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 305

216 EPIGRAPHLA INDICA
(VOL. XXXIII in the year 1074 [of the V.8.). But line 28 quotes the date of the charter as Sarhvat (i.. V.8.) 1074, Abvina-rudi 8. There is no doubt that the grant was actually made on the first date, though the doourront which was later incided on the plates under study was prepared on the second date quoted in the record. The year was no doubt Kärttikadi. The details of the first date are, however, irregular. V.8. 1074, Srāvana-eudi 15, corresponds to the 30th July 1018 A.D. But the week-day was Wednesday and not Thursday as given in the inscription, while there was no lunar eclipse on that date according to Swamikannu Pillai's Indian Ephemeris. V.8. 1074, Asvinasudi 5, seems to correspond to the 17th Soptombor 1018 A.D. The present charter is the second of the copper-plate grants issued during the reign of Paramāra Bhöja, the earliest date of his time being offered by the plates of his son or feudatory Vatsarāja, dated V.8. 1067 (1011 A.D.).
The introductory part of the inscription beginning with the Siddham symbol followed by two stanzas in adoration of the god Siva and introducing the donor as Paramabhaftāraka Mahapājādhiraja Paraměsvara Bhojadova, who was preceded on the throne successively by P. M. P. Sindhurajadēva, P. M. P. Våkpatirijadeva and P. M. P. Styakadēva, is similar to that of the other charters of Bhoja. Lines 5 ff. record, in the usual style, the grant of the village called Dugárylgrāma, situated in the territorial unit called Bhumigriha-paschima-dviparhchābatka, in favour of a Brahmana by the king when he was stationed at Dhara. The name of the district seems to indicate an area consisting of 52 villages and lying to the west of a locality called Bhūmigriha while Dhärä was the capital of the Paramára king. The name Bhūmigrihapaschima-dvipamchilatka reminds us of such districts as Nägadraha-paschima-pathaka and Ujjayini-paschima-pathaka mentioned respectively in the Ujjain and Depalpur plates referred to above. Similarly, the word dvipaficha tatka in the name røminds us of such names as Nyāyapadrasaptadasaka mentioned in the Betma plates. The donee of the grant was Märkandaśarman who Was the son of Bhafta Sripati and grandson of Bhatta Gökarna and belonged to & Brāhmana family hailing from a locality called Sravanabhadra in Gauda-doba (modern West Bengal). The village was granted as usual with the right to receive all the adāyas or imposts such as hiranya (taxes in cash), bhāga (share of the orops produced), bhoga (periodical offerings) and uparikara (additional cess or tax on temporary tenants). This part of the record is in the same style as in the king's other grante. It ends with some of the usual imprecatory and benedictory stenzas.
The letter chha thrice repeated in line 27 indicates the end of the document proper. This is followed in the next line (line 28) by the date (V.8. 1074, Asvina-sudi 5) when the document was prepared. In the same line, which ends with a usual mangala, we have also the statement that the king himself was the ajfa, which seems to mean that the announcement of the gift was made by the king himself. The passage sva-hasto-yar mahārāja-fri-Bhojadēvasya in the next line (line 29) represents the king's signature on the original document later engraved on the plates. The charter ends with the statement that Jäsata was the dapaka. The word däpaka means' one who causes another to give'. It is thus not impossible that Jäsata was the real donor of the village of Dugăryi in favour of the Brāhmaṇa Märkandasarman and that king Bhöja merely ratified the creation of the rent-free holding. The word däpaka, however, occurs in many other grants especially of the Paramāra kings and is generally understood in the sense of duta or dütaka, i.e. the executor of a grant.
The Banswara plates of Bhoja were issued in V.S. 1076, Māgha-sudi 5 (probably the 3rd January, 1020 A.D.) on the occasion of what is called Korkana-vijaya-purvan, while his Betma
1 Seo Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, p. 361, No. 160. * See above, pp. 192 ff. . Cf. above, pp. 50 ff. • Ibid., Vol. XIX, p. 178 and note 2 ; cf. SII, Vol. I, p. 33, note 1.