Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 208

No. 26) OHIKKALAVALASA PLATES OF VAJRARASTA III, SAKA 982 143 producing one hundred Murās of paddy (or grain) (per year]. The meritorious act of creating an agrahāra of the rest of the village in favour of Brāhmaṇas was performed by Mallaya-śrēshthin on the auspicious occasion of the Uttarāyana-sankranti. The sankranti, however, took place sometime later in the month of December, though the charter was issuod in October. The three hundred Brāhmaṇas who received the major part of the village as an agrahāra were headed by Mapaya-nāyaka who was the son of Karantama-nāyaka from his wife Rēkapi and the grandson of Pillisarman. This Brāhmaṇa family belonged to the Bahvpicha sākha and Aupamanyava gotra and hailed from the village of Jalambūt. The names of the other recipients of the grant are not mentioned in the charter.
The last sentence of the record in lines 55-56 state that the rent for the village payable to the king had to be paid at the rate of one hundred Murās of paddy (or grain) and eight Mādas (coins of gold or silver) apparently per annum. It was no doubt Mallaya-brēšshthin who was responsible for the payment of the rent to the king. But whether he realised a part or the whole of the rent in cash and grains from the Brāhmaṇas is not clear from the language of the inscription. We have shown elsewhere that the old custom in many parts of Andhra and Orissa was generally to pay to the king for an agrahāra, even when it was declared as rent-free, an amount of money annually." The amounts mentioned in some records in this connection are 200 Panas (probably of cowries], 10 Mashakas (probably of silver), between 2 and 9 Palas of silver, etc. This was apparently much less than the usual annual rent for & village. The determination of the concessional rates must have depended on such factors as the size and revenue-income of a village, the degree of the king's willingness to suffer loss of revenue in lieu of religious merit, the amount of purchase money received by the king for the creation of an agrahāra from the donees or a third party eager to perform & meritorious deed, etc. In the present case, a pious member of the mercantile community seems to have purchased the village for the Brähmanas and the king appears to have fixed the annual rent at the concessional rate of 8 coins and 100 Muräs of grain. The exact quantity of & Mura of grain cannot be determined. Mada is generally spelt Madha in Orissan records. It was regarded as a coin weighing 40 Ratis or half of a Tolā.
Among the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, the village of Kudda or Kuddam has been identified by Pandit Somasekhara Sarma with modern Kuddāmu near Chikkälavalasa where the inscription was discovered. The Kõluvartani vishaya, mentioned also in some other records of the area, was therefore the district round the said village Jalambūr, where the donee's family lived, has been identified with modern Jalamūru about six miles from Kuddāmu.
TEXT
[Metres : verses 1, 4, 12 Sārdüjavikridita ; verse 2 Arya; verses 3, 7, 13 Anushțubh; verse 5 Vamastha ; verses 6, 10 Mālini ; verses 8-9 Giti; verse 11 Vasantatilaka.]
First Plate 1 Siddham svasti [l*] Grimatām=akhila-bhuvana-vinuta-naya-vinaya-dayā-dāna-dākshinya-sa2 tya-baucha-sauryya-dhairyy-ā[dji-guņa-ratna-pavitrakāņām=Ātrēya-gotrāņāṁ vi3 mala-vichar-ächāra-punya-sa(sa)lila-prakshyā(kshā)lita-Kali-kāla-kalmasha-ma4 shiņām Mahā-Mahēndr-achala-sikhara-pratishthitasya sa-char-achara-guro1 Abovo, Vol. XXX, pp. 114-15. JRAS, op. cit., pp. 8 ff.; 119, Vol. XXIX. i'p. 298 ff. From impresions. Expressed by symbol.