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174
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XI.
.
No. 17.-NAVALAKHI PLATES OF SILADITYA I.-[GUPTA-] SAJVAT 286.
BY PROFESSOR H. M. BHADEABIKAR. I edit the following plates from two impressions kindly sent to me by Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar, M.A., Archeological Superintendent, Western Circle. The two impressions together leave no doubt as to the correct reading of the original, with the exception of two names at the beginning of the second plate. In the case of these two names, the original itself seems to be damaged.
The plates were first found in 1904-5 at Navalākhi, near Shahapur, a village about 8 or 10 miles from Junagadh, and are now preserved in the Bahadur Museum, Junagadh. They are two in number, each inscribed on one side only. The edges are fashioned into rims on the four margins. The plates appear to have been held together by thick rings passing through two holes at the bottom of the first plate and at the top of the second. The holes are nearly " in diameter, and seem to have been bored before the grant itself was inscribed. The asual seal must have been attached to one of these copper rings, but as it is not forthcoming, I presume it has been lost. The plates measure about 10.S" by 9". The first bears 2] lines and the second 16. The average size of the letters is abont 10"
The suhjoined inscription is comparatively free from mistakes and differs in this respect from other records of the same dynasty, e.g. the Rajkot Museum plates of the same reign dated in Gupta-Samvat 290, published by Dr. Bühlerl (referred to in the sequel for the sake of brevity as the grant of 290'). The characters belong to the western variety of the southern alphabets. As regards pulæography, it is enough to note that the aksbaras ph and dh are hardly distinguished (e.g. kāryya-phalah, l. 7, and pithodūdha, l. 14). The language is Sanskrit prose with the exception of three imprecatory verses at the end. The rules of sandhi are followed in many places but neglected in others. As regards orthography, the following points may be noted :
The letter gh is used instend of h in samghatis (1. 6), and samghatāräti (1. 11). The guttural is used instead of the anusvära in chatvārinkatē (1.25) according to the practice of the Yajurvēdi Brāhmaṇas in their Vedic recitations; and the dental n takes its place in bhāsurataransa (for tarāṁsa) as is the practice with the Gujaratis of the present day. The final m of a word is changed only once into the nasal of the class to which the following letter belongs in süminyaii-cha (1. 30), while in other cases it is generally changed into an anusvāra. The letters tri in otsidasaguruo (1.6), and tri in trinavado (1.7) are both wrong and should be corrected by a reciprocal interchange. Consonants conjunct with the rēpha are generally doubled (according to Pānini VIII, 4. 46) except in the case of sibilants, e.g. darśayită (1.11), and varsha (1. 33). When the letter dh is conjunct with ya, the unaspirated d is also prefixed, o.g. pādanuddhyāta (11. 12-13), in sambaddhyamīnakan (1. 18), and in osviddhyāyao (11. 19-20). The double nna is written as nona in Ochandrärkärnnavao (1. 28). The sign of jihvāmūliya, which, in form, is just the letter m, is written conjunct with kh in I. 16, and k in 1. 17, and to the group so formed the vowel signs of ; in the first case, and of u in the second are added in the way usual with other conjunct letters. These are the only two occasions for this sign in the whole of this inscription, but while there are about half a dozen cases where the upadhmāniya symbol may be expected, it is written only twice in conjunction with in mātapitro punyapyayanaya, 1. 19, and sidhuhpunarādadita, 1. 33. This sign is like the letter chh. Final is denoted by the usual sign for the syllable ta with a slight stroke at the top slanting to the right.
Ind. Ant., Vol. IX. p. 237, et seq.
