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 304

No. 42-MAHUDI PLATES OF PARAMARA BHOJA, V. S. 1074
(1 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 4. 7. 1958)
This is a set of two copper plates, lying in the possession of Shri Ratansinghji Saindhawa of the village of Mahudi in the Jabar Tahsil of the Shehore District of Madhya Pradesh. One set each of unsatisfactory impressions and pencil-rubbings of the inscription was received for examination at the office of the Government Epigraphist for India from Mr. V. S. Wakankar of Ujjain. An attempt to secure the original plates on loan failed. The inscription is, therefore, edited in the following pages on the basis of the above material.
The plates measure each about 13.75 inches in length, about 9 inches in height and 2 inch in thickness. They bear writing only on the inner sides. The two holes, separated by an intervening space of 5 inches and meant for the rings on which the plates were strung, are found in the lower margin below the writing on the first plate and in the upper margin above the writing on the second. There are in all 29 lines of writing in the inscription, 15 lines on the first plate and 14 on the other. The preservation of the writing appears to be satisfactory. The last 8 lines of the record (lines 22-29) on the inner side of the second plate are shorter than the other lines by 4 inches as a rectangular area at the left lower end of the surface, about 4 inches in length and 5 inches in height, is occupied by the engraved figure of Garuda which was the emblem of the Paramāra rulers and is generally found on their copper-plate grants.
The inscription is written in Nagari characters of the eleventh century A.D., which closely resemble those of the charters of the Paramara king Bhoja (c. 1000-55 A.D.) who was also the donor of the grant under study. The letters may be compared with those of Bhoja's Banswara and Betma plates of V. S. 1076 (1020 A.D.) as well as of his Ujjain plates of V.S. 1078 (1021-22 A.D.) and Depalpur plates of V.S. 1079 (1023 A.D.). The inscription uses the avagraha once in line 29 and the initial vowels a in lines 15, 21 and 28, i in lines 16, 25 and 27 and ai in line 1. The letter b has been indicated by the sign for v. The orthography of the record also resembles that of the epigraphs referred to above. Both anusvära and the class nasals have been employed. Although final m has been used correctly in some cases, it has often been wrongly changed to anustara at the end of a sentence or of the second and fourth feet of stanzas. The change of final m to anusvära before v has been wrongly avoided. No stop has been indicated at the end of the second foot of stanzas and the last word of this foot is sometimes joined in sandhi with the first word of the next foot. Consonants like g, n, bh, m and u have been reduplicated when they follow . But rbhbh has been written wrongly for rbbh. As regards visarga-sandhi, we have both chatuhsapta (line 7) and chatus-sima (line 12). The word farmmanaya in line 15 is one of the grammatical errors in the composition of the record.
The charter bears two dates. The grant is stated in lines 7-8 to have been made on the occasion of a lunar eclipse on Thursday, the full-moon day of the month of Śrāvana
1 See A. R. Ep., 1957-58, No. A 26. See also Mr. Wakankar's article on the inscription in the Hindi periodical Usha (Bhoj-anka, pp. 20 ff.), published from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh.
Above, Vol. XI, pp. 181 ff. and Plates.
Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 320 ff. and Plates.
Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, pp. 53 f. and Plates; cf. ibid., Vol. XIX, p. 361.
IHQ, Vol. VIII, pp. 305 ff. and Plates.
1
For some other epigraphs of Bhoja's reign, see Bhandarkar's List, Nos. 120 and 128; above, pp. 192 ff.; Vol. XIX, pp. 69 ff.
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