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No. 36.)
BALAGHAT PLATES OF PRITHIVISHENA II.
267
(which happened) on Monday, the 16th day of the dark fortnight of Paushya (of that year) -
(L. 80.) gave to that (temple), with libations of water, two mattar of wet land (lying) between two flat slaba below the band of the tank built in her name by her husband Bêtanapergade, and four mattar of black-soil land (lying) south of the pond (done) on the west side of the same tank and six mattar of uncultivated land, (and) set up this inscribed pillar.
(L. 88 f.) And as a subsidiary) gift to this charity the prosperous mahamandalesvara Melarasa of Ugravaçi, who was born in the family of Madha[vav]arma, (whose army consisted of "eight thousand elephants, eight crores of horses and endless crowds of foot (soldiers) eto.," gave ono mattar of wet-land at the head of the canal below the band of Kuchikere (tank) which belonged to Orungallu (included) within his rule, (and) ten mattar of miscellaneous land close to the same (land).
(V. 10.) He that destroys this (charity) shall always incar the sin of having killed thousand tawny cows; (and) he that carefully protects it, shall ever enjoy (that) happiness (which is) acquired as the fruit of a thousand sacrifices (yajfia).
[L1, 104 to 110 contain two of the usual imprecatory verses.]
(L. 111 f.) One paga' (is assigned) to Boya-Padda who removes the sweepings in that temple.
No. 36.- BALAGHAT PLATES OF PRITHIVISHENA II.
BY TIE LATE PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN. These plates were sent in May 1893 by the Deputy Com nissioner of Balaghat, a district in the Nagpur Division of the Central Provinces, to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, to which they now belong. In the letter which accompanied them, it was stated that they had been found in the district, 'some time ago, hanging to a tree in the jungle. They were entrusted to me by Dr. Hoernle in 1905, with the request that I should edit the inscription which is engraved on them. Other work has prevented my doing so before now.
The plates are five in number, each between 6$' and 6" long by between 3 and 4' high ;/ two of them contain no writing whatever, while of the three others (here described as plates i, ii and ii) the second is engraved on both sides and the first and the third on one side only. Though the plates have no raised rims and are not fashioned thicker near the edges, the engraving on them is throughout in a perfect state of preservation. The five plates are strung on a ring, which passes through a hole about distant from the middle of the proper right margin of each plate. This ring is circular, about 1" thick and between 3' and 31" in diameter. The ends of it are flattened off and joined by a bolt, which had not been cat when the plates came into my hands. On the ring described there slides a smaller ring, made of a band of copper, the ends of which are fastened by a rivet which also passes through, and firmly holds, a flat disc of copper about 29" in diameter. Undoubtedly this diso was meant to serve as a seal and to bear some writing, but nothing has been engraved on it.
The plates clearly were intended to record a grant of the Våkåtaka king Pfithivishêņa II., but they actually give only the genealogy of the king and break off at the point where his order
1 I have taken karambam to be synonymous with Tamil karambu, which, according to Dr. Winslow, means hard and sterile ground.'
* This small coin, more popularly pronounced adga, is equal to one-fourth of a hapa.'
Compare the descriptions of the three sets of plates of Prevarasbus II. in Gupta Incor. PP. 285 and 243 and above, Vol. III., P. 258.
2 x 2
