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No. 13.)
BALODA PLATES OF TIVARADEVA.
103
The plates are three in number and measure about 91' in breadth and about 58" in height. Their edges are not raised into rims. The first plate is engraved only on the inner side, and the second on both sides. The third plate is full of writing on the inner side and bears one additional line, which records the name of the engraver, a little above the middle of the outer side. Some of the lines on the inner side of the third plate are so deeply cut that they show through on the outer side. The writing is on the whole in a state of very good preservation. In the syllable nai of 1. 10, a square hole was cut into the plate by the engraver and a fresh piece of copper inserted into the hole. . This was probably done in order to correct the syllable nai, which may have been spoiled accidentally in the original engraving. On the left side of each plate is bored a roughly square hole for a ring to connect them. The ring, which had not yet been cut when the plates reached my office, is about 47' in diameter and about " in thickness. Its ends are secured in the lower part of a circular seal, which measures 3' in diameter and closely resembles the seal of the Rajim plates of the same king. The seal bears, in relief on a deep countersunk surface, across the centre a legend in two lines, at the bottom a floral device; and at the top a figure of Garuda, facing the front and somewhat worn, with a chakra on his proper right and a Sarkha on his proper left.
The alphabet is of the same box-headed type as in the Rajim plates. The jihvamaliya occurs in l. 36, and the secondary form of jh in ujjhita (1. 13). No distinction is made between the secondary forms of rs and ri (in bhoktrinam, l. 26), and between d and dh (in gadho gádhan, 1. 12). In ten instances (kirita, 1. 3; lakshmi, 11. 4 and 32; tydgi, 1. 13; kamini-kridastui, 1. 16; fri, 11. 18, 19, 21; sûchi, 1. 20) the secondary form of í is marked by a point in centre of the mark for i; but in the majority of cases the i is not distinguished from the i. Ther of Sri (11. 1, 2, 18, 19, 21, 25) has the same shape as the secondary form of ri. Final t occurs in sampat (1.8), dadyat (1. 36) and vasét (1. 37), and final m in oksitám (1.2). In l. 40 we have the numerical symbols for 7, 9, and 20.
The language is Sanskpit, mostly prose; but there is one verse on the seal and another in 1 1 f., and six verses from the Smritis are quoted in 11. 30-40. As in the Rajim plates, the vernacular form samvatsart occurs in 1. 40. As regards orthography, v is used instead of b in vahala (1. 5) and Indravala (1. 18), and b instead of u in bapushi (1. 11) and abhibriddhaye (1. 28 f.). The anusvåra before & is changed into si in nistrinida (1. 4 f.), varibasya (1. 18 f.), tristataḥ (1. 27), and nricharda for writansah (1. 32). Between a vowel and r, t is always doubled, except in ch=dtra, 1. 34; in jagatraya (1.1) tra is used for ttra, and in étadvaya for étad-duayan (1. 32) dua is used for ddua.
Like the R&jim plates, this inscription records a grant by Tivaradêve, as he is called on the seal and in the opening verse, or Mahasiva-Tivararája (1. 21). On the seal he is styled
sovereign of Kobala,' and in l. 19 he is stated to have "acquired the sovereignty of the whole of Kosala." He was the son of Nannadeva of the family of Pandu, and the grandson of Indrabala (1. 18 f.). Nannadēva and his father Indrabala, who was a son of Udayana of the lunar race, are mentioned also in an inscription at Sirpar, which has been published by Professor Kielhorn, who has also found the names of Udayana of the Pandava family, and perhaps of Indrabala, in a fragmentary inscription of the Nagpur Museum. According to the same scholar, Tivaraddva must be assigned to about the middle of the eighth century of the Christian era.
1 Dr. Fleet's Gupta Insoriptions, Plate xlv.
This epithet neems to have been omitted accidentally by the engraver of the Rajim plates (L. 16), where prdpta corresponds to prdpta.sakala-Kósalddhipatyal in the Baloda plates (1. 19).
• Ind. Ant. Vol. XVIII. p. 179. In 1. 4 of this inscription, I would correct Nanndísar.dkhyó iuto dkhyaira; compare og. Narendrars in South Ind. Inger. Vol. I. p. 38 and note 2. Above, Vol. IV. p. 257.
. Above, Vol. IV. p. 258.
