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No. 21.]
SURAT PLATES OF VYAGHRASENA
219
the only tenable reading for the latter is fra, and the whole word would be asambrana : but this seems impossible, if taken as one word, and if it is divided into asar Srana, we only obtain two difficult words, and initial śr is inadmissible since it drops its r as shewn in fiva (see p. 217). There seems to be a clerical error in the word. Two emendations may be offered. First, it may be a mistake for a-sansraya, "having no asylum or habitation;" the gift of a vihara to Mahasanghikas who had no sanctuary would have been a natural act of piety. Or secondly, as Dr. Thomas suggests, tho san may be a mistake for the somewhat similar letter cha, and then the next letter may be read as rya, so that the word would be acharyana, genitive plural of acharya, “teacher." On the whole this seems preferable, and I have adopted it in the translation.
No: 21.-SURAT PLATES OF VYAGHRASENA; THE YEAR 241.
BY PROFESSOR E. HULTZSCH, PH.D.; HALLE (SAALE). In my article on the Pärdi plates of the Traikutaka king Dahrasēnas it was stated that the late lamented Mr. A. M. T. Jackson, I.C.S., had in his hands an unpublished eopper-plate grant of Dahrasēna's son and successor Vyāghrasēna. At my request Rai Bahadur Venkayya obtained the original plates on loan through the Government of Bombay, who wore good enough to permit them to be sent to me for inspection,
As stated by Mr. Jackson, the copper-plates come from Surat. They are two in number, each measuring between 94 and 9 inches in breadth, and about 3 inches in height, and bear writing only on their inner sides. They are comparatively thin and have no raised rims, but the writing on them is in a state of fairly good preservation. A number of letters are filled with verdigris and therefore have not come out on the impressions, though their outlines are quite visible on the original plates. As in the case of the Pärdi plates, there are two ring-holes at the bottom of the inscribed side of the first plate, and two corresponding ones at the top of the second plate. A long copper wire is passed through the two holes on the right, and its ends are twisted round, but not soldered. A second copper wire may have held the plates together on the left, but is now missing. The total weight of the plates and wire is 50 tolas.
The alphabet is of an early southern type. The Jihvāmāliya occurs once (1.1) and the Upadhmaniya five times (11. 4, 5, 6 (twice), and 14). In throe instances (md, 1. 9, and la, 11. 13 and 18) the secondary form ofā is expressed by a hook at the bottom of the preceding eonsonant. The date at the end of the inscription contains the abbreviation san (for sarvat) and the numerical symbols 1, 5, 10, 40, and 200.
The language is Sanskřit prose; but two verses of Vyasa are quoted near the end. The rules of grammar and of sandhi are carefully observed ; only 11. 10-14 contain a few blunders, and 1. 8 two clerical mistakes. Anusvāra is replaced by si in varisa (1. 5) and vanitya (1. 12).
The inscription records a grant of land to a Brahmana by the Maharāja Vyāghrasēna (1.7 f.) of the Traikutaka family (1.1), who issued his order from “the victorions Aniruddhapura” (1.1). This city, which appears to have been the capital of the Traikitaka kings, is mentioned also in the slightly different form "the victorious Aniruddhapari" as the place of residence of the doneo in the Bagumrå plates of Kalachuri-] Samvat 406. Vyighrasana
1 This ry is different from the ry in paryata (1. 8 A) in that the loft limb extends downwards here muel further than in paryata. Whether this difference in accidental or implies a distinction is doubtfal.
* Though, on this interpretation, one would have expected Malasanglika koharyana,
Above, Vol. X. p. 52 . • Journ Bombay Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XXIII. p. 64 Indh. Anh Vol XVIII. p. 870.
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