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No. 49.)
KADABA PLATES OF PRABHUTAVARSHA.
333
The vowel ri is employed instead of ri in namas-kriyamanam, 1. 30, whereas ri is written for si in vistrita, krita, l. 1, dhrita, 1. 60, and parama-rishi, 1. 9, where the usual spelling would be parama-rshi. The sibilant & is used for o in avatanda, 1. 1, pánu, 1. 52, and for & in visésha, I. 3, yasa(6), 1. 16, and asësha, 1. 74. Twice the sonant non-aspirate is found instead of the sonant aspirate, in sangdta, 1. 17, and stamba, 1. 16. The rules of sandhi have been frequently disregarded. Three times, in 11. 22, 71 and 75, the wpadhmaniya occurs before p. Consonants after are doubled, with the exception of k (except in arkka, 1. 13), th, bh, and the sibilants. The donbling of the first consonant of a group occurs only in dikkrama, 1. 17. A double mute before & consonant, on the other land, is represented by a single mute in jagatraya, 1. 19, and ujvala, 1. 25.- As regards lexicography, it may be pointed out that ch&rvi in l. 3 and sudhd in 1. 16 are used in meanings known hitherto from dictionaries only. In I. 24 a denominative bhdoyati seems to be used in the sense of bhavishyati'; and chaturdkára occurs in l. 48, in a pun, in the meaning of 'square.' Regarding the word pada in l. 50, I refer to the note on that passage.
The inscription records that the king Prabhutavargha, (i.e. Govinda III.), residing in his victorious camp at Mayûrakhandi, on the application of Châkiraja, in saka-Samvat 735 presented the village of Jalamangala to the Jains muni Arkakirti, on behalf of the temple of Jinêndra at Silê grima, in remuneration for his having warded off the evil influence of Saturn from Viinaladitya, the governor of the Kunungil district.
Before giving a more detailed account of the contents, it will be expedient to determine, as far as can be done from external points of evidence, whether the inscription is a genuine one or a forgery. Doubts about its genuineness have been already expressed by Dr. Fleet, and we shall see that his suspicion certainly cannot be called unjustified.
I shall begin with the paleography. In his examination of the palæography of the spasions copper-plates of the Western Gangas, Dr. Fleet has used, as leading tests, the letters kh and b. Of these, kh in the present inscription appears generally in the later form ; but in sukha, l. 15, likhita (for likhita), 1. 16, and, probably, in mukha, 1. 7, and vikhydta, 1. 10, the old type is followed. For b the older form is used throughout. Dr. Fleet states that the later form of kh appears first in an insoription of Amoghavarsha I. at Mantrawadi near Bankapur, dated in A.D. 865, and that it does not seem at all possible that it can be carried back to before A.D. 804, as the Kanarese grant of Govinda III., dated in that year, and earlier inscriptions contain the older form only. Oar inscription, being dated in A.D. 812, lies within these limits, and, accordingly, the occurrence of the later form cannot prove its spuriousness. Nevertheless, I consider it a little suspicious; for, though the later form actually is used in A.D. 865, the older form alone appears, according to Dr. Fleet, in the Sirûr inscription of Amoghavarsha I., dated in A.D. 866, and it appears therefore that at that time the later form was not yet generally employed, but rather on the point of coming into use. Such, however, being the case, it does not seem likely that it was used altogether already more than fifty years before that time.
The remaining letters call for no remarks, with the exception of the dental l. For this two signs are used : the subscript sign in the stretched form, which appears already in older inscriptions, and the fall sign in the later form, which seems to have been introduced into this alphabet in the second half of the eighth century A.D.; for, though in the Wokkalêri grant of Kirtivarman II., dated in A.D. 757,7 the full siga appears still in the old form of the Cave
Charof deptas. Sabdaratsduult in sabdakalpadruma; ondad, esrth,' in von Boehtlingk's Dictionary, quoted from a Dictionary of Galanos.
• Dynasties of the Kanarese Districta, 2nd ed., p. 399. Above. Vol. III. p. 161 • It bas not been published yet.
Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 126, Plate. o Ind. Ant. Vol. XII. p. 316. A lithograph of this inscription las not been published yet. 1 Ind. an. Vol. VIll. p. 28 il., and lithograph.
