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278
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Verse 55.) "The Mehara" shall give daily fifty leaves of.... betel pepper for the preparation of bakas."
(56.) "That which thus has been provided for the offerings in the sacred place (the temples) must be fetched by the Passpdia" from the store-house of glorious [Somanatha] and be given (by him to the person performing the worship),
(57.) "One mánaka of rice (chosha) and two pallikde" of Phaseolus mungo, as well as two karshas of clarified butter, and so forth, must be daily given (by the keeper of the store-house) to the Palupála for the offerings."
(58.) "[Even this] must be daily given for the Naivedya offering; then that food must be carefully cooked by the pupil (batuka).
(59.) "After performing the declaration of purpose (samkalpya), the Pasupala must give that Naivedya and the bifakas to the pupil who performs [the worship]."
(60.) "He (Tripurántaka), the most excellent of the virtuous, caused one dramma to be assigned daily (from the revenue) in the custom-house (mandapikd) by an edict (dana) of the Chalurjálaka,
(61.) "Even there this noble-minded man caused nine drammas to be assigned [monthly] for the maintenance of the pupil (batuka, who serves the temples.)"
(62.) "Fifteen drammas must be given every month to the Pasupala, who comes to perform incomparable worship [according to the law]."
(63.) "For this purpose he (Tripurántaka) placed every month fifteen drammas in the treasury (?) of the worshipfal Chaturjataka."
(64.) "Rejoicing in his heart, he purchased for money from the worshipful Châturjataka three excellent shops and presented (them as an endowment for his temples).
(65.) "The best among these, the illustrious Châturjataka, who wears the
The Mekara probably belonged to the Kathiarad caste called Mer in the Bombay Gazetteer, and described there, Vol. VIII, pp. 137-88. He was probably in some way, perhaps as watchman, connected with Tripurantaka's temples, and received an allowance from him, though none is mentioned specially.
Abifaka is the little three-cornered parcel of ground arecanut, lime, etc., which is wrapped up in a betel pepper leaf and held together by a clove stuck into the leaf, what is usually called pan-supdri.
Patupdia means usually a herdsman.' If the word is to be taken here in that sense, it is difficult to understand how a herdsman was connected with the Saiva worship. I suspect that it is the title of a Saiva priest connected with the worship of Siva, the Pasupati.
If the restoration Somandtha is correct, it shows that the store-house mentioned above in verse 53 is that of the
great temple.
The person to whom the materials are to be given is the Saiva pupil; see verses 59-59.
A pallikd must be a small measure, as the mung is only used for seasoning the rice.
The materials were of course intended for the daily Naivedya of the five gods. Regarding the translation of iti by 'and so forth,' see the note to verse 59.
Compare above, verse 48. The mention of the bifakas shows that the enumeration of the materials in verse 57 is not complete, and that the word it, which is added at the end, really means 'and so forth.'
The meaning is that Tripurantaka paid money in order to secure this grant and that mentioned in the next verse. For verse 71 declares that he purchased the sana with his pure self-acquired wealth. Begarding mandapika, a customhouse,' see ante, pp. 7 and 117. I have again omitted the word sthitake.
There, i.e. (from the revenue) in the custom-house.
The pupil is the person mentioned above in verses 48, 58-59. The word sthitake has been omitted also in the trans
lation of this verse.
The Patupala is no doubt the person mentioned above in verses 58-59, and below in verse 69.
The translation of sathmilitapottake by 'in the treasury' is merely tentative. I take pottaka to be an adaptation of the Persian fofah, which occurs in Gujarati as potuk and means "the total of the village taxes." Sammilitapottaka would thus mean the place where the village taxes were collected,' i.e. the treasury. The Persian word occurs also in Marathi, where potes denotes inter alia simply 'the treasury."
