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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY GURJARAS SANKHEDA PLATES OF DADDA II (PRASANTARAGA): YEAR 392 [Here follow four benedictive and imprecatory verses.] (L.8) In the year three hundred (increased by) ninety-one, on the fifteenth (tithi) of the dark (fortnight) of Vaiśākha, (in figures) the year 300 (and) 90, (the month) Vaiśākha, the dark (fortnight), (the lunar day) 10 (and) 5. The dūtaka of this (grant) is the Bhōgikapālaka Dujjāna. This is the sign-manual of Ranagraha, the son of the illustrious Vitarāga, who is devoted to the worship of the sun. (As) sanctioned by the feet of the illustrious Dadda (II), this (order) has been written by Matribhata who is in charge of (the Department of) Peace and War.
No. 19; PLATE XIII A THESE copper-plates were discovered in 1895 by Mr. Vithal Nagar of Baroda at Sankhēdā in the Baroda District Bombay State. Dr. G. Bühler first published an article in German on them in the Sitzungsberichte der philos.-histor. Classe der Wiener Akademie, Vol. CXXXV, No. VIII, and subsequently edited them with photo-lithographs, but without a translation, in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. V, pp., 37 ff. I edit them here from the same lithographs. They are two Plates inscribed on one side only, each measuring 10” by 5¾”, and contain at the top two holes ¼″ in diameter for the rings which must have originally held them together. No ring or seal has, however, been found. The inscription is in a state of excellent preservation. The record consists of twenty-nine lines, of which fourteen are incised on the first and the remaining fifteen on the second plate. The average size of letters is . 15?. The Characters belong to the western variety of the southern alphabets as in the two cognate sets of Kairā Plates. The letters except those of the sign-manual contain small knobs at the top. The letters of the sign-manual, on the other hand, which are in the northern current-hand characters have short horizontal (often curved) strokes at the top. As the present inscription was written by the same officer Rēva who wrote the earlier Kaīrā grants,1 its characters, as might be expected, closely resemble those of the latter. Some peculiarities may, however, be noticed here. The medial ī is generally cursive as in dīdhiti, 1.4 and māninī, 1.6, but its other form consisting of two circles one inside the other occurs in sīmā-, 1. 11. The form of medial ū in vadhū, 1.2, paripūrita, 1.5, pūrvva, 1.6, the like of which rarely occurs in the earlier Kairā-grants, that of h in mahattar-, 1.9 and of the triangular b in bahala, 1.7, brahmadēya, 1. 12, etc. are also noteworthy. A final consonant is indicated by a horizontal stroke at the top, see vasēt, 1.24. Punctuation is denoted by single or double dots and in some cases by single or double vertical strokes. The symbols for 300, 90, 10, 5 and 2 occur in 1.29.
The language is Sanskrit. The text of the inscription, so far as it goes, is
almost2 an exact copy of that of the earlier Kairā grants except, of course, in such
details as the name and description of the donee, the object of the grant, its date, etc. As
regards orthography, we may note in addition to what has already been noticed in 1Above, Nos. 16 and 17. |
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