South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY KALACHURIS

and styeyasas-. II. 24-25; b shows a notch on the left, see vibodhana-, 1.5 and y is tripartite, see Ujjayani, 1. I. A final consonant is shown by horizontal stroke on the top in 11.19 and 30 and by its small size, in 1.28. punctuation is indicated by double vertical strokes in 11.29-31, 33 and 34. The sign of the Jihvamuliya occurs twice in 1.4 and that of the upadhmaniya thrice, in 11.8, II and 26. The numerical symbols for 300. 40. 10. 7 and 5 occur in 1.34. Of these the symbol for 7 desrves special notice, its upper curve being here separated from the vertical by a knob as in the Sirpur plate of the Maharaja Rudrasena.¹

The language is Sanskrit. Except for five benedictive and imprecatory verses at the end, the record is in prose throughtout. Its eulogistic portion is composed in anornate style which recalls that of Valabhi grants.² Again, as stated below, the present plates were issued from Ujjayani, which was for some time, a second capital of the Gupta Empire. The draftsman who composed the present record was probably well acquainted with Gupta inscriptions, from which he has evidently borrowed certain epithets which are employed here to eulogize the donor Sankargana³ It may, again be noted that both in its eulogistic and formal parts, this record has several expressions which are either imitated or copied verbatim from the earlier Traikutaka grants.⁴ This shows that the Katachchuri empire comprised some provinces which were previously under the rule of theTraikutakas. As regards orthography, the only peculiarities that call for notice are that the consonant following r is doubled in many places, see, e.g., durllanghe 1.2, dharmm-arttha-, 1.12, and that a class-nasal is often used instead of anusvara as in kalanika, 1.4

The plates were issued by the illustrious Sankaragana of the Katachuri (Early Kalachuri) dynasty from his camp ay Ujjayni. He was a devout worshipper of mashesvara and was the son of the illustrious Krishnaraja who from his very birth was solely devoted to Pasupati. Sankaragana is described as the lord of the country extending from the eastern to the western ocean and of other lands.
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¹Line 9 of No. 4 above Pandit Bhagvanlal read this symbol doubtfully as 8, but in view of the clear mention of the date in words in 1.34 of the present record, it will have to be taken as a sign of 7.
²Compare for instance the utrekasha in yas=samvisraya-vi6ebha-vissesha-lobbad sakalr = itrais=cha gunair=upetah in lines 5-6 with that in rupa-lobhad –iv arithah sarasm-abhigamikair=ggunaih which occurs in connection with the descrption of Dharasena I in many Valabhi grants.
³In his translation of the sarasavi plates (Ep. Ind., VoI. VI, p.300), Dr. Kiehlorn has drawn attention to the epithets prithivyam=apraitrahah, chatur-udadhi-Sali-lasvadita-yasah and Endra-Antaja-sama-prabhavah which closely resemble (the last with a slightly different reading ) those in Gupta records, see C.I. VoI. III Text, pp. 8 and 53). Again the expressions pranati-matra supariosha gam bhur-onmata bridyah and chir otamanama nriopativamsandam pratishapayita in this and other Kalachuri grants recall bhakt6-avnatiu-matra-mridu-brodayara and aneka-bhrushta-rata-osumna-raju-vama-pra- tithapana in the All
⁴Thus the epihet samyak-praja-Palan-adhigata-bhigata-bhuri-dravina-visranana-avapta-dharma-kriyah and puru- a-para-samudr-ant-adi-desa-svami in lines 13 and 15 respectively of the present record are obviously sug- gested by sva-bhuja-paripalma-pratap-adhigata-prachura-dravina-visranan-avapta-sarva-dig-vyapi-ukla-yasah- and Aparnt-adi-desa pati in the earlier Traikurtaka records like the surat grant of Vyaghrasena (See lines adopted by the official draftsman of the Early Kalachuris, who only inserted Pratinhedika in it Again the expression a-chand-ark-arnvava-skhti-sthi-sama-kalinam (.120, ) abhav-anugatan-asaran-vibgavan= dirggha kala-stheyasas=cha gunam-akalayya and sass-kara-ruchiram chairaya yasas=chichir (chi) shubbir = ayum=assumed daya o= numantavah palayitavyas=cha in lines 24-6 of the present grant are plainly borrowed, with some changes like the inversion of the order of words, from Traikutaka records (See e.g., lines 11-14 of No. 9 above The same can be said of the manner of inserting the name of the Dutaka in a rabavrthi complted qualifying the word likhitam.