North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

each of them is mentioned here with the usual title of Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara, with an additional epithet of Kālañjar-ādhipati attached to the name of Dhaṅgadēva. Then come the formal portion, followed by the date, which we have seen above ; and with the five oft-quoted imprecatory verses, the document comes to a close. In the end there is the sign-manual of the king.

   Of the geographical names mentioned in the record, Kālañjara (l. 7) is the well-known fort ; and Kāśikā (l. 8) is the renowned Vārāṇasī, as we have seen above. I am unable to identify Dūrvāhara, the habitation of the donee, and the grant village Chulli or Yulli (ll. 9-10). The maps at my disposal show a place Dēvrāo, which is roughly about 80 kms. south-east of Jhānsī ; but besides some similarity in the names and the situation of the latter in the region of Bundelkhand, we have nothing to establish its identity with Dūrvāhara. Or it may be identical with Dhurvai, c. 55 kms. west of Jaitpur. The grant village is described as Ūsharavāha-pratibaddha ; this expression, as far as I think, is not a place-name but an adjective of the word grāma, in the sense of ‘connected with or bounded by a barren spot’, and along with it, we may take the other expression sa-sār-ōsharaṁ, i.e., fertile and saline soil. Lastly, Tarkārikā, the original home of the donee (l. 9), seems to be the same as mentioned variously as Tarkārika, Ṭakkārikā, Ṭakkārī or Ṭakārī in epigraphic records as the original home of Brāhmaṇa donees as well as of the Vāstavya family of the Kāyasthas. Our attention has been drawn by Dr. V. V. Mirashi to the fact that there were more than one place of this name:^[1] some of these were situated in Mālwā, as we have seen while editing the Māndhatā grants of Dēvapāla and Jayavraman,^[2] while some others in Uttar Pradesh ; and though nothing can definitely be said about the location of this place, the Tarkārikā of the present record appears to be the same as situated about 25 kms. north-west of Gayā in Bihar, as pointed out by Mirashi.^[3] It is easy to understand a man from Gayā going to Vārāṇasī to receive the donation made by Dhaṅgadēva, who ruled at Khajuraho.

TEXT^[4]
[Metres: Verse 1 and 7 Śārdūlavikrīḍita, vv. 2, 4-6 and 8-14 Anushṭubh; v. 3 Arya].

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^[1] C. I. I., Vol. IV, p. 475.
^[2] Above, Nos. 51 and 60.
^[3] Mirashi, op, cit., p. 475.
^[4] From the facsimile accompanying Kielhorn’s article in Ind. Ant., Vol. XVI, p. 201.
^[5] Denoted by a symbol.
^[6] The anusvāra on (Sanskrit) is redundant.─ Before (Sanskrit) two aksharas are omitted in the text, as is evident from the metre. Kielhorn’s
guess that they may stand in the margin just above where there appears to be some writing. seems to be correct. He proposes to read something like suhṛit here, but śubha or śruti appears to me to be more appropriate. ^[7] The aksharas in the brackets are not distinct in the facsimile and are adopted here from Kielhorn’s reading.
^[8] Kielhorn read the bracketed letter as (Sanskrit) and corrected it to (Sanskrit). But the slanting stroke before it with its extremity joined to the preceding akshara appears to be the sign of the pṛishṭha mātrā
^[9] One of the seven principal mountains of the continent. Kinnara is a mythical being with a human figure and the head of a horse.