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52
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. X.
The alphabet is of an early southern type. No distinction is made between the secondary forms of short and longi; I have, however, written i in the words fri- (1.2), Antarmmandali- (1. 2 f.), and Kaniyas- (1.4). The jihrämūliya oocurs twioo (11. 6 and 7). A final form of t seems to be used in k[e]nachi[t] (1. 7). The second consonant of the group ana is expressed by in Nanna (1. 3), but by in arnnava (1. 5). The abbreviation san for samvat and the numerical symbols 3, 7, 10 and 200 are employed in 1. 9, where the tithi of the date is given both in words and in figures.
The language is Sanskrit proso; but one verse of the Mahabharata is quoted in 1.7 f.. The rules of sandhi are strictly observed, except in svämina (1.3) and Ovriddhaya (1.5). Every Consonant following r (except sibilants and h) is doubled in accordance with Paņini, viii. 4, 46 and 49, and the dh of anudhyāta (1.1) according to viii. 4, 47 and 53. The use of the word santaka (1. 2) and that of the genitive krishatā before & aard consonant (1. 6) are evidently dae to the influence of Präkpit.
The inscription records a grant of land to a Brahmans by the Mahārāja Dahrasēna of the Traikāțaka family. The king's order was issued from a place named Āmraka (1.1). The village granted bore the naine Kapiyas-Tadākāsārika (1. 4) and belonged to the Antarmandali district (1. f.). The donee resided at Kāpura (1.3). The name of the messenger conveying the royal grant to the donee was Buddhagupta (1. 8), and the date of the grant was the 13th tithi of the bright fortnight of Vaisakha in the year 207 of an unspecified era (1. 9).
Before publishing the Pärdi plates, Pandit Bhagwanlal Indraji had discovered another mention of the Traikūtakas in & copper-plate inscription from Kanheri, the original of which seems to be lost. The Kaņheri plate is dated in the year 245. The Pandit conjectured, on the grounds of contemporaneous historical allusions in certain records from the same part of the country, that the era of this plate ought to have commenced about A.D. 245. General Cunningham showed it to be the Kalachuri or Chēdi era of A.D. 249, and his view was endorsed by Dr. Fleet and by the Pandit himself.
The alphabet and provenance of the Pardi plates, and the fact that they mention the Traikatakas, render it extremely probable that their date also has to be referred to the Kalachuri or Chodi ora, commencing in A.D. 249 as determined finally by Professor Kielhorn. The week-day or the nakshatru not being given, there is no detail by which the date can be actually tested. Dr. Fleet, however, kindly informs me that, if the year is applied as current, the European equivalent is the 4th April, A.D. 456, while, with the expired year, it would be the 23rd April, A.D: 457.
The Kaņheri plate of (Kalachuri-) Samvat 245, which mentions the Traikutaka family, does not acquaint us with the name of the king of this dynasty to whose reign it belongs. From the Pärdi plates we learn that the Traikāțaka king Dahrasena was ruling in (Kalachuri-)Samvat 207=A.D. 456 or 457. Two further members of the same dynasty are known from coins, vis. Indradatta, the father of Dahrasēna, and Vyäghrasēna, the son of Dahrasēna. The late Mr. Jackson stated that he had in his bands & copper-plate from Surat which is dated in
See varsha, 1. 7.
Inscription from the Case-Temple of Western India, p. 572. ? Ind. Ant, Vol. XIII. p. 76 f.; Dyn. Kan. Distr. p. 294f.; Journ. R. 41. Soc. 1905, p. 566 ff. • Journ. Bombay Br. R. 41. Soc. Vol. XVI. p. 346; Vienna Oriental Congress, Aryan Section, p. 220 f. • Ind. Ant. Vol. XVII. p. 216 ff.
• Prof. Rapoon's Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhra Dynasty, etc. P. clxiii; compare the same scholar's article in Jours. R. 41. Soc. 1905, p. 801 fl.- Pandit Bhagyanlal Indraji (Vienna Oriental Congress, Aryan Sect.on. p. 222) read 'Badragana' for Dabrasens, and Mr. Scott (Journ. Bombay Br. R. 43. Soe, Vol. XXIII. P. 2) preters to read Dabragana' on the majority of the coins of Dahrues, and 'Vyaghragans' for Vyaghrasena.
