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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIX.
hand is written better than others found along with it. As regards orthography, ba is not distinguished from va, which stands for both. Sa and Sa have been confused. The sign for i resembles an arrow-head with a parallel stroke below it.
Ordinarily, grants on copper-plates are made for increasing the religious merits of the donors and their parents, but this is an exception. It was made by way of thanksgiving on an escape from a great calamity, when the donor had almost lost his kingdom in a battle with one Dhira, who is described as a huge alligator clutching his victim. Dhiru is a non-Aryan name and it appears that a local aboriginal chief rebelled against Jäjalladeva and put him into a precarious position. In fact it is stated that on regaining his kingdom he made the gift, which indicates that it was merely by a turn of fortune that he became the king of his country once more.
The genealogy of Jājalladēva is given as follows:-From Kārtavirya were born the Haihayas, among whom was born Kōkalla, who had 18 sons. The eldest of these became the king of Tripuri and he made his brothers the lords of the Mandalas or districts whch lay close by. One of these younger brothers had a son named Kalingaraja, who was very powerful. His son was Kamalarāja, from whom was born Ratnadēva I. His wife was Nōnalla and from them was born Prithvidēva I. He had for his queen Rajalladēvi, from whose union was born Jājalladeva I. The latter's son was Prithvidēva II, whose son was Jājalladēva II, the donor. By this charter a village named Bundera was granted to two Brahmans Rāghava and Namadeva, the former being the astro loger and the latter the royal priest. Their genealogies are also given. Raghava belonged to a gotra having five pravaras, viz., Vatsa, Bhargava, Chyavana, Apnuvana and Aurvva. His father was Damodara, who was very learned. He was a great astrologer and was loved by the people and worshipped by kings. Damodara's father was Prithvidhara. Namadeva belonged to the Bharadvaja-gōtra having three pravaras, to wit, Bharadvaja, Angiras and Barhaspatya. His father's name was Parasara and grandfather's Mahadhana. At the end of the record Namadeva has a Tha before his name, which apparently stands for Thakkura and would indicate the military tendencies of the royal priest.
The charter was written by a Vastavya Kayastha named Chitrabhānu, son of Vatsarāja, master of Jadera (village), on Friday the 5th of the dark fortnight of a month which reads as Agrana, apparently a mistake for either Sravana or Agrahayana, in Samvat 91[2]. Although the era is not specifically stated, it cannot but be the Kalachuri one, as the king belonged to its founder's dynasty. The last figure of the year is corroded, but the bottom bend indicates that it could not but be 2 or 3. With the aid of the week-day we find that in 912, the 5th tithi of the dark fortnight fell on a Friday in Sravana and not in Agrahāyaṇa. Friday did not fall on that tithi in either month in 913. In the text there are only three letters for the month, which suit better than which has five letters. So it is pretty certain that the reference is to the Sravana month, and as such, the date is equivalent to Friday, the 14th July 1161 A.D.
1 This Damn 3dara appears to be identical with one whose stone image was found in Kharod, a village in the Janjgir tahsil of Bilaspur District. He was being worshipped as a Devi, with the blood of hundreds of cocks and goats, until the writer's visit to that locality about 20 years ago, when he proved to the satisfaction of the local people that the statue represented neither a devi nor a dera, but an ordinary male worshipper, as the figure and the pose clearly showed. The people then informed the writer that it bore an inseription at the bottom which on digging up confirmed this guess. It read as follows:afif gig). At Kharod there is an old temple of Siva known as Lakhnesvara-mand ra. It has two Kalachuri stone records affixed to the wall. Apparently the Sambhu kola referred to that temple with which Pandit Damodara might have been connected as a priest or worshipper. His merits given in our record qualify him for being honoured with a statue, which was restored at the writer's instance to the Lakhnesvara temple, some 20 years before this inscription was discovered. (See liralal's C. P. and Berar Inscriptions, pp. 117 and 118.)
