________________
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXI,
The Poḍagadh hill and village shown as 'Poragarh' in the Imperial Gazetteer Atlas (Vol. XXVI), Plate 42, lie on the north-western frontier of the Jeypore Agency bordering on the Bastar State. The way to the hill and the inscribed slab lie from the Nowrangpur side, through the village of Bhandariguḍa which is only a small cluster of insignificant huts. The inscription has been reviewed in the Madras Epigraphical Report for the year 1921-22, page 95, where a plate of the record has also been given.
154
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit verse. The epigraph consists of twelve or possibly thirteen verses of which the first is a variety of the Arya metre while the others excepting verse 9 (which is Vamsasthavila) are Anushțubh. The inscription begins with the expression "Siddham". Verse 1 contains a glorification of Hari in His aspect as the essence of victory. Verses 2 to 4 describe the recovery of the lost sovereignty by Prince [Skanda?]varman,1 son of king Bhavadatta of the Nala family, and his repopulation of (the capital) Pushkari. Verses 5 and 6 record his foundation of a [pa]damula or foot-print of Vishnu, for the worship of which he made the gift of a holding and of some money in the shape of bhuri-dakshind the proceeds of which were to be availed of for the feeding of Brahmans, ascetics and the destitute. In verse 7 the holding is made permanently tax-free in the name of the Purusha (Highest Being) and non interferable by state officials. Verses 8 and 9 give (apparently) the warning of the sinfulness involved in the violation of the charity and the promise of salvation, through the grace of (god) Vasudeva, to those that conform to the good path of kings and maintain the donation. Verse 10 gives the date of the setting up of the inscribed monument, perhaps under the personal supervision of the prince, as the 27th day of the Madhava (i.e., Vaisakha) month in the 12th year. Since we have no materials to determine the exact date of the commencement of king Bhavadatta's or his son's reign it is difficult to give the English equivalent of the date. We may, however, for the present, reasonably refer it to the 12th year from the date of accession of or the recovery of the lost crown by, prince [Skanda]varman. Verse 11, which is partly damaged, mentions the General (senäpati) Pritibhagavata(?) who is described as devoted to his master. He was probably the executor of the charter like the ajñapti of the Eastern Chalukya and the sandhivigrahika of the other copper-plate records. The writer of the record is said in verse 19 to be Janturadasa, the son of Chauli, and the engraver is probably the person mentioned last, viz., Viśvarupa, son of Aja.
The characters of the inscription belong to the Southern type of alphabet and closely resemble those of the Talagunda pillar inscription of Kakusthavarman 3 which has been assigned by Professor Kielhorn to the first half of the 6th century A.D. and those of the Mandasor Inscription of Kumaragupta of the Malava year 493. The comparatively more developed forms of the letters ja, tha, dha, ba, ma and ye and more ornamental signs of the secondary i, ri and ya employed in the Kadamba inscription, suggest an earlier date for our record. The anusvära is marked by a small round loop in the Talagunda inscription while in our record it is denoted only by a point which also shows its earlier character. The record may therefore be assigned to the latter half of the 5th century A.D. The letter to is written without the loop which is found in na, as in the inscription referred to. The final m is denoted by a
1 The name is much blurred in the estampage and I have given here only the most probable reading. But I do not feel quite certain of the correctness of the restoration.
Bhavadatta of the present record can be tentatively identified with Bhavattavarman of the Rithapur plates The suffix varman which is certainly applied to the son's name has been apparently dropped in the father's name owing to metrical difficulties. In the Rithapur plates the dropping of da of Bhavadatta is obviously a scribe's mistake.
Above, Vol. VIII, p. 24 and plate opposite page 32.
Ilid, p.31.
5
C. I. I., Vol. III, pl. XI.
