North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

The day of the grant, as mentioned both in figures and words, was ,Monday the 15th day of the bright half of Mārgaśirsha of (the Vikrama) Saṁvat 1108, when there was a lunar eclipse. The details of the date do not work out satisfactorily. Calculating the date to be equivalent to 20th November of 1051 A.C., Hiralal observed that it fell on Wednesday and that there was no lunar eclipse on that date.¹ In a foot-note to this sentence he also says that the date in V.S. 1109 would correspond to Tuesday, the 8th December, 1152 A.C., when there was a lunar eclipse. And remarking that neither of these dates is associated with Monday he takes the date to be irregular. A solution of this difficulty, however, may be sought by suggesting that charitable deeds associated with an eclipse are generally performed only after the period of the eclipse is over ; and taking the day of the eclipse to be Monday, as mentioned in the inscription, it would be Tuesday when the gift was actually made.² Thus, if what has been suggested here is all correct, the present grant appears to have been made about eight months later than the previous one which was issued by the same king on the occasion of the deathanniversary of his mother.

After a symbol of auspiciousness and a sentence in prose showing obeisance to Śiva, the inscription gives the genealogy of the illustrious king Dēvavarman ; and this portion is nothing but a mere repetition of what we find in the preceding grant. He is said to be the sole and supreme lord of Kāliñjara ; and in the portion that follows, a fulsome praise is lavished on him, comparing him will Vishṇu, Bali, Karṇa and Yudhishṭhira and also stating that he was as pious as a sage. The passage that follows says that Dēvavarman, having reflected that the world is unsteady like the interior of a plantain tree, that wealth is as momentary as (the flash of) lightning, that human life is transitory as water-bubbles and that youth is fickle, and also realising that righteousness alone is eternal, set his mind on giving alms and made the donation, as seen above. The purpose is stated to be the increase of his own merit and fame, as well as of his parents. Thereafter we have the conditions of the gift (l. 18) ; and with the customary imprecatory stanzas, the inscription comes to an end, stating that it was written by Yaśōbhaṭa, the aksha-paṭalika, i.e., the writer of legal procedure.³

As for the geographical names occurring in the inscription, Kāliñjara (l. 3) is the well-known fort, as we have often seen ; and Kōṭitīrtha (l. 15) is obviously the celebrated place of pilgrimage within the fort. The river Yamunā (l. 14) needs no remark for its identification. The gift village Bhūtapallikā, which is stated to have been situated on this river (l. 14) does not appear to have been far from Hamīrpur, close to which the Bētwā joins it. I am, however, unable to locate the place definitely. Navarāshṭra-maṇḍala (l. 14) roughly corresponds to the region where all these places were situated and a part of which was watered by the Yamunā, north of the present Hamīrpur District. We have no clue to identify the Bhaṭagrāma of the name of Kumbhaṭi (l. 15) ; it may, however, be pointed out that a place bearing the same name figures in the Mallār stone inscription of the Kalachuri Jājalladēva where it is stated to have been situated on the Ganges in Madhyadeśa.⁴ It appears that the Kumbhaṭī of the present inscription is identical with this place in view of the fact that whereas the first is said to be a bhaṭa-grāma, the second is described as a ‘habitation of the twice-born (dvija-vara-vasati)’.⁵ Thus this place has to be sought on the Ganges, somewhere to the north of Hamīrpur, though I am unable to know its definite location.

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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 126.
² It has also to be observed here that the consonant of first akshara showing the day may really have been bh and a redundant vertical stroke above its tail would make it appear as s, as also in saubhāgya towards the end of l. 7. This suggestion is made in view of the fact that the inscription teems with errors in engraving of this type. It may also be noted here that the thirteenth tithi ended at 10 moment of the day, on Monday, and the next was a kshaya tithi ; and thus the fifteenth day, when there was an eclipse, actually commenced on Monday.
³ One of the meanings of aksha is ‘legal procedure’ which gives us this word. But in epigraphy it is generally used to denoted an officer in charge of records and documents. See I. E. G., p. 14.
⁴ C. I. I., Vol. IV, p. 514, v. 9.
⁵ It is interesting to note here that like the donee of the present grant, the one mentioned in the Mallār grant also hailed from Kumbhaṭī and belonged to the same gōtra with the same pravaras.