Epigraphia Indica Vol 20

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

Page 71

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XX
pur and the Ghugrāhāti copper-plates also record similar transactions, the difference being that in the present case the rate at which one kulyavāpa of land was sold was 2 dināras whereas it was 3 in the case of the Dämodarpur grants and 4 in the case of the Faridpur ones. As Nos. 3 and 4 of the Dämõdarpur plates are almost co-eval with the present plate, the difference in the rates mentioned in the two cases must be due to local causes. Probably the quality of the land available was inferior or there was an abundance of fallow land in the locality around Pāhāļpur. It was, apparently, owing to such considerations that the 5 dronavāpas (= of a kulyavāpa approximately) were, as stated in No. 2 of the Dämödarpur plates, granted in lieu of a deposit of 2 dināras, when the rate was 3 dināras to a kulyavāpa'.
The grant under notice records that a Brāhmana and his wife deposited 3 dīnāras or gold coins with the city council (adhishthän-adhikarana) to secure 1 kulyaväpa and 4 drönavāpas of land situated at 4 different villages all lying in the Dakshiņāmsaka-rithi and Nägiraţta-mandala for the mairrtenance of worship with sandal, incense, flowers, lamps, etc., of the divine arhats at the vihāra of Vata-Gõhäli which was presided over by the disciples and the disciples of disciples of the Nigrantha preceptor (Sraman-ācharya) Guhanandin, belonging to the Pancha-stūpa section (nikāya) of Benares. The donation of a Brāhmaṇa couple for the worship of Jinas, as recorded here, is noteworthy for it bespeaks of the religious toleration of the people of the period.
The Jaina vihara at Vata-Gohali mentioned in this inscription, it would appear, must have stood at the original site of the present temple at Pābāppur. The boundaries of the site are partly situated within the limits of the village of Goālbhiţă to the north-west and the mound where the temple has been unearthed was pointed out to Dr. Buchanan Hamilton in 1807 as 'Goalbhitar Pāhär' (the eminence of Göālbhitā). The identification of Gõālbhițā with the ancient Vata. Göhäli easily suggests itself as the stem Gõbāli is substantially identical with Goal. Few relics of the Jaina faith* have come to light during the excavations at Pāhārpur, but numerous Brahmanical and Buddhist bas-reliefs and terra-cotta plaques, dating from the late Gupta times, have been discovered. In the ninth and the succeeding centuries of the Christian era, the Pāhāppur temple was known as the great Buddhist vihära of king Dharmapäla at Somapura, the latter place being recognised in the modern village of Ompur, a mile to the south of the mound.
Begarding the prevalence of Jainism in Bengal, the Chinese traveller Hiven Tsiang, who visited the country of Pundravardhana in the second quarter of the seventh century, records that "there are some 100 Deva temples, where sectaries of different schools congregate. The naked Nirgranthas are the most numerous." This statement can now be corroborated by the evidence of the present document which speaks of a vihara presided over by a succession of Nigrantha monks, at least 150 years previous to the Chinese pilgrim's visit to the locality. In connection with the name Guhanandin it is worthy of note that the names of the Digambara Acharyas of the third and fourth centuries of the Christian era, such as Yasõnandin, Jayanandin, Kumāranandin, etc., as is shown by the lists, generally end iņ nandin. Pundravardhana is mentioned as one of the seats of Jaina pontiffs, beginning with Gupti-Gupta or Visakh-achāryya, the disciple of Bhadrabahu II and Guhauandin must have been one of them.
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXIX, p. 193 and J.A.S.B., N.S., Vol. VII, p. 475. * Above, Vol XVIII, p. 74.
[If the rate was 3 dinaras to a kulyavāpa, the price of 5 drönaräpas, i.e., of a kulyanapa biust he ? dinaras.-Ed.]
[Does this fact support the author's viow regarding the situation of the Jaina vihdra at the site or anggoot that the document under notice was brought from outside ? Cf. his romark abont, the find in part 1, p. 68, abovo-Ed.]
Bal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. II, p. 195.