North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

rims are raised to a height of about 1 cm., to protect the writing. The first plate contains the figure of Lakshmī, the usual design to be seen on the plates issued by the Chandēlla rulers, in the middle of the first three lines, and at the bottom, a space for a hole, interrupting the writing in the middle of the last line. But what is peculiar is that the hole, interrupting the writing of the letters on the first plate is about ∙5 cm.; on the second it is slightly bigger. Each of the plates weighs 2 kgms. and 108 gms.

The characters are Dēvanāgarī of about the 12th century A.C. The letters are distinct and well written, but the formation of v, ch, dh and r is such as to cause difficulty in distinguishing them from each other ; and the letters also share the peculiarities of the work done by Pālhaṇa, who engraved some other plates also, about which we have already remarked above,¹ e.g., the omission of parts of some of the letters, and of the signs of anusvāra and the superscript r, as to be noticed respectively, in Bhōma- (for Sōma-) in l. 9, and shaṭtriṁśat and varttamāna, both in line 8.

The language is Sanskrit ; and, with the exception of the introductory verse eulogising the race of the Chandrātrēyas and seven imprecatory verses in the end, the record is entirely in prose. It consists of 32 lines, 18 of which are engraved on the first plate and the remaining 14 on the second. The orthographical peculiarities are as in the preceding grants, for example, (a) the use of the sign of v to denote b also, e.g., in samvōdhayati, l. 7 ; (b) a confusion between the correct use of the palatal ś for the dental s ; see silpi- and visva-, both in l. 32 and prāśāda in l. 24 ; and (c) the doubling of a class-consonant following r, as in svargga, l. 26. The influence of local pronunciation is noticed in the use of y for j in yāmadagnya in l. 12 ; examples of wrong sandhis in –pravarēbhyō = chhandōga, l. 12, and bahiḥ = kṛita-, l. 14 ; and the visarga of bhavadbhiḥ, which is the last word of a verse in l. 28, is combined with the following r.

It is royal charter issued by the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara, the illustrious Paramardidēva, who, from the expression “lord of Kālañjara”, was evidently the Chandēlla ruler. The text is copied verbatim from the preceding record, excepting the portion dealing with the details of the grant. The object of it is to record the royal donation of the whole land in the village Sagauḍō, included in the vishaya of Kirāyiḍa, by Paramardidēva. The grant was perpetual and it was made in favour of four Brāhmaṇas, all hailing from the Bhaṭṭāgrahāra known as Mutāütha. All the Brāhmaṇas belonged to the Vatsa gōtrā and had the five pravaras, Vatsa, Bhārgava, Chyavana, Āpnuvāna and Jāmadagnya, and all were the students of the Chhāndōgya śākhā.

The following table is intended to show the names of the Brāhmaṇa donees, with some other details: No. Name of the done Father’s name Shares donated 1 Sōmēka Dāvara 2 2 Svapaṭa2 Bāhlē 1 3 Ratana (Ratna) Pāpē 1 4 Sīḍha Sūlhaṇa 1 Total = 5 shares. The grant was issued by the king from Vilāsapura, the same place from which the previous grant was also issued. It may be noted here that one of the donees of the previous grant, viz., Kēśavaśarman also hailed from the same place as of the present grant ; and it is also noteworthy that in the gift-village exclusion was made of the five halas of land which had already been donated to a Buddhist (monastery ?), l. 14, which appears to have been in existence there some time in the past.

Among the royal officers mentioned in the grant, we also find āṭavika in l. 22, denoting one in charge of forest and wild tribes, as noted by Hiralal, who also invited attention to the same word in Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra.³ But there is another expression which appears here for the first time, viz., sakāruka-paṅka-vaṇig-vāstavya. While publishing Hiralal’s article in the Epigraphia
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¹ See above, No. 126.
² This name is perhaps Sūpaṭa, as we find in some other grants of the house, e.g., in the Sēmrā grant, No. 126, ll. 65, 70 (twice) and 104.
³ See n. on the same word in l. 22.