Epigraphia Indica Vol 21

SR No.: 032575
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1931
Total Pages: 398
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 250

No. 36.]
JESAR PLATES OF SILADITYA III-THE YEAR 347.
from the Bhavnagar State through the Honourable Agent to the Governor of Bombay in Kathia wär.
209
There are altogether sixty-two lines of writing on these plates which are evenly distributed. The average height of letters is ". The language of the inscription is Sanskrit prose, with the exception of the three imprecatory verses in the second plate. The characters of the inscription show unmistakable influence of the south, especially in the forms of h and l. Two forms of I have been used side by side: (1) the northern angular form with the base line and (2) the round southern form in which the base line is no longer existent. The base line of h also has disappeared. The text is almost an exact copy of the usual text used in other later Valabhi grants such as the Alina Plates of Siladitya VII, without any variation and does not contain any additional historical information.
Like other later Valabhi grants this record also mentions Bhaṭārka but passes over his sons. The next descendant of Bhatarka, mentioned in the text, is Guhasena, the son of Bhaṭārka's fourth son Dharapaṭṭa. Then comes Guhasena's son Dharasena II, his sons Siladitya I and Kharagraha I. The latter was succeeded by his son Dharasēna IV. The succession then devolved upon Dhruvasena III, the son of Derabhața who was one of the younger sons of Siladitya I. Dhruvasena III was succeeded by his elder brother Kharagraha II. This prince was succeeded by bis elder brother's (Siladitya II's) son Siladitya III, the donor of the present grant. The genealogical portion occupies the first forty-six lines. Unlike the text of the Jesar plates of Siladitya IV, the text of this inscription is almost free from mistakes.
The object of the inscription is to record the grant by the king himself, of one hundred pādāvarttas of land in the village of Kukkapadra in the pathaka of Kalapaka in (the country) of Surashtra to a Brahmana, with two names Saggala and Prakasa, who was a Dikshita, an inhabitant of Valabhi and an imigrant from Pushyasambapura. He was the son of Sambadatta, belonged to the Kausika-gotra and was a follower of the Yajurvēda. The land granted consisted of three pieces of which the first was the largest measuring seventy-three pädävarttas. The piece lay towards the western boundary of the village and its boundaries were:-On the east the Brahmadeya field of the Upadhyaya or preceptor, on the south the three royal wells, on the west a field named or belonging to Bhasiyaka and on the north the Vansațikā river. A new word prachchiha which is also met with in other Valabhi plates occurs in connection with the above mentioned three wells, and apparently denoted a field irrigated by a well'.
The boundaries of the second piece, known as Bappula which consisted of twelve pädävarttas of land and which was situated on the south western (boundary of the village), were:-On the east the field of the Brahmana ghañchaka, on the south the field of the Brahmana Tatta, on the west the field of the Brahmana chaṭṭa, and on the north the rivulet (Sarini). The third piece was called Lusanika. It was situated on the eastern boundary (of the village) and consisted of fifteen pädävartta measures of land. Its boundaries were :-On the east the boundary of the village of Kappasōmaka, to the south the prachchiha of the well called Siradaṇḍaka, on the west the prachchiha of the well called Dhōraka, and on the north the river Vansaṭika. The grant also contained the well called Dhōraka extending over twentyfive pädävarttas. The boundaries of this well were:-To the east the piece of land called Lusanikā, to the south the prachchiha of the well called Siradandaka, to the west the prachchiha of the well called the Pippala and on the east the crest (sikhara) of the village (i.e., the mound on which the village was situated). The Dutaka of the grant was the prince (Rajaputra) Dhruvasena. It was written by the chief scribe (Divirapati) Anahila son of the chief scribe, the Sandhi
10. I. I., Vol. III, pp. 173 ff.
Cf. the unpublished Jesar plates of Siladitya IV and J. B, B. R. A. 8. (N.S.), Vol. I, p. 74, 1. 49, and above,
p. 184.