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INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY GURJARAS
The plate contains the last part of a grant of Ranagraha, the son of Vitarāga,
who describes himself in his sign-manual as devoted to the worship of the sun. The grant
was sanctioned by the illustrious Dadda. In the absence of the previous plates of the
set, all details about the object, occasion and purpose of the gift are lost. Only the name
of the Brāhmana donee Ādityaśarman has been preserved on the present plate. It is possible,
however, to conjecture that the object of the gift was a field1 as in the case of the other
complete Sankhēdā grants of Dadda II. The dūtaka was the Bhōgikapālaka Dujjāna
and the writer Mātribhata, the Officer in charge of the Department of Peace and War
The inscription is dated, both in words and in numerical symbols, on the fifteenth
tithi of the dark fortnight of Vaiśākha in the year 391 of an unspecified era. The
palaeography of the grant makes it certain that the date must be referred to the Kalachuri
era. According to the epoch of 248-49 A.C., the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight
of the amānta Vaiśākha in the expired2 year 391 would correspond to the 15th May
641 A.C. It does not admit of verification.
We know from two complete sets of Sankhēdā plates3 that Dadda II-Praśāntarāga
continued to reign till the Kalachuri yaar 392. The date of the present grant, therefore,
falls in his reign. As Dadda II also was a son of Vitarāga, Ranagraha, the donor of the
present grant, must have been his brother. It seems that he was placed in charge of some
part of his kingdom and had the status of a feudatory chief, but as he was not completely
independent, his grant had to be sanctioned by his liege-lord, Dadda II. Dr. D.R. Bhandarker
has, however, suggested that Ranagraha was another name of Dadda II himself4,
but the duct of the latter’s sign-manual is different in the Kairā and Sankhēdā plates.5
Secondly, the early Gurjara kings are known to have assumed only one biruda in addition
to their personal name and the biruda of Dadda II, known from his Kairā and Sankhēdā
plates, was Praśāntarāga, not Ranagraha. Thirdly, his minister for peace and war
was Rēva during the period from K. 380 to K. 392.6 The later would, therefore,
in all probability, have been mentioned in that capacity in the present grant of K. 391.
But the officer mentioned here as Sandhivigrahādhikrita is Mātribhata, not Rēva. For
these reasons, I prefer to follow Mr. Dhruva7 and Dr. Būhler8 in taking Ranagraha to
be a brother of Dadda II.
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1The expression udak-ātisarggēn(n)=ōchchhri(tsri) shtam in 1.1 evidently qualified some word like
kshētram (a field).
2If the year is applied as current, the date would correspond to the 26th April 640 A. C. For
the pūrnimānta Vaiśākha the dates would correspond to the 16th April, A.C. and the 28th March
640 A. C. respectively.
3Below, Nos. 19 and 20.
4I. N. I., p. 161, n. 3.
5Its wording here is also slightly different; for it contains dinakara-kiran-āhhyarchchana-ratasya in
place of dinakara-charan-ārchchana-ratasya which occurs in the sign-manual of Dadda II in all his grants.
6See No. 16, 1.51; No. 17, 1.50, No. 19, 1.28 and No. 20, 1.27.
7Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 21.
8Ibid., Vol. v, p. 38.
9From the facsimile accompanying Mr. H. H. Dhruva’s article, facing p. 21, Ep. Ind., Vol. II.
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