South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY KALACHURIS

TRANSLATION

record consists of thirty-five lines, of which seventeen are inscribed on the first and eighteen on the second plate.

The characters are of the western variety of the southern alphabets and resemble those of the Ābhōna plates.¹ We may notice here the following peculiarities:─Most of the letters have wedges at the top as in the Vadnēr plates;² the medial ā is indicated in many cases by a curve rising above the line and coming down lower than in the Vadnēr plates, see e.g. pratāp-ātiśay-, 1. 10 and dayā-dāna-, 1.15; th appears in two forms, the ordinary one as in yathāvad-, 1.5 and the cursive one as in prathita-, 1.6, sthitī-, 1. 16 etc; y has a loop in its left member in yūtha 1.6; kh shows two slightly different forms in askhalita-, 1.6 and likhitam=, 1.34; the forms of the initial ō in Kumārivadaō, 1.20 and of ph in phala 11.13, 26 and 31 are also noteworthy. The jihvāmūlīya occurs twice in 1.4 and the upadhmānīya four times in 11.7, 24, 27 and 32. The numerical symbols for 300, 60, 10, 5 and 1 occur in line 35. The language is Sanskrit, and except for five benedictive and imprecatory verses at the end, the record is in prose throughout. As regards orthography, we may note that ri is used for the vowel ri in prithivyām-, 1.9; the consonant following r is correctly reduplicated in such cases as durllanghē, 1.2, siddhir=yyēna, 1.6, etc., but incorrectly in varshsha-, 1.28; similarly dh is doubled before y, see ānuddhyāta twice in 1.14; the guttural nasal is wrongly used for anusvāra in vanśa, 1.6, vanśānām, 1. 12, etc., and the dental one in pradhvansa, 1.16. There are a few mistakes of sandhi and some wrong forms as pointed out in the notes to the text.

The plates were issued by the king Buddharāja of the Katachchuri (Early Kalachuri) dynasty, from the victorious camp at Ānandapura. He was the son of Śañkaragana who was himself the son of Krishnarāja. The description of these kings is given here exactly as in the Vadnēr plates. In fact, the text of the whole inscription, except for certain particulars such as the donee, the village granted, and the date, is exactly identical with that of the Vadnēr plates. The object of the inscription is to record the grant, by Buddharāja, of the village Kumarīvadaō situated near Brihannārikā in the Gōrajjā bhōga which was included in the Bharukachchha vishaya. The donee was the Brāhmana Bappasvāmin, the son of Bhattu, who belonged to the Pārāśara gōtra. He was a student of the Vājasanēya Kanva śākhā and a resident of Dēbhaka. The purpose of the grant was as usual to provide for the maintenance of religious rites such as bali, charu, vaiśvadēva and agnihōtra. The grant was made at the request of Gōkulasvāmin who may have been the king’s family-priest. The dūtaka was the Mahābalādhikrita Prasahyavigraha who is mentioned in the same capacity in the earlier Vadnēr plates.³ The royal order was written by Śivarāja, the Chief Officer in charge of the Department of Peace and War.⁴

The inscription is dated, in words (1.33) and numerical symbols (1.35), on the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight of Kārttika in the year 361. This date must, obviously, be referred to the Kalachuri era. According to the epoch of 248-49 A.C. which suits early verifiable dates of the era, the date of the present plates would fall in 609 A.C. if the year 361 was current, and in 610 A.C. if it was expired.⁵
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¹Above, No. 12.
² Above, No. 14.
³ See line 33 of No. 14, above.
⁴ The office was held by a different person at the time of the Vadnēr plates which, as shown below, was made only about two and a half months before.
⁵ Prof. Kielhorn has stated (Ep. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 295, n. 6) that according to the epoch of 247-48 A.C. which suits later Kalachuri dates, the date (for the pūrnimānta Kārttika) would correspond to