North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

Indica, the editor remarked that “the exact implication of this expression is not understood”, but at the same time he is inclined to suggest that perhaps it means “together with potter’s mud and what has been left by merchants.”¹ I am, however, afraid this explanation is not at all suitable here ; and I may suggest that the word kāruka appears to be the same as kāru, i.e., an artizan, and paṅka-vaṇik means one who is a trader in a thick mass or large quantities.² And last of all, Vāstavya is used here to denote an inhabitant, it being formed according to Pāṇini. Vārtika No. 1920.

The inscription is dated, in ll. 8-9, on Monday, the seventh of the bright half of Chaitra, falling in the year 1236. which is expressed both in word and numerical figures. According to Hiralal, this year, which is of course to be taken as of the Vikrama era, regularly corresponds to Monday, the 27th March, 1178 A. C., taking it to be northern current,³ as shown by the word upēta. It is one of the few Chandēlla grants expressing the northern current year.

The charter was drafted, or rather adopted from that of the preceding grant with necessary changes, by the illustrious Śubhānanda of the Vāstavya family, by the order of the king. It was engraved by the artizan Pālhaṇa, the son of Rajapāla. It may be noted here that both these persons are the same who drafted and engraved, respectively, the previous and some other royal charters issued by the house. The sign-manual of the king is incised in line 29.

Of the geographical places mentioned in the inscription, Kālañjara (l. 4) is of course the well-known fort in the Banda District, and Vilāsapura, the place where the grant was issued (l. 8), is Pachhār, as we have already seen. Kirāyiḍa, after which the vishaya was known (ll. 5-6), has been suggested by Hiralal to be identical with Kirāḍi, about 12 kms. from Mahōbā. I have not been able to trace Sagauḍō the gift-village (l. 6), in the vicinity ; and last of all, Mutāütha, the original place of the donees (l. 11), cannot be identified for want of the details.

TEXT⁴

[Metres : Verses 1-5 Anushṭubh ; v. 6 Śālinī ; v. 7 Mālinī].

First Plate

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¹ N. 2 on l. 19, in Hiralal’s article.
² Cf., e.g., agaru-paṅka, kēsara-paṅka, and such other words. The Hindi word for it is ghōla.
³ See Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 129.
⁴ From Hiralal’s transcript in Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 129.
⁵ Expressed by a symbol, as usual. It has not been noted by Hiralal. It is for
⁶ This punctuation mark is redundant, as some others below. We may also remark here in a general way. that the curve on the top stroke
above the preceding may not have been engraved at all, or it is faint and hence it did not come out in the impression, from which Hiralal
prepared his transcript : and thus he read tē instead of ti. So is the case of his reading pē for pi. For similar reason, the mātrā of dhū was
taken by him as dh and v as r in this line. Errors of this type exist throughout, which are due to the carelessness of the engraver Pālhaṇa, as
often noted by us.