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No. 28.] THE PALANPUR PLATES OF CHAULUKYA BHIMADEVA (V. S. 1120). 171
No. 28. THE PALANPUR PLATES OF CHAULUKYA BHIMADEVA (V. S. 1120).
BY K. N. DIKSHIT, M.A., CALCUTTA.
These plates were received from Palanpur by Mr. Puran Chand Nahar, M.A, LL.B., of 48, Indian Mirror Street, Calcutta, who brought them to me for decipherment and for the preparation of impressions. They consist of two unusually thick (" to ") plates joined together by a ring 17" in diameter, passed through a hole " in diameter in the middle of the edge of the longer side. Only the inner side of the plates is inscribed, in all there being 15 lines of bold writing. The dimensions are 71" by 41" of which about 1" of the rim has been raised on ali sides to protect the writing. The thickness of each plate is " but there are two knobs on either side of the ring where the thickness is about half an inch. The plates weigh 106 tolas.
The characters of the record are Devanagari and the language Sanskrit prose calling for no special remarks. The engraving is full of mistakes. The document refers itself to the reign of the Mahārājādhirāja Bhimadēva (I) apparently of the Chaulukya (Solanki) dynasty of Gujarat, who was encamped at Ila, its object being the grant of 3 halas of land at a village named Varaṇāvāḍā to a Mōdha Brahmana named Janaka. The boundaries of the land are specified as: to the east, the way to the village Vara-Asavali; to the south, the village Pädra; to the west, the way to Chhimdriyālā; to the north, the field of Kesava and Välana '.
The date of the grant is mentioned as the fifteenth of the bright half of Pausha in the Vikrama year 1120. It is further stated that the grant was made by Bhimadeva, on the occasion of the Uttarayana parvan or winter solstice. Now the particular coincidence of the full-moon day of Pausha and the uttarayana occurs neither in any of the possible equivalents of Samvat 1120, taking the year as northern or southern, current or expired; nor within a few years on either side. It is therefore apparent that either the details of the date are wrong or that the actual date of issuing the grant was somewhat later than the date of the donation. In the latter case, it is probable that the date of issue of the grant was 6th January 1064 A.D. while the Makarasankranti or uttarayana which occurred on 25th December 1063 A.D. was the occasion of the king's douation.
The date of the grant is interesting inasmuch as it is the last recorded date of the Chaulukya Bhimadeva. According to Merutunga, in his Prabandha-chintamani, Bhimadeva's accession took place in V. S. 1078 (1022-3 A.D.), which must be regarded fairly accurate, inasmuch as we have V. S. 1076 as the last recorded date of his predecessor Durlabharaja. From the testimony of the Muhammadan chroniclers it is apparent that Bhimadeva was the ruler of Gujarat and Southern Kathiawar at the time of the well-known sack of the Sōmanatha temple in 1024 A.D. (circa 1080 V. S.). The first epigraphical date for Bhimadeva known from his Radhanpur1 and Mundaka grants is V. S. 1086. The next reference is in the Mount Abu Vimala temple inscription, where it is stated how in V. S. 1088 (1031-2 A.D.) Vimala, who had been appointed dandapati by Bhimadeva, founded the temple. The duration of the reign of Bhimadeva as given by Merutunga was from V. S. 1078 to V. S. 1120. but practically no records of the latter part of his long reign have survived. The date of another donation made at the Vimala Shah temple by a minister of Bhimadeva in V. S. 1119 can now be definitely accepted as made within the monarch's reign and life-time. The date of the accession of Bhimadeva's successor Karuadēva is given by Mērutunga as V. S. 1120; Chaitra sudi 3 Sanau. It is clear that this date can be reconciled with
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, pp. 193 ff.
J. B. B. R. A. 8., Vol. XX, p. 49.
Above, Vol. IX, pp. 48ff,
Above, Vol. XIX, List of Northern Inscriptions, No. 137.
