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No. 47.]
RECORDS OF THE SOMAVAMSI KINGS OF KATAK.
351
Mahattama, it was received by PandarikAksha :1 also that it was engraved by Madhava, son of Vasu.
E.-Katak Copper-Plate Grant of the ninth year of Maha-Sivagupta.
This record was originally bronght to notice in 1877, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XLVI. Part I. p. 149 ff., by Babu Rangalala Banerjes, according to whose account the plates were found among the official records at Katak. I re-edit it from the lithograph, published with the Babu's article on it, which, though it is on a very small scale, and though it is plainly not a parely mechanical reproduction, suffices to make the text clear all through, except for some four or five letters in line 36.
The plates are three in number, each measuring about 8' by 6+'; it would appear that the first plate is engraved on one side only, and the third on both sides. The ring, on which the plates were strong, with any seal that there may have been on it, is reported to have been lost. The characters are Nagari, of the northern class; they are very similar to the characters of B., C., and D., and were possibly written, for reproduction by the engraver, by the same person who wrote those records. They include forms of the decimal figures 1 to 7 in lines 7 to 20, and of the figare 9 in line 65; and also forms of the numerical symbols for 3 and 10 in line 65.3 The avagraha occurs twice; in yathagsmábhir, line 29, where it is not really required, and in yasosbhivriddhayê, line 38, where the use of it is quite correct. The viráma occurs with t, in drát, line 11, tasmát and purát, line 12, and anurdhat, line 42. Final forms occur, of n, in yasmin, line 11, frímân, line 14, sarovan, line 29, and prêydn, line 61, and of m, (1) resembling an anusvára with a viráma below it, in vibhúshitam, line 16, and angulam, line 51, and (2) in a more elaborate shape, in drtham, lines 37, 38, and probably in bhavatám, line 29.- The language is Sansksit. And, in addition to the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses in lines 42 to 59, there are ordinary verses in lines 1 to 20 and 60 to 62.In respect of orthography, the only points that call for special notice are (1) the use of the guttural nasal ni, instead of the anusudra, before &, in dhvarfana, by mistake for dhvansana, lide 8; (2) the use of v for b, throughout; and (3) the use of j for y in jayati, line 64.
The inscription is one of Maha-Sivagupta, otherwise called Yayati. The charter con. tained in it was issued from a town named Vinitapura, on the bank of the river Mahanadi. And the object of it was to register a grant, to a Brâhman, of & village named Chandagrima in the Marada vishaya or distriot in Dakshina-Kosala. At the end there is recorded the date,- apparently for the writing of the charter,- of Jyeshţha sukla 13 in the ninth year of the reign of Yayati, i.e. of Maha-Sivagupta.
TEXT.5
First Plate. 1 Om [11] Svasti? 18 prêma-niruddha-magdha-manasôh sphâribhavach
chakshushôr=yûnôr=yya2 tra vichitra-nirbhara-rata-kridA-kramam tanvatoḥ vichebhinnd=pikpit
atim&tra-pula kai
Evidently as Dataka, for transmission of the charter to the grantee. The perfectly plain ground between the letters proves this.
* Tbe form of 10 used here is practically given in col. 6 of Pandit Bhagawanlal Indraji's table in the Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. ; but he took it (see id. p. 46, and note $) from a symbol (Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XL. Part I. D. 166, Inat line of the text, and flate) which must really mean 100 or 200. The form of 3 is not given in his table : it hoe possibly been somewhat added to in preparing the lithograph of this charter.
. See page 362 below, note 11. From the published lithograph. Represented by a plain symbol. 7 Metre : Gardalsvikridita ; and in the next two versen. • This mark of panotustion is unnecessary.
