________________
No
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXII.
TEXT. 1 Savastiyana' Mahāmatan sasane Manavasiti- ka2 da' (.) s[i] li-māte usāgame 'va ete dave kothāgalāni. 3 Tifya]veni-Mäthula- Chachu- Modāma- Bhalakāna ehha4 li-kayiyati (:) atiyāyikāya no gahimtavayo (.)
TRANSLATION. The order of the Mahāmātras of Śrāvasti (issued) from the Manavasiti camp.
Only to the tenants, only on the advent of drought, these (the) dravya store-houses of Trivēni, Mathura, Chanchu, Mödāma', and Bhadra are to be distributed (discharged); in case of distress they are not to be withheld.
COMMENTS ON THE TEXT. Line 1. The third character is a ligature. There is a defect in the surface which produces a cut in the loop of the 8 and the leg of the t above it (see the first photograph). The ligature is indicated by breaking off the perpendicular line before joining to it the legs of the 8, which may be compared with the normal s of lines 1 and 2.
Mahāmatana.-The long ā mark to the h is in the middle of the perpendicular line. The t is of the stunted variety, witb & suggestion of a projecting bar, just as in the t of the last line in gahimtavayo.
Sasane. There is probably a suggestion of a long mātrā to the first in the electrotype. Line 2. For the long vowel in da of Manavasiti kada see the electrotype.
Silimäte. Sili stands for Sanskrit sirin; sira, plough'; Hindi sir, 'cultivation'; sirin'a tenant' a cultivator.' Māte-matre.
Us-agame: the e-mark to m is absolutely certain ; and the d-force to 8 (in the middle of the bar) is also certain in the electroplate. The expression stands for u88-dgame- Sanskrit ushmagame.
Dave: the lower limb of d is blurred. As the store-houses were evidently more than two, it is not advisable to read the word as duve. It seems to be connected with the technical term of the Maurya period dratya in connection with Government Stores, e.g., dravya-pāla (ArthaGästra, ch. 38).
Line 3. Tiyaveni is a clear reading. The photograph shows Māthule, but the electrotype Mäthula. The long vowel to k in Bhalakāna can be seen in the photograph, though it is faint.
Line 4. The i-mark to l in chhali, is faint. Chhali-Sanskrit ksharios; chhali-kayiyati, to be spent', 'to be discharged'. Chha was misread by Fleet as va. There is a straight bisecting line in the circle. Bühler read it correctly.
LOCALITIES. Trivēni, Mathura, Chañchu, Modāma and Bhadra must have been in the Kösala Province, of which Srāvasti was the capital. This Mathurā, therefore, is not the Mathurā of the Sūrasēnas but a town or village somewhere in Oudh, Gorakhpur or Champaran. We have an important village Mathuliya in Champaran. Chanchu (Ghāzipur) could be within the jurisdiction of the
Ligature stf : the right leg of t touches the bar of ya. * 4. vowel-mark is traceable in both photographs. .There seems to be a long ito, and to l. See oleotrotype.
If it be taken as an adjectival form like Mathula, the place-name would be Mudana. . Kohar (c), to pour cut, to flow, to dissolve or dissipate.
JRAS., 1907, 628.
