________________
192
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIV.
No. 15.-CHANDRAVATI PLATES OF CHANDRA-DEVA: V. S. 1150 AND 1156.
BY DAYA BAM SAHNI, M.A., Rar SAHIB. These plates, which are six in number, were found at Chandravati, in the district of Benares, at the same spot on the left bank of the river Ganges as the Chandravati plate of Chandra-dēva of Vikrama-Samvat 1:48, published by Dr. Sten Konow. Chandrăvati, pronounced Chandrauti, is a village situated on the river Ganges in the pargana of Katöhir (anc. Kathêhali), a short distance to the east of the metalled road from Benares to Ghazipur, three miles south of Kaithi and fourteen miles from the district head-quarters. It has loog been, and still is, the chief village in the pargana of Katëhir. The village is now entered by a ruined gate on the west. Upon the southern wall of this gate is an inscription of VikramaSamvat 1797. The village contains two Jaina temples, to which we shall refer later on.
The plates under review were enclosed in a strong box of stone, measuring 3' 11" x 21 x l' 6) high, provided with a lid of the same material. The box and the lid were transferred to the Lucknow Museum in 1912, where they, as well as the plates, are now preserved. The stone box was exposed to view by the erosion of the river bank. The fact was reported to the Executive Engineer of Benares, who had the box and its contents safely brought over to his office and presented them to the Lucknow Maseam at the suggestion of the Director-General of Archæology in India, who has kindly authorized me to edit them. The transcript published below was prepared in 1912, when, on a personal visit to Chandrivati, I made the topographical notes that are subjoined. The same visit enabled me to identify with certainty some of the localities mentioned in the plates.
The plates are well preserved and measure 2' 3" long by 1' 31" broad. They are all pierced with a circular hole, 14 in diameter, in the middle of the upper part, and were fastened with three copper rings, to the biggest of which was soldered & stout copper seal, bearing the legend Srimach-Chandradēva in Nagari characters. Above and below the legend are a flying figure of Garuda and a conch-shell in conformity with the Vaishnava faith of the king who issued the plates. These are engraved on one side only. The characters are Nägarl. The height of the letters averages ". The language is Sanskrit throughout, the historical portions being in prose, the rest in verse.
In respect of orthography and spelling the following points may be noted. No distinotion is made between ba and va and $ and 8; syllables are sometimes omitted, as kana in alokana 1. 17 and va in iva 1. 18: consonants after ra are doubled or not in accordance with the optional character of the grammatical role concerned; the anusvāra is tised for n in haram narakam 1. 23 of the second inscription. We also notice tri for tri l. 2, ri for ra in kirina I. 22. Several examples of superfluous punctuation are also noticed, especially in the third, fourth and the fifth plates, on which the names of the donees are engraved. We have only one example of the lingual , in the name Maļivāda in l. 11 of the second inscription.
The six plates described in this paper contain two documents, both issued by king Chandradēva of Kanyakubja (Kananj) in the years Vikrama-Samvat 1150 and 1158 respectively.
These inscriptions are interesting; for they supply the old official names of a large nomber of localities, which are discussed below in another paragraph. But there is another point which is equally interesting. The only dates so far known of king Chandra-dēva are VikramaSamvat 1148 (A.D. 1090-1) and 1154 (A.D. 1097-8). The inscriptions published here supply two more dates, namely Vikrama-Samvat 1150 (A.D. 1092-93) and 1156 (A.D. 1098-99), thus extending Chandra-deva's reign by at least two years. We learn from the Basāhi plate of
Ep. Ind., Vol. 1X, pp. 802 sq.
