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 31

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII The concluding part of Section I of the record (verse 29 ff. in lines 55 ff.) states that Raghudēva, stationed at Rajamahendranagara (Rajahmundry), paid a visit to Kataka (i.e. modern Cuttack on the Mahanadi, which was the capital of his master Kapilēśvara) in connection with some service to be rendered to Kapile vara and there he met on the way a large number of Brāhmaṇas together with their wives and heard their case. For settling these Brahmaņas, he then resolved to create an agrahara within the territory under his governorship. The number of the Brahmana donees of the agrahara is given in verse 30 as 40 only. But the list of the donees quoted in Section II (lines 65 ff.) shows 42 names. As will be seen below, it appears that the agragara was divided into 40 equal shares meant for 40 Brahmanas but that actually 2 of the shares had to be subdivided equally among 4 Brāhmaṇas.
The donees of the grant were mostly Yajurvēdin Brahmanas with only a few pertaining to the The götras of the 42 Brahmanas enumerated in the list (1), Harita (7), Kasyapa (9), Kaunḍinya (5), Kausika The information about the donees as found in Section
Rigveda. They belonged to various götras. are: Atreya (6), Bharadvaja (3), Gautama (6), Kutsa (2), Lauhita (1) and Srivatsa (2). II is supplied below in a tabular form. It will be seen from the list, that although the donees are stated to have been met by the donor at Kaṭaka (Cuttack), they do not appear to have been Oriya Brahmaņas. Their names indicate that most, if not all, of the donees were Brahmaņas of the Andhra areas. Probably they went to Kataka with a view to securing some favour from Kapilesvara, and Raghudēva, having met them there, represented their case to his master and granted them the agrahara with the latter's consent and permission necessary for the purpose. Although the credit for the donation is appropriated by Raghudeva in the record under study as also in the other document edited below, generally a provincial governor was not fully entitled or empowered to create rent-free holdings without the consent and permission of his master in some form. Whether, as a member of Kapilesvara's family and a close relation of Kapilesvara and as the governor of a newly conquered territory, the viceroy enjoyed a special position in this respect cannot be determined. It has, however, to be noticed that, even though charters recording the creation of rent-free holdings by rulers who were purely provincial governors without any reference to their master are not generally known, we have several instances of the kind, besides the two charters of Raghudeva edited here, in such viceregal Gajapati records as the Kondavidu plates1 of Gāņadeva-rautaraya-mahāpātra who was Kapilēévara's viceroy at Kondavidu and claimed to have been a member of his master's family, and the Chiruvroli grants of Prince Hambira who claims to have been a son of Kapilēévara and was the leader of the Gajapati forces in the campaigns in the Telugu. and Tamil-speaking areas. It is interesting to note that Kapilēsvara himself is also known to have made grants of land in the territories ruled over by the southern viceroys.
No.
Donee.
Donee's father
Götra
1 Vědagiri-dvědin (dvivēdin).
Varad-Arya Aditya
2 Ananta-bhatta.
3 Mallu-bhatta
Narasimhha
4 80maya
Devare-bhatta
.
•
. Kaayapa Atreya Harita do.
..
.
Vēda or Sakha
Yajus
do.
do.
Agravēda (Rik)
Ind. Ant. Vol. XX, pp. 390 ff.
Bharati, November 1941, pp. 514 ff. The charter recording the grant of the village of Chiruvrõli, situated on the Krishna and renamed Hambirapura after the donor, was issued in Saka 1383 (Rama-ibha-lõka-dvijapati)= Vrisha, Bhadra-badi 15 (kuhu), Friday. The date corresponds to the 4th September 1461 A.D. For some other inscriptions of Hambira, see Nos. 148, 157 of 1913, etc.
Cf. Kumara-Hamvira-vibhur-yad-ajñaya vijilya kärlänta-disam pratapavan | abodhayach-chhätrava-sõpitSkehitän kripänikām Dakshina-sägar-ämbushu in Kapiléévara's description in the Anantavaram plates of Prataparudra (JKRCOI, Vol. XXXIV, p. 39; Kalingadebacharitra, App., p. 104).
Cf. The Veligalani grant referred to above,