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No. 7.]
TWO NEW GRANTS OF DHRUVASENA.
109
edges are just slightly raised, in order to protect the writing, which is in a state of excellent preservation throughout. The letters, which are deeply incised, show through on the reverse side of the plate. The engraving is well executed. The plate has a pair of holes bored at two adjacent corners and intended for receiving the ring and seal, which are missing. Its weight is 56 tölas. It contains fifteen lines of writing. The letters are of the period to which the plate refers itself, and of the type met with on other plates of the Maitraka dynasty. In short, this record is exactly like any of the large number of grants of Dhruvasēna I. that have latterly been brought to light. A detailed description of the characters, language and orthography of these plates, or even an English rendering of the text, seems superfluous. We may take it for granted that the dataka of this grant was the pratihāra Mammaka, and the writer Kikkaka.
The grant was issued from Valabhi by the Mahasāmanta Maharaja Dhruvasēna [I.] to the Brāhmana Santiśarman of the Atrêya götra, (a student of] the Vaji saněya] School and a resident of Nagaraka, either bestowing upon him or confirming him in the possession of one hundred padararttas of land on the south-eastern boundary of the village of Bhadréņikā, situated in Surashtra.
I am unable to identify Bhadrenika. Nagaraka is probably Vadnagar, the home of the Nägar Brahmans.
TEXT.
Plate B. 12... THTAKAETTYênut alan vaate18 विनियुक्तकमात्तरदांगिकध्रुवस्थानाधिकरणिकादीनन्यांश्च यथासंबध्यमानकान14 नुदर्शयत्यस्तु वनविदितं यथा सुराष्ट्रायां भद्रेणिकाग्रामस्य पूर्वदक्षिण
सिनि 15 JETA Trawuf ihtiyaf
POSTSCRIPT
A PLATE OF DHRUVASENA DATED SAM. 208. Since writing the above I have come across a new Valabhi plate containing the concluding portion of a grant of Dhruvasēna dated in sa n. 206, about which I should like to add a few words in continuation of the above note on the Bhavnagar plates. This new plate was placed in my hands for decipherment by Mr. J. C. Chatterjee, Dharmadhyaksha (Secretary in the Ecclesiastical Department) to the Government of His Highness the Gaikwar of Baroda. It was sent to him, he told me, officially from Kathiawad for decipherment: that is all that I could elicit from him regarding its previous history. The plate is 114 inches long by 6 inches broad; the edges are raised to protect the writing, which is in a state of perfect preservation; and the characters belong to the period to which the plate refers itself: in one word, the grant is similar in every respect to the records of the Valabhi kings that have hitherto come to light.
From the original plate, and a set of estampages.
2 Up to this the text is practically identical with the text of the Palitani Plate of Dhruvason I. (dated 206). published above, Vol. XI, pp. 105 ff. In l. 6, read t-pad-abhipranama" for t-pabhiprandma and Manvādinā for dina. Read Cefa.
* The rest of the inscription is missing
