Epigraphia Indica Vol 30

SR No.: 032584
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 490
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 27 MB

Page 287

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXX
akshaya-nivikā. which means & permanent endowment (providing a periodical income to be regularly and perpetually enjoyed by the donee)'. The donor was a merchant of the Pāravāda community(jāti). His name was Hatiāka and that of his father Chachchhiāka. It is stated that the grant was made by the libation of curds and water at the various tirthas or bathing ghāts of the locality. This reminds us of the fact that the inscription was actually found at Mahalghāt at Bhils. The inscribed stone seems to have been originally embedded in the stairs of the ghāt in question. We know that grants were made in ancient India by the donor by pouring water in the donee's name or, when the latter was a person present to receive the donation, in the cavity of his folded hands. The mention of curds along with water in the same context in the inscription under review is interesting.
The endowment consisted of the income derived from three vithis. The word vithi is used in Sanskrit literature in the sense of a market, a stall, or a shop in a market', although in some parts of ancient India it was often used in the sense of a territorial unit smaller than a district." That the word vithi in the inscription under review means 'a stall or shop in a market' is suggested by certain early medieval records of the Malwa region, incorporated in the Siyadoni (Jhansi District, U.P.) inscription in corrupt Sanskrit). Vīthis are frequently mentioned in these records as lying in hattas or market-places and as objects belonging to persons or deities, or gifts made in favour of deities worshipped in a local temple, or standing on the boundaries of other vithis. They are sometimes stated to have stood on the hatta-rathyā or.market-road and often to have faced this or that direction. Some of the epithets (such as āchchhannā, avaliptā, krit-opasanna and uva taka-sahitā), applied to the vithis, are also used in the records in relation to houses. An āvāsanikā or house is stated to have been granted with all the rooms and vithis in it (asyābhyantare samasta-griha-samētāṁ samasta-vithi-samētām) and in this connection it is further said: vakako=pi vithishu pravasati sa cha goshthi-bhävitam bhätakar dadāti dāyādasya adhikāram n=asti. The reference to bhätaka (rent) for staying at the vithi makes its nature fairly clear. As will be seen from our discussion below, the word vithi has been used in the Siyadoni inscription and the record under discussion in exactly the same sense.
The first of the three vithis, the rent of which appears to have been assigned by the merchant Hatiāka as an akshayanivika, is described as follows : vanik(wig)-V uvāka-satka-vithi bhögādhi(dhi)na(natvēna) grihitā pa 13 (or 130) (sā] cha mayā pradat =ā(lt=ā)grahāram(ratvēna) Nārāyanasya(nāya). The word satka is & Sanskritized form of Pali santaka and means 'belonging to'. The passage bhög-ādhinā grihită seems to mean 'taken under possession'. This suggests that the vithi in question was purchased by Hațiāka from its owner Vuvāka. Unless such was the case, Hstiāka could not have included its income in the akshayanivikā created by him.
The suggestion appears to be supported by the following grant recorded in corrupt Sanskrit) in the Siyadoni inscription : sri-Vishnu-bhattārakasya vanika-Sridharēna Mahāditya-sutēna vilepana-sanmärjjana-püjāpana-dhupa-pradipa-naivēdy-ārtham Srimad- Adivarāha-drammasya pād-aikar pradattam etad-arthē māsān=māsam prati diyamānam Panchiyaka-dramm-aikam sāsanan likhitan ankë pań dra 1 ētad-arthë sã cha vithi Nāga-satka dakshin-ábhimukhā uva taka-sahitā krit-opasannā bhôg-adhinā tishthati...............asyā vithyā möchāpana-kālē apara-vithi anurupā sāsanē likhāpya
1 Some early medieval inscriptions of the Malwa region use the form akshayanimi or akshayaninika (above, Vol. I, pp. 160, 165).
* This may be the same as the Por, Porwär or Porwal caste, often called Pragvāta.vamka in inscriptions. See Bhandarkar's List, No. 287 (cf. also Nos. 1523, oto.); Wilson's Glossary, s.v. Porwal
• Cf. Successors of the Satavahanas, p. 192. The practice is still prevalent in some parts of the country. . Cf. Sibupalavadha, IX, 32. .Yajundar, Inacriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 77; Dacca University History of Bengal, Vol. I, p. 23. • Abovo, Vol. I, pp. 173 ff.