________________
286
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VI.
are often disregarded; (2) that there is an indifference about the doubling of consonants after r; (3) that the letter b is throughout denoted by the sign for v; (4) that dk is doubled (by d) in conjunction with a following y or r in 11. 42 and 82; (5) that the vowel ri is employed instead of ri in bhupas-trivishtapa° (1.6) and -Kanakádrir-iv-Emdrardjaḥ (1. 7), and (6) gh instead of h in raja-singhaḥ (1. 3); (7) that the jihvdmaliya and the upadhmaniya are used in bhrityaik-kisha (ya) dbhir= (1. 9) and in udyatah-pranaté (1. 49); (8) that the visarga followed by s has been twice changed to that letter, in manastas-samam-éva (1. 4) and tanayas-samabhút (1. 41); (9) that the final m of a word, instead of being changed to an anusvára, is joined to a following p, bh or v in 11. 9, 25, 40, 45, 46 and 78; (10) that the anusvára before y, v and s is sometimes represented by n (11. 3, 21, 25, 26, 58); and (11) that the sign of avagraha is employed once in 1. 51.-The characters belong to the northern class of alphabets and in general agree with those of the grants of the Gujarat Rashtrakâța princes; but the sign for d in the words yadd and dra(da)dita in 11. 76 and 78 and the sign for the conjunct nn in the words dhvastin=nayann abhimukhô (1. 2), prabhinna (1. 6), etc. are worthy of note. Another point that calls for special notice is that most of the letters of the sign-manual of Dhruvaraja and one letter of that of Dantivarman at the end, and a few in the benedictory verse at the beginning, are engraved with their tops nail-headed.
The inscription is one of Dantivarman, of the Gujarat branch of the Rashtrakuta family, or, as he is described in line 56 f., the Talaprahari fri-Dantivarmadeva, who has the biruda of Aparimitavarsha, who is the lord of great feudal chiefs (mahdsdmanta), and who has obtained the five great sounds (mahasabda).' The inscription opens with the salutation ôm ôm namo Buddhaya, which furnishes an indication, at the very outset, of the grant being Buddhist. It then gives one verse (which is well known from other Rashtrakuta grants) invoking the protection of Vishnu and Siva. Then in lines 1-49 the genealogy of Dantivarman is set forth, exactly in the same verses (with a few unimportant variants) as in the Bagumrå plates of Dhruvaraja II. Then follow three verses (11. 49-52) which are peculiar to this grant, and which tell us that Dantivarman was a younger brother of Dhruvaraja II. After this there is another well known verse on the vanity of this life. The proper object of the inscription is stated in prose, in 11. 53-67. Dantivarman informs all the officials called rashtrapati, vishayapati, grámakita, niyukta, ádhikarika, vásápaka, mahattara, etc. that, having bathed in the great river Paravi, on the ninth tithi of the dark half of Pausha in Saka-Samvat 789 (in words and in figures), on the great occasion of the Uttarayana, he granted to the vihara at the sacred place (tirtha) of Kampilya the village of Chokkhakuți, situated in the north-west of, and included in, the forty-two (villages) named after Sarthatailata, to be enjoyed by the succession of the pupils of the holy Aryasamgha, for defraying the expenses of perfumes, flowers, frankincense, lamps and ointments, and of the repairs of the temple broken in parts. The boundaries of the village granted were, in the east the village of Da[nt]ellamka, in the south the village of Apasundara, in the west the village of Kalapallika, and in the north the river Mandakini (Ganga). Lines 67-72 contain a request to future rulers to respect the donation, and threaten with spiritual punishment those who might resume it. Lines 73-80 quote seven of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses. And the inscription then (from line 80) concludes thus: "The dûtaka of this (charter) is the great minister ri-Krishnabhatta. And this has been written by the sénabhôgika Golla, the son of Râpappa. (This is) the pleasure of me, the glorious Dantivarman, the son of the glorious Akálavarahadeva. Also, (this is) the pleasure of me, the glorious Dhruvarajadeva, the son of the glorious Akalavarahadeva,"
The gain from this inscription for the social and political history of Gujarat is considerable. In the first place, this grant, as will be seen from the above summary of the contents, was made to the Aryasamgha, or Buddhist community, settled at Kampilya. This shows that Buddhism was still in the latter half of the ninth century of the Christian era a living religion, favoured by kings in Western India. Secondly, the inscription adds to the list of the Gujarat