South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY KALACHURIS

note that the consonant following r is generally reduplicated as in durllanghē, 1.2, vibhav-ārjjanam, 1.8 etc.; so also dh preceding y in –ānuddhyāta, ¹. 14, -Māddhyandina-, 1. 21. The anusvāra is wrongly changed to n in pradhvansa-, 1.16. In sētu sthitīnām, 1. 16, the visarga is dropped in accordance with the vārttika on Pānini VIII, 3, 36. The rules of sandhi have not been observed in some cases, especially at the end of lines, see e.g., cha anumantā, 11.27-28 where ch=ānumantā is required by the metre. A case of wrong sandhi occurs in yān=iha, 1.30.

The plates were issued by the illustrious Buddharaja of the Katachchuri (Early Kalachuri) dynasty, who was a devout worshipper of Mahesvara, from his victorious camp at Vidisa. He is described as the son of the illustrious Sankaragana who also was a devout worshipper of Mahesvara. The latter was himself the son of the illustrious Krishnaraja who from his very birth was solely devoted to Pasupati. The epithets of Krishnaraja and Sankaragana are here copied verbatim from earlier charters of the dynasty (e.g., the Abhona plates of Sankaragana). The description of all the three princes is quite conventional and yields no historical information.

The object of the inscription is to record the grant, by Buddharaja, of the village Koniyanam (vataka ?) adjacent to Bhattaurika in the bhoga (subdivision) of Vatanagara for augmenting the religious merit of himself and his parents. The donee was the Brahmana Bodhasvamin of the Kasyapa gotra, who was a student of the Vajasaneya, Madhyandina (sakha) and a resident of Vatanagara. The gift was intended, as usual, to provide for the performance of the religious rites such as bali, charu, agnihotra and vaisvadeva. The record was written by Anaphita, the Great Officer in charge of the Department of Peace and War at the request of the queen Anantamahayi of the Pasupata faith. The dutaka was the Mahabaladhikrita Prasahyavigraha.

The inscription is dated in words in 1.32 and in numerical symbols in 1.34, on the thirteenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada in the year 360. This date, like that of the Abhona plates, must be referred to the Kalachuri era. According to the epoch of 248-249 A.C. it would correspond, for the expired year 360, to the 8th August 610 A.C.¹ It does not admit of verification for want of the necessary details.

Of the localities mentioned in the present grant, Vidiśā is modern Besnagar near Bhilsā in Central India. That the Kalachuri empire once comprised the province of Eastern Malwa is also shown by the discovery of some coins of Krishnarāja, the grandfather of Buddharāja, during excavations at Besnagar². Vatanagara, the headquarters of the bhōga (sub-division) in which the donated village was situated, and the place of the donee’s residence, is obviously identical with Vadnēr where the plates were discovered. It may be noted in this connection that the Vanī-Dindōri plates of the Rāshtrakūta king Gōvinda III³ mention the Vatanagara vishaya (district) as situated in the Nāsika dēśa. Vatanagara was thus the chief town of both the bhōga and the
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¹ If the year 360 is applied as current, the date would correspond to Tuesday, the 19th August 609 A. C. Diwan Bahadur S. k. Pillay gives two other equivalents, viz. Friday, the IIth August 607 A. C. and Thursday, the 29th August 608 A.C. Of these the first is impossible as the Kalachuri year did not begin in Bhādrapada. Though Kielhorn held that view at first (Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, P. 215), he gave it up later on. (See his article entitled ‘Die Epoch des Cedi Aera’ in the Festgruss an Roth, PP. 53ff.) The second date also is improbable because the epoch 247-248 A. C. on which it is based, does not suit other early dates of the era which admit of verification.
² A. R. A.S. I. (1913-14), p. 214.
³ Ind. Ant., Vol. XI, pp. 156 ff.