Epigraphia Indica Vol 24

SR No.: 032578
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1937
Total Pages: 472
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 68

No. 9.)
SIRIPURAM PLATES OF ANANTAVARMAN, LORD OF KALINGA.
named Dandēsvara, in Karnagarh, six miles to the north of the Midnapur town, with remains of a fort and several temples. Danda, though originally a bhukti, is found as a mandala under the Varddhamāna-bhukti in the present plate, and also as a kingdom under a king named Dharmapāla, in the Tirumalai inscription of the first quarter of the eleventh century. This Dharma pāla might be a descendant of Nayapāla of the present grant. If so, this Pāla dynasty of Radha continued for about a century and a quarter at least.
Narayanagarh is a village in the sadar sub-division of the Midnapur District, containing the remains of a ruined fort, and some very fine old tanks. The Raj family of this place is said to have had possession of it from the time of the great Pāla kings of Bengal'. It is not unlikely that Nārāyaṇapāla of this plate founded it.
The present charter is also of great interest as depicting the religious condition of Radha, in the tenth century. The Pāla kings of Bengal were well-known Buddhists. But they were not antagonistic to Brahmanism. All their charters record grants to Brāhmans, which bespeaks their liberality to Brāhmans and regard for Brahmanism. Their grants are sealed with the Buddhist Dharma-chakra-mudrā and begin with praises to the Buddha. With the exception of the three earliest and the present one, all were granted in the name of the Buddhabhattāraka. The present king spoke of his father as a Paramasaugata and sealed the plate with the dynastic Dharma-chakra device. But unlike others, he has begun it with salutation to the Brahmanic god Siva and granted it in the name of that god. This clearly shows how the Buddhist population were being slowly and gradually merged into Brahmanism. The elder brother of this prince, the king Nārāyanapāla, is described as a devotee of Väsudēva. This conversion of the royal family of Rādha reflects no little credit on the Brāhmans of Rādha.
In conclusion, we would like to make some remarks about the reading of the date of the plate. Nr. Majumdar read it as "Samvat 13 Kārttika-dine 2". He found no other numeral sign after 2. Dr. Chakravarti, the Government Epigraphist, however, notices two digits and reads them as "18". We too find two signs, but read them as su 9'. It appears that the engraver through mistake was repeating the preceding syllable nē, but found out his mistake before he could finish and rectified it, by clumsily converting it to su, indicating sukla. The subscript u of su here is comparable to subscript w of su of the word sukritinah (1. 47). The date of issue of the charter, therefore, is the same as the date of the actual gift..
No. 9.-SIRIPURAM PLATES OF ANANTAVARMAN, LORD OF KALINGA.
By G. V. SRINIVASA RAO, B.A., MADRAS. These plates were secured for examination by the Superintendent for Epigraphy from Mr. Manda Narasimham Pantulu of Arasavilli, teacher, Board High School at Chicacole in the Viza. gapatam District. They are stated to have been discovered while digging a tank at Siripuram, a village near Chicacole. They have since been purchased by the Government Museum, Madras. Mr. Narasimham has published the inscription on the plates in the Telugu Monthly Journal Bhärati for September 1931, and has also reviewed its contents in Vol. VIII of the Journal of the Andhra Il istorical Research Society (p. 153), but the interpretation of the record by him leaves much to be desired. It is now re-edited here from ink-impressions of the plates kindly supplied
1 Midnapur District Gazetteer, p. 197. Above, Vol. IX, p. 232. Midnapur Distt. Gaz., p. 216.
+ [I am not convinced of the correctness of the reading suggested here and have no reason to change my views about the date.--Ed.]