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No. 29. ]
MALA PLATES OF VIRASIMHADEVA: V. S. 1343.
193
of the State and his earliest and latest known dates are Samvat 13431 and Samvat 1359(A.D. 1286 and 1302). He was thus a contemporary of Räval Samarasimha of Mewar, whose known dates range between Samvat 1330 and 1358 (A.D. 1273-1301). Mahārāval Dēvapāladēva (also known as Dedä or Dēdu) was the immediate predecessor of Virasimhadēva.
As to the places mentioned, Vägada was the old name of the modern Dungarpur State. Vatapadraka (now called Bapõdā) remained the capital of Vägada up to the period of Dungarasimha (the grandson of Virasimhadēva) in whose time the capital was transferred to Dungarpur 80 called after his name.
The date of the inscription weakens the contention of Colonel Tod, Major Erskine and other writers holding that the foundation of the Dungarpur State was laid by Māhapa or Rāhapa of Sisõdā.
According to the Kumbhalgarh inscription', dated Samvat 1517, Lakshmanasimha, a ruler of Sisõdā, fought in the battle of Chitor in 1303 A.D., and was thus the contemporary of Raval Ratnasimha of Mewar and probably of his father Samarasimha also as Ratnasimha ruled only for a year. Virasim hadēva of this record, we know, was a contemporary of Samarasimha. He must, therefore, have been a contemporary of Lakshmanasimha also. Now, Virasimhadēva was fifth in successten from Sämantasimha (the real founder of the State), while Lakshmaṇasimha was eleventh from Mähapa or Rahapa. It is, therefore, highly improbable that Māhapa, who goes as far back as eleven generations from Lakshmanasimha, should have founded the State. That it was Sämantasimha of Mewar who laid the foundation of the present Dungarpur State is supported not only by the Mount Abuo and the Kumbhalgarh inscriptions but also by the account of Muhnöt Nainsiło, the well-known historian of Märwär.
TEXT.11
First Plate. i ottan a 1982 to 113 d (C) "pu turer T1642468
AT[C]2 बकुलबीवि(वी)रसिंहदेवकल्याणविजयराज्ये तवियुक्तपंचवीवा
1 His parliest inscription is the present record, dated V.8. 1343. * This date is found in an unpublished inscription from Baroda; cf.
संवत् १३५८ वर्षे पाषाढदि १५ वागडवटपद्रके महाराजकुलबीवीरसिंहदवकल्याचविजयराज्ये . . . . . . माहवसुतज्यौतिवाचादित्य(व्या)स्थ(य) मंगहडयामं उदकेन प्रदन ।
His first and last inscriptions are dated V.8. 1330 and V.8. 1358 respectively. Vide, Vienna Oriental Journal, Vol. XXI, p. 143 and Ind. Ant., Vol. LIII, p. 11, note 1.
• Gazetteer of the Dungarpur State by Major K. D. Erskine, Statistical table No. XXI. * Tod's Rajasthan (ed. W. Crooke), Vol. I, p. 304. • Gazetteer of the Dungarpur State, pp. 131-32. * Above, Vol. XXI, p. 279. 8 Tod's Rajasthan (ed. W. Crooke), Vol. I, p. 304, note 3. • Ind. Ant., Vol. XVI, p. 349. 10 Ind. Ant., Vol. LIII, p. 102. Cf. alao Muhnöt Nainsi's Khyata, p. 19. 1 From impressions.
Expressed by a symbol.
The stroke is redundant. 14 stands for face the dark fortnight of a lunar month'so that
is the 15th day of the dark half of the month, i.e., amätasya. On Sunday the tithi was fourteenth, but it lasted only for fifteen ghatis after which the tithi fifteenth, i.e., amavasyd fell, during which period the grant was made and the ceremony performed by Mahārāval Virasimhadēva. Among the Hindus it is generally the practice to perform Sraddha ceremony after 12 noon.
