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No. 28.)
TWO BHOR STATE MUSEUM COPPER PLATES.
189
contemporary of Khambha II, the grantor of this charter. The latter could therefore well have married a daughter of the former.
The village granted in this charter is Vinga which is described as a maha-sthāna or holy place. This is clearly the same village which was given 300 years before by Dhruva Dhārāvarsha to Vāsudēvabhatta, a learned Brāhmana of Karād, as we know from the charter A above. Line 27 shows that king Khambha only renewed the grant. Verse 5 naively observes that the village Vinga had been given to Brāhmaṇas as early as the time of Rāma. We may presume from this that since the time of Dhruva the village was not resumed by any of the succeeding rulers and figured as a brahmadēya village on the revenue records of successive governments.
Though the village continued to be a brahmadèya village, its ownership did not remain in the family of Väsudēvabhatta, the original donee. Curiously enough the names of the donees do not occur at all in that portion of the grant which describes the donation. The mistake is rectified by adding a postscript to the inscription which comes at the end of the imprecatory verses. The syntax of this important sentence is not free from doubt. It reads as follows: Sri-Kumbhadēvabhafta-Gangala-duvera(deva)-pramukha-Vinga-mahāsthāna-sarvanamasya-sāsanan Khambha-rājēna dattam. It is clear that we have to emend pramukha into pramukhebhyah and that Kumbhadēva and Gangaladēva received the charter as the leading personages among the donees. In other words, they did not receive the grant for themselves, but as representatives obviously of the Brāhmaṇa community of Vinga. Virga is described in the record as a maha-sthäna or holy place and seems to have been the seat of a learned Brāhmana settlement. King Khambha therefore might have granted the charter to the whole Brāhmaṇa settlement of the place. What then about the rights of the descendants of Vāsudēvabhatta ? The village Vinga is situated about 70 miles from Karid and one has to pass through the difficult Khandālā pass before one can reach it from the Karad side. In the old days when communications were rather difficult, Vasudevabhatta and his descendants must have found it difficult to manage their Vinga property from Karād. They may have, therefore, sold it to the Brāhmaṇa community of Vinga, who in turn may have induced the government of the day to make it tax-free.
The present charter transfers to the donees the village revenues along with the right to receive some customary perquisites probably from the village artisans. The precise nature of the latter cannot be made out owing to the difficulty of interpreting the terms used for the purpose in ll. 8 and 9.
TEXT. [Metres :-Indravajrā, v. 5, 6; Sārdūlavikridita, v. 4; Anushțubh, vv. 9, 10; Salini, v, 12;
U pajāti, vv. 1, 2, 3, 11 ; Rathoddhatā, vv. 7, 8.)
First Plate. i o afer [1] (u) CHATTE vaatfù pool kiemafe
हार्थसंवत्म[lf my interpretation (see p. 188 n. 1.) is correct, Muñjèys would only be the name of the pradhana and would have no connection with the queen Siriyadėvi and consequently with the Sinda chief Muñja of Bijapur.-Ed.)
(As the inscription does not give any particulars of the donees it is difficult to come to any such conclusion definitely. It may not be impossible that they belonged to the family of Väsudėvabhatta, the original donee, and there being a change in the ruling dynasty Khambha renewed the charter to them. Or this may be a trwah charter issued by the king to people not connected with the family of Visudėvabbatta for reasons not known. -Ed.]
From the original plates. • Expressed by a symbol. • The construction of the sentence should have been श्रीशकतृपकालातीत एकीत्तरसहले.
