Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

SR No.: 032561
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 522
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 23 MB

Page 79

62
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Vol. VII.
karosa deya, I imagine that he admitted that the text was disfigured by several mistakon, and that he restored sankarakarasa = sankhara'. But in this hypothesis the use of the genitive for the dative and the use of kara = kdrana would seem inadmissible. This preconceived notion has caused the end of the inscription after Valdrakasamghasa to be considered separate sentence, Valdrakalendnar being necessary for completing the following word. I believe that, if one reads the text without prejudice and keeps in mind the castomary wording of grants, one cannot fail to connect the words sakarukaro sadøyamoyo with grdmo dato, and to take them for epithets resembling sôdranga sốparikara, etc., which oocur in other grants in precisely the same place. Besides, by this construction we avoid having recourse to the expedient of corrections, which is always objectionable. The first result is to condemn the break of the sentence between Valúrakasamghasa and Valdrakalendnan. These two terms are closely connected. The gift is made to the Valaraka-lenas, i.e. as the preceding insoription expressed it in a slightly different way, "to the Valdrakosu lenavdsis," of the Sangha of Valdraka. Valdrake is the general designation of the village where the so-called Karlé caves are situated. Doubtlessly this locality contained still other monks besides those who had found an asylum on the slopes of the hill. To these last ones was confined the benefit of the royal donation.
There remain the terms sakarukaro and sadeyameyo. It is well known and will be noted again more than once how much uncertainty is felt in the explanation of technical terms repeated incessantly in grants of all ages, which define or describe the rights and advantages conferred on the donees. If this is the case even in quite a modern protocol, it is not surprising that we are embarrassed by more ancient formulas which have fallen more or less into disuse. But ours is not without analogies. Kata is so well known in the sense of dues payable to Government,' that I need not dwell on it. The same is not the case with utkara ; but uparikara, which is its exact equivalent, appears almost invariably at the head of the customary formulas which begin generally with sôdranga, sôparikara. The meaning of udrasiga is not yet established. I do not know if kara can strictly correspond to it. At any rate, there is no doubt that nothing but a kind of revenue is meant here, so that in a general way sakarukaro = sakarót karaḥ becomes the natural equivalent of sôdrargaḥ sôparikarah. The meaning of uparikara is as little settled as that of ndranga, and it will not be wondered at that I cannot be positive regarding the translation of our new term. The certain meaning of kara, combined with the modification which is implied by ut or upari, the first member of utkara or uparikara, seems to recommend as plausible the general aenge which I have attributed to these two terms.
The adjective which follows has at least the advantage that it can be translated etymologi. cally, together with what has to be given and what has to be measured. This is vague, but not at all unintelligible. Here also, I think, the comparison of the more modern formulas can assist us. Several grants combine with the epithets suranga and sparikara the expression savátabhútadhanyahiranyádéya.More commonly it is resolved into sabhatapatapratyaya and sadhanyahiranyádéya,' which prove that, contrary to the hesitating conjectures of Dr. Fleet (1.c. p. 170, note 9) and in conformity with Dr. Hultzsch's translation, adéya, what is to be taken, is nothing but an equivalent of pratyaya, 'revenue. Hence dhányahiranyadêya means the revenue both in grain and in specie.' The expression used in our inscription is not quite identical ; for we have not sádéya, but sadlya. Nevertheless it seems to me very probable that it corresponds on the whole to the idea expressed by the Sanskrit formula and, like it, embraces
what is given or paid directly,' 1.8. the taxes in money, and what is measured,' s.e. the dues in kind which were levied on the products of the fields.
Compare in the inscriptions of Jayanaths and Sarvanathe (Dr. Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, p. 118, L 9, and p. 127, 1. 17): asya (grdmasya) samuchitabldgablógekarapratydyópanayad kariskyatha.
See e.g. the Maliya plates in Dr. Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, p. 166, 1. 26. See e.g. the Alina plntes, ibid. p. 179, 1. 68, and the Lundi plates, above, Vol. IV. p. 80.