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 279

194
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXIII
Lines 9-10 describe the gift land as producing such crops as kõdrava (a species of grain eaten by the poor people), tila (sesame), mudga (a kind of pulse), vrihi (paddy) and kanikā (cummin seed) while lines 10-11 state that the land was given together with a house, a threshing floor, and a quantity of paddy apparently stored there, no doubt in the village of Sayanapāta.
Lines 13-15 give the names of the pārsvikas [of the gift land). By the word pārsvika was apparently meant persons owning lands in the neighbourhood of the two hala measures granted to the donee in the village of Sayanapata. The list of the pārsvikas includes the names of the following persons : Rājādhyaksha (probably,' a judge ') Vidita ; the Brāhmaṇas Tāta, Nāța and Pahiya who were residents of Vallotaka or members of the Vallotaka community; the Brāhmaṇa Govarddhana as also Kēlāditya ; Thakura Rāņaka, son of Dantivarman; and the Pațțakila (i.e. Patēl) Jhambaka as well as Lallāka and Göggaka.
A similar list of witnesses is found in lines 16-19 and it is stated that the charter was engraved in their presence. This list includes the following names: Thakura Kēšavāditya described as the
lord of the Samkasakas'; Tämpalika and the Méhara (village headman) Vallabharāja ; the Sreshthin Jāudi and Bhabha, both sons of Kapashţi; Voivasu (Vaivasvata ?), Gudhayati and Samgēma (possibly Sathgama); and Thakura Chandrika, son of Killa or Killa. The real meaning of Sarkasaka used in this section is difficult to determine. Possibly it is the name of a tribe or community and does not stand for sankarshaka, meaning an agriculturist', since ' a lord of the cultivators' is difficult to think of.
Lines 19-20 state that the document was written by the scribe Chhaddaka who was the son of Amnaka. A copy of the donor's signature on the original document later engraved on the plates under study is found in line 20. But, as already indicated above, the name is given here in the Prakrit form of Vachchharāja instead of Vatsarāja as found in line 7. The document ends with a mangala in line 21.
The inscription is interesting for several reasons. In the first place, Vatsarāja mentioned in it is not known from any other source. Secondly, it is the earliest inscription referring to the reign of the great Paramāra king Bhoja. Thirdly, it speaks of Bhõja's rule over parts of the SabarkanthaAhmadabad region, not far from Anahilapātaka, the capital of the contemporary kings of the Claulukya or Solanki dynasty of Gujarat.
The tradition recorded by Mērutunya. and others that Paramāra Vakpati Muñja, also called Utpala, was succeeded not by his younger brother Sindhurāja but by the latter's son Bhöja is contradicted by Padmagupta's Navasähasār kacharitaas well as by epigraphic evidence. Like the records of the Imperial Paramāras, our inscription, issued by a subordinate ruler, applies imperial titles to Sindhuraja and represents him as the successor of Vakpati and the predecessor of Bhoja. According to Mērutunga, Vākpati Muñja, while he was leading an expedition against the Chālukyas, was defeated in a battle and captured by the Chalukya king Taila II who put him to death at a later date. The Chikkerur (Dharwar District) inscription of Mahāmandalesvara Ahavamalla (i.e. Satyasraya, son of Taila II), dated Saka 917, Jaya, Phālguna-sudi 15, Saturday (possibly February 18, 959 A.D.), states that he was just then moving towards the north for fighting against Utpala (i.e. Paramāra Väkpati Muñja). This not only shows that the Paramára king was captured sometime after February 995 A.D. but seems also to suggest that he was already in the Chalukya territory in the course of his fatal expedition. It appears that the Chālukya crown-prince's movement from
1 Prabandhachintartani, Tawney's trans., pp. 31-32, 36.
XI, 98. • Op. cit., pp. 33-36.
• Above, pp. 131 ff. The inscription of course states that Ahavamalla proceeded against Utpala in connection with his nortbern dig-vijaya after having subdued his enemies in the south. But the fact cannot be ignored that its date is too near that of the Paramára king's suothern expedition. The inscription shows that Ahavamalla Satyasraya was then his father's governor in the Dharwar region and that he was under orders of transfer.