Epigraphia Indica Vol 11

Author(s): E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 36

No. 3.]
SAHETH-MAHETH PLATE OF GOVINDACHANDRA.
21
there. This building was partially excavated by Dr. Hoey, and it was here that, on breaking through the pared courtyard, he found the inscribed slab pablished in the Ind. Ant. Vol. XVII, p. 61 ff. Dr. Hoey also opened out seven out of the twenty-four cells which surround the courtyard in the centre and it was in one of these, namely, the one adjoining the entrance chamber on the south, that the copper-plate under reference was found. It was carefully paoked in an earthen box, 2 feet square and 3 inches high externally, closed with a lid of the same material, the space between the plate and the receptacle being filled with clay. The box was built against the foundation of the northern wall of the cell referred to, just below the floor, well secured to the wall by means of brickwork on all sides.
The plate measures 18" by 14" and is thick. In the centre of the upper part there is a ring-hole " in diameter. The ring was not found, nor the seal which must have sarmounted it. The plate is inscribed on one side only and contains 27 lines of writing in a perfect state of preservation. The characters are Nāgari and the language Sanskrit throughout. In respect of orthography, the following points may be noted. The letter b is denoted by the sigo for v throughout. The doubling of consonants before and after r occurs in lines 4 (twice), 5, 16 (twice), 17, 18 (twice), 19 (twice), 22 (twice), 23, 24 (thrice), and 27. The horizontal top stroke (matra) which elsewhere distinguishes the letters v and l from dh and n, respectively, is, in a few cases, also found in the latter. Omissions of letters are supplied by the insertion of the corresponding signs immediately above or below their original places : cf. ra in Turashku in line 21 and bha in bhadrâsanam in line 23. A rough figure of Garuda is engraved once at the end of the 11th line and again in the last line before the words mangalar maha-frih.
The inscription begins, like all the other epigraphs of the Gahadavāla king Govindachandra that have so far come to light, with nine verses in different metres containing his genealogy, and ends with seven benedictive and imprecatory verses and an eighth which supplies the name of the engraver. The formal portion is contained in the rest of the epigraph and is, as usual, in prose. I have given the full text of the inscription, but omitted from the translation the first nine verses, because they are paraphrased in the prose passage following them, and the next seven which contain the usual admonitions to futare kings. The taxes specifed (line 21) as due to the donees are the bhāgabhögakara, the pravanikara, and the Turushkadanda. The last named tax figures only in the records of three other kings of the Gahadavåla dynasty, namely, the Chandravati plate of Govindachandra's grandfather, Chandradeva ;' the inscription issued by Govindachandra bimself on behalf of bis father Madanapala ;5 and a plate of Vijayachandra and the Yuvaraja Jayachchandra.
In respect of the localities mentioned in the record, it is gratifying to note that some of them can be identified beyond all possibility of doubt. The other places have, in all probability, gone out of existence. One of these latter is Vihāra, the first of the six villages granted. It is said to have been situated in the district of what appears to be Vådd-chaturasiti.? There is a comparatively large village called Bāja Jõt or the Holy Baja, about 2 miles west of Sabēth. I am inclined to think that Vadá may possibly be a mistake for Baja. The next village Pattana is situated about 3 miles sonth-west of Sahēth or about 2 miles south of
* (It is worthy of note that the slab was found " in s stratum wbich indicated that it had been placed in a restored building;" see also the following note.--Ed.]
[The absence of the ring and seal would show that the plate must have bad a history of its own before it came to be deposited at the spot where it has now been discovered.--Ed.]
For an explanation of turushkadanda, see above, Vol. IX, p. 321. . Above, Vol. IX, p. 305, text line 15. Ind. Ant. Vol. XVIII, p. 17, text line 21.
Above, Vol. IV, p. 120, text lines 22-23. It is not unlikely that all the six villages granted by the king were situated in the district of Vida. chaturasiti.-E..]