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No. 23.)
DON BUZURG PLATES OF GOVINDACHANDRA: [V. s. 1176.
219
miles to the north of Mairwa Railway Station on the Bengal and North-Western Railway, and made over to the Mahāraja of Majhauli. At my visit to this village, I did not notice any other antiquities of special interest. The village itself is, however, situated on a large ancient mound and the size of bricks unearthed by the villagers averages 11}" x 9" x 2".
The plates are inscribed on one side only and measure 1+1" by 10%" and 14" by 10%, respectively. The edges of the plates are fashioned into rims the maximum height of which is ". Both the plates were originally soldered on a circular ring passing through the upper part of Plate II and the lower part of Plate I. Plate I is loose on account of a small piece having broken away from the ring-hole. The seal is now attached to Plate II and is of the usual Gahadavāla type. The only orthographical peculiarities in the record that deserve special mention are the use of j for y in parjantah (1. 18) and jathā (1. 25) and the confusion of sand $ and of v and b. A for ya in vishthāāṁ (1. 30) is an evident mistake or a Prikritism. The form utakēritam in l. 36 evidently stands for utkirnnam or the causal utkäritam. There are many other mistakes of spelling in the inscription and they have all been corrected in the text.
The inscription consists of 36 lines, of which 19 are engraved on Plate I and the remaining 17 on Piate II. The whole of the document is in an excellent state of preservation. The characters are Nagari. The language is metrical Sanskrit in the first eleven and last eleven lines which contain respectively the usual genealogy of the Gahadavála kings of Kanauj and the imprecatory and benedictory verses. The remaining fourteen lines as well as part of the last or 36th line are in Sanskrit prose and represent the formal historical portion of the document.
The inscription records that on Tuesday the 8th tithi of the bright half of Jyēshtha of [v.] s. 1178 (A.D. 1119-20) after bathing in the Ganges at his camp-residence (yāna-väsa) at the village of Mandalia, belonging to Alamvimahāpura, the Gåhadavåla king Govindachandra granted the village of Vadagrāma? in the Alāpa district to a Brāhmaṇa named Tulţāieha-3 Šarman. This Brahmaņa belonged to the Vachchha (Skt. Vatsa)-gotra of Dröņāyaṇashada. The fourth syllable of this latter name is not decipherable, but it is not impossible that it was the name of a town or village or of some muni to whom (a branch of-Ed.) the Vatsa-götra owed its origin. If this assumption is correct, we may without hesitation identify this locality with the village at which the plates were found and which is still called Don Buzurg, or the Holy Don. It is interesting to note here a legend which describes a small cultivated area in the neighbourhood of this village as Droņa-ka-ghar or Drona-ka-garh, that is the residence or citadel of Dröna, the preceptor of the Kaurava and Pandava princes. It is stated by the villagers that Dröņa resided at this place and was on one occasion transported to Lanká to prescribe medicine for Vibhishana, brother of Rāvana. The story is not worth much, but it shows at least that the local pandits already recognize in the name Dön a corruption of Dröna, probably a remnant of the original long name of the place.
At the time of issuing the grant, the king Govindachandra was encamped at a village named Mandalia, which was situated in Alamvimahāpura. The latter was probably the name of the district in which the village in question was situated, and it is evident that the village stood somewhere on the banks of the Ganges. I am as yet unable to identify either of these places. The village granted was sa pataka-kõna-Vadagrāma which I interpret as Vadagrama together with its outlying hamlet and its corners. This village was situated in the district (pattala) of Alūpa.
1 [This requires correction, for the original (1. 19) clearly gives WATER, i.e. Monday. Reference to the late Mr. L. D. Swamikannu Pillai's Ephemeris, Vol. III, p. 240, will show that this date is quite regular and rightly corresponds to Monday, the 19th May, 1119 A.D.-Ed.]
Vadagrāma appears to have been a common village name. In the Chandravati plate of Chandradēva of ry.) S. 1148 (Ep. Ind., Vol. IX, p. 802 f.) we find Chandravati referred to as Vadagavi, a slightly modified form of Vadagrāma. (See f. n. 1 on p. 223.-Ed.]
[See f. n. 2 on page 222—Ed.)
