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 371

264
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXIII
66), of & for & in Käsya pa (line 42), of n for final m in valliyan (line 30), angular (line 58), eto., and of the avagraha sign in some cases as yath=ā'smābhi (line 36) and Sünäsirta'rthavan (line 62); the reduplication of the consonant following the rëpha in some cases as in kürtti (lines 22, 30 and 61); etc.
The charter was issued from Yayātinagara by Paramamähēsvara Paramabhatáraka Mahārājādhiraja Paramēsvara Somakulatilaka Trikalingadhipati Karnadēva alias Mahäkivagupta on the twelfth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Asvina in his sixth regnal year. Its object was to record the grant of the village of Köņā which was within the Brahmo-Atthāvisa khanda (sub-division) of Uttara-Tosali to Räni Karpūrasri who was the daughter of the son of Udayamati and the daughter of Mahārima-Hunadēvil and who belonged to the Kāśyapa gotra having three pravaras. The mention of the names of her mother and grandmother instead of her father and grandfather is rather unusual. She hailed from the Mahāvihāra of Salõņapura in Utkala-dēša, which seems to have been a Buddhist monastery. In that case, she was a Buddhist, though she claimed a Brahmanical götra. Her title Rāni is equally enigmatic. It is not clear if she was the wife of some Ränaka or was one of the secondary queens.
The list of persons addressed regarding the grant is identical with that of the Narasinghpur (Balijhari) plates' of Udyotakësarin and comprises officials and dignitaries like samāharti (collector of taxes), sannidhātri (receiver of stolen goods or an officer who introduces people of court), niyuktādhikärika, dāndapāsika (police officer), piśunavētrika (one who canes the wicked), avarodhajana (inmates of the seraglio), rājsi (chief queen), rāņaka (subordinate chief), rājaputra (prince), räjavallabha (persons enjoying royal favour) and bhogijana (village-headman), besides the rural
folk.
The privileges to be enjoyed by the donee, over and above the common ones found in most grants, were hastidanda, varabalīvardda, chittola, andhāruā, pratyandhāruā, adattā, padātijīvya, antarāvaddi, rintakāvaddi, vasāvaki, vishayāli, ähi-danda, hala-danda, bandha-danda, vandāpanā and vijayavandāpanā, Most of these occur in the Narasinghpur plates of Udyotakēsarin and the Kelga plates, though the exact significance of these still remains to be determined. Hasti-danda, tara-balivardda and hala-danda may mean taxes on the maintenance of elephants, superior bulls and ploughs. The āhi-danda might have been a tax imposed on snake-charmers who earned their livelihood by the exhibition of snakes. Padāti-jīvya, vandāpanā and vijaya-vandāpanā may respectively indicate subsistence for the infantry, tribute to the king and such tribute paid after the king obtained a victory.
Karnadēva's minister for peace and war (sandhivigrahin) was Krishnadēva who apparently superceded the members of the Datta family who had held that post up to the reign of Udyotakesarin. Mahākshapatalin (chief accounts-officer) Chhittalla dēva was responsible for getting the charter written and it was engraved on the plates by Sankhuka.
The inscription throws considerable new light on the history of the later Sõmavamsis. It furnishes for the first time the names of the three immediate successors of Udyotak@sarin, namely, Janamējaya, his son Purañjaya, and his brother Karna. Of these, Karna is no doubt the same as the Utkalēša Karņakësarin mentioned in the commentary on the Ramacharita, though the suffix kësarin is absent in his own record. In verse 45 of the third Parichchhöda of this work, we are
1 See p. 267, pote 3. The name is not a pure Sanskrit one. This may be due to her Hūņa origin. [See below, pp. 272-73.-Ed.]
JBORS, Vol. XVII, pp. 1 ff. . Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 321 ff.
The evidence of the Ramacharita commentary and the Madala Parifi shows that the name-ending kesarin beoame associated with the later Somavamits following Udyotaknarin, though their own official records do not show this.