Epigraphia Indica Vol 19

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 94

No. 10.]
THE KALVAN PLATES OF YASOVARMMAN.
TEXT. 1.. .... pito Chutaka-vibärö vyista. . 2. .. [Ma]h[@]sānghikana dharma-va(ba)la-[vsiddhyartham*] 3. ... [va]rshaņā 90 1 kāruņika . . . . .
.
TRANSLATION. " . . . .was erected .. . . . .. . . . for the increase of the religious merit and strength of the [Majhāsānghikas (residing) at the Chutaka-vihkra . .. ninety-one years . . . ... ."
No. 10.--THE KALVAN PLATES OF YASOVARMMAN.
BY R. D. BANERJI, M.A., CALCUTTA. The inscription edited below was discovered in a village near Kalvan in the north-western part of the Näsik district of the Bombay Presidency. It was brought to the notice of Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, 1.C.S., then Collector of the Násik district, by Mr. Gajanan Gopal Joshi, a teacher of school at Kalvan, who also read portions of the inscription. In the first instance, only the first two plates were recovered from a Bhil, but on a reward being announced the third plate also was found at the same place. The plates were purchased for the Prince of Wales Museum of Bombay through Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, I.C.S., who spared no pains to obtain them for that institution.
The inscription is incised on three plates of coppor each measuring 10" 57". There is a hole in the upper part of each of these plates proving that they were attached together at one time by a ring. The ring as well as the seal, that must have been attached to it, are missing. The first and third plates are inscribed on one side only, the second plate being inscribed on both the sides. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit and, with the exception of the imprecatory verses, the entire record is in prose. The inscription abounds with mistakes. Sa is generally substituted for sa: cf. yasa for yaśaḥ (11. 2, 4, 7, 8, 14), sira for firah (1. 3), asiti for aftti (II. 8-9), subha for Subha (1. 11), and Kalakalësrara for Kalakalesvara (1. 12). So also we find la for sa in sahasra instead of sahasra in 11. 8, 33 and 37. Vakaigala (1. 21), pamchavisa (1. 20 f.), tēlaghanaka (1. 22 f.), jin-alad (1. 25), chāurika and dandavāsika (1.27) are instances of Präkritism.
The alphabet of the inscription is Nāgari of the Northern variety of the eleventh century A.D. and may be very well compared with that of the Banswaral and the Ujjainplates of Bhojadēva. The ai symbol is represented by the two usual strokes at the top of the consonant or by a single stroke and a vertical line placed before the letter. Long initial i is distinguished from the short by a rectangular stroke placed over the latter (1. 16). A peculiar final form of n is to be found in ādin in l. 28. The letter ya in l. 2 (Siyaka) is not closed at the top as is gewerally done. Na has two forms (see 11. 23 and 24).
The inscription is not dated but refers itself to the reign of & subordinate chief named Yabóvarmman. Even the genealogy of this prince, in whose territory the land was granted, is omitted. He is simply introduced as having obtained one-half of the town of Salluka from the illustrious Bhöjadöva (I) and as being in the enjoyment of 1,500 villages. Thin Bhöjaděva is said
Above, Vol. XI, plate opposito p. 182. "Indian Antiquary, Vol. VI, pp. 63-64,