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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XVIII.
No. 35.-BET MA PLATES OF BHOJADEVA; [VIKRAMA-SAMVAT 1076.
BI D. B. DISKALKAR, M.A.; RAJKOT. Though the name of the Paramára king Bhoja of Dhara is well known to scholars, epi. graphical records of his reign are rather rare. So far only two grants of this king have been discovered one of V. S. 1078 in Ujjain and the other of V. S. 1076 (Magha, su, di. 5) in Banswara". The copper-plate grant dealt with here is thus the third known records of his reign
The plates were discovered, about two years ago, by a peasant while ploughing his field near a village called Betmā, sixteen miles to the west of Indore, in Central India. They subsequently came into the possession of Mr. Manekchand Jati of Indore, who takes interest in antiquities. When I had been to Indore sometime ago I found them with him. Through the kindness of the late Rao Bahadur Dr. Prabhakar R. Bhandarkar, Home Member, Holkar State, and of Mr. K. K. Lele, Superintendent, Historical Department, Dhår, I have been able to edit the inscription here for the first time.
The plates, which are two in number, are held together by two thick copper rings in the usual way. They measure 13 inches in length and 84 inches in breadth and are in an excellent state of preservation. The inscribed side of the second plate bears at its bottom in a rectangular barder a flying figure of Garuda as is usually seen in the Para mara grants. The sign minual of the king is affixed at the end of either plate. It is to be noted that in none of the known grants of Bhojadēva the name of the writer of the grant is given.
The alphabet is Någari of the 11th century A.D. prevalent in Mälwá, as known to us from the other records of the period, e.g. the Banswårå plates of the same king. The consonant ais expressed by throughout. In fact, there is nothing to distinguish between the letters
, a and y. y is wrongly replaced by # in fecet (1. 1), afe* (1. 14), Tentifier (1. 21) and in due: (1.23). Similarly is wrongly replaced by q in quanto (1.16) and in T T (1. 25). A consonant following r is generally doubled, 6.g. in Itu (1. 1), FA (1.7), yr#: (1.9), fafia (1. 12), asfHoT (1. 19), etc. T at the end of a conjunct consonant is generally expressed in this inscription by the full letter added below the first consonant (e.g. tra ll. 8, 14 and 15, dra 1. 5, bhra II. 8, 9, gra 1. 9, etc.), and not by a stroke turned to the left as we generally find. The letter kri in the two cases where it occurs (11.1 and 16) is written imperfectly, the left portion of the letter ka being omitted. The document is drawn up in Sanskrit prose mixed with verses.
Except for the following four points, our grant is practically identical with the Banswara grant of the same king issued in the same year :
(1) Though the year in both the grants is the same, the months are different. The Betma grant is dated on the 15th day of the bright fortnight of the month Bhadrapada, while the Bånswārå grant is dated on the 5th day of the bright fortnight of the month Magha. It is to be seen, however, which is the earlier of the two grants. If we consider the year as beginning with the month Chaitra, the Betmã giant may be the earlier one. If, however, the year
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 53. * Ind. Ant., Vol. XLI, p. 201, and Ep. Ind., Vol. XI, No. 18, p. 181.
. Mr. K. N. Dikshit informs me that another record of the reign of Bhöjs dated Samvat 1091 (1084-5 A.D.) has been traced on an image of Sarasvati which has found its way to the British Museum. I also find that the Tilskwadá plates of V. S. 1103 published by the late Mr. Kadalkar in the Proceedings of the First Oriental Conference, Poona, most probably belong to the reign of this Bhojs. Oue more copper-plato grant of Bhoj dova be recently been discovered at Kalyan in the Nasik District. See 4. 8. R., 1921-32, p. 118.
