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No. 17.]
PAITHAN PLATES OF GOVINDA III.
105
revolted against and defeated his brother, even though the latter, to protect himself, had formed an alliance with kings who otherwise were hostile to the Rashtrakata family!
The formal part of this inscription, also, does not differ materially from the corresponding portions of other Rashtrakuța grants. It records in lines 42-62) that the king, being encamped near Pratishthina, and having bathed in the river Godåvari, on the occasion of a solar eclipse on tho now-moon tithi of the dark half of Vaisakha in seven centuries of years, increased by sixteen, elapsed since the time of the Saka king (i.c. in the Saka year 716), granted the village of Limbâramika, situated in the [Sårå]kachchha village group of Twelve in the Pratishthana bhukti, to a number of Brahmaņas, for keeping up the five great sacrifices and other purposes. The boundaries of this village were, to the east the village Samatirthaka, to the south the river Godavari, to the west a locality named Brahmapuri, and to the north the arable land (?)' of the village of Dhôna (?). The names and a description of the grantees are given in lines 47-54. There can be no doubt that their number originally was seven, but, as stated before, the inscription has here been seriously tampered with, for the purpose of reducing this number to four, and, perhaps, in order to substitute, at least in one case, another name for the one which was originally engraved. Of each of the grantees the inscription gave not only, the father's name and the gôtra and Vedic school to which he belonged, but also the place of residence. But, with the exception of Pratishthåna which occurs in line 48, the names of these places are either altogether illegible, or so indistinct that they cannot be read with confidence. The gôtras mentioned are those of Vatsa, Påråśara, Vagishtha, Saitêba (?), Harita (?), and Kaśyapa; the Vedic schools those of the V&jins or Våjasanêying, Bahvpichas, Taittiriyas, and Madhyamdinas.- Lines 63-72 contain the usual admonition to protect the donees in the enjoyment of this grant, and quote five of the customery benedictive and imprecatory verses; and the concluding line 73 gives the names of the dataka and of the writer of the grant, both of which are so carelessly written that I am unable to say what they are.
The date of the inscription-- the new-moon tithi of the dark half of Vaisakha of SakaSamvat 716— corresponds, for Saka-Samvat 716 expired and the amanta Vaisakha, to the 4th May, A.D. 794, when there was a total eclipse of the sun which was visible in India, at 3h. 48 m. after mean sunrise. It is, so far as I know, the earliest date from a genuine inscription of India proper which shows the amânta scheme of the lunar fortnights; and it is ten years earlier than the oldest dates which has been hitherto available for the reign of Govindaraja III.
With the exception of Pratishthâna itself, I am unable to identify any of the places mentioned in this inscription.
TEXT.
kritam | Paras-cha
First Plate. 1 Om [118] Sa vô=vy&d=Vedhasa dhama yap-pabhi-kamalan
yasya kant-Ondu-kalaya kam-alamkritam || Asid=ni[sha?]2 t-timiram=udyata-maņdalagrô dhvastin=nayann=a[bh]imukhô
bhupaḥ śuchir=vvidhur=iv=asta(pta)-diga
raņa-saryvartpu(shu)
1 On Dhruvardja see Dr. Fleet's Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 33, and Dr. Bhaudarkar's Early History of the Dekkan, p. 49.
The word of the original (in line 56) which I have doubtfully translated by 'arable land,' is hala. The ordinary meaning of this word is plougl,' and it is also used as a measure of land; but neither of these two meanings would be suitable here.
1 vit. the date of the Old-Kanarose grant of Saka-Samvat 726, which works out properly only with the pirpimduta scheme of the lunar month; Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 126, and Vol. XVII. p. 141. • From impressions prepared by Dr. Fleet.
Expressed by a symbol. • Metre : sláks (Anusbțubb). 7 Metre: Vasantatilakd ; and of the next verse. Read advisha...
