Epigraphia Indica Vol 09

SR No.: 032563
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch, Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1907
Total Pages: 498
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 28 MB

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. IX.
punyabhivriddhaye in 1. 8 with vrihadbhogikádhikaranány-éva, 1. 7. The é mark is unusual in -parvvakén-d- in 1. 9.
(b) It is interesting to note that this Cuttack grant shows a greater affinity to the Mandéévari inscription than does the Gañjâm grant of Sasanka, while the latter shows a marked affinity to the Bodh Gaya inscription of Mahânâman of the Gupta year 269. Thus the ya in the Bodh Gaya inscription and the Gañjâm plate is bipartite, while in the Mundêsvari inscription and the present grant it is of the usual early.Gupta type, i.e. tripartite. Similarly the lingual sha in our grant and the Mupdêévari inscription shows a cursive base line unlike the acute angle. type of the Bodh Gaya and Gañjâm inscriptions. This form of sha is also to be found in the Nepal inscription of the year 316.3
(c) The presence of the acute angle is noticeable only in the dental sa and ma, as is also the case in the Mundêévari inscription. But some letters show a well-defined acute angle at their lower extremities in alternative cases; cf. the dha in -harddhigama- (1. 5) with that in -didhiti- in 1. 3, and urihadbhôgikádhikaranány= in 1.7.
(d) The characters of our grant differ from those of the Mundêsvari inscription in so far as the lingual na in the latter is exactly similar to the na of the early Gupta type, while the na in our grant has larger space between the right and left curves. (e) The characters of this grant show a greater affinity to the Gôlmâḍhitôl inscription of the Gupta year 316 than to the contemporary Nepal inscriptions. The paleography of the epoch beginning with the last half of the 6th and ending with the first half of the 7th century A.D. can nowhere be studied with greater advantage than in Nepal. The inscriptions of the Harsha year 34, the Gupta year 316, the Harsha years 39 and 45 show very clearly the change which came over later Gupta characters in the last half of the 6th century and the 50 years following that. Thus the Golmaḍhitôl inscription of the year 316 shows in its characters very little departure from those of the Mandasôr inscription of Yasodharman. The Patan inscription of the year 345 exhibits a further step onwards, as it is more allied to the Ganjam grant of Sasanka than our grant or the Gôlmâḍhitôl inscription. The next inscription, that of the Harsha year 396 and the short record of the year 45 of the same era, are inscribed in characters which are very much akin to the Bodh Gaya inscription of Mahânâman and the Madhuban and Banskhêra grants of Harshavardhana.
(f) The letters da and fa resemble each other very closely. Thus, vrihadbhógikádhikaranány, 1. 7, looks like vrihatbhôgikádhikaranány=.
(9) There is little difference between va and cha. Thus, -chala-taranga-, 1. 1, looks like -vala-taranga-, while Sivarajah, 1. 5, looks like Sichardjah.
As regards orthography two or three departures are noticeable, such as maṁgura-, 1. 1, -vansa- and -déitty-, 1. 2, géhattô, 1. 8.
The object of the inscription is to record a grant made by a fendatory chief named Sivaraja to a number of Brahmans during the reign of his suzerain Sagguyayyana of southern Tosall. Saggayayyana is styled Paramamahéévara-Paramabhattáraka-Paramadevatádhidaivata, which clearly shows his imperial position. The title of the suzerain and the name of the
2 Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, p. 274, pl. XLIA.
1 Above, Vol. VI., p. 149.
Bendall's Journey to Nepal, p. 72, pl. VIII.
Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, p. 150, pl. XXII.
Ind. Ant. Vol. IX., p. 169, and Bendall's Journey to Nepal, p. 74.
Ind. Ant. Vol. IX., p. 170, and Bendall's Journey to Nepal, p. 77, pl. X.