. 624. These records are under publication in the Epigraphia Indica by Mr. M. S. Sarma who examined them independently.

   A set of five plates belonging to the Western Chālukya king Vijayāditya (No. 49) was discovered at Shiggaon, Dharwar District, Bombay Province. The record is dated Śaka 630, the 11th regnal year, and is issued from the king’s camp at Kisuvolal. It records the gift of a village by the king to a Jina-bhavana erected by the princess Kuṅkumadēvī. The gift is stated to have been made at the instance of the Āḷupa chief Chitravāhana at the time when the king visited Vanavāsī to meet the Āḷupa ruler. Kisuvolal, the king’s camp, may be identified with Raktapura which is but a Sanskrit rendering of Kisuvolal. Fleet had identified it with Paṭṭadakal in the Bijapur District of the Bombay Presidency. The princess Kuṅkumadēvī is mentioned as a sister of Vijayāditya in a late 11th century record. Her mention in a contemporary record like the present one is thus of great interest.

   A grant of the Eastern Gaṅga king Sāmantavarman, dated in the 64th year (of the Gāṅga era) (No. 5), records the gift of the village of Pratishṭhāpura to certain Brāhmaṇas. The record is one of the few early Gaṅga charters dated in this era.

   A copper plate inscription of the Orissa chief Mukunda Bāhubalēndra bearing the Śaka date 1517 (No. 7) was received for examination from the Madras Museum. It deserves notice as it is the only grant on copper known so far of this chief, who is described as the son of a Bāhubalēndra.