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No. 18.]
MALLAR PLATES OF MAHA-SIVAGUPTA.
final form of t occurs in ll. 19, 24 and 25; punctuation is denoted by a vertical line hooked at the top. The language is Sanskrit and with the exception of the customary benedictory and imprecatory verses at the end the whole record is in prose. Unlike the charters of Tivaradeva1 it contains no expressions in common with the formal portion of the grants of the kings of Sarabhapura.' The inscription is somewhat carelessly written. The writer has for instance used in many places the short for the long form of mediali (see, e.g., kehitisa and mahaniya in 1. 1, kusali in 1, 5, etc.) and, in some places of medial u also (see sunu, 1. 4, suryya 1. 23, etc.); the anusvāra, visarga and final consonants are omitted in many cases; see sapadita 1. 2, mahābhyudaya 1. 3 and purusha 1.9; the unaspirated consonant is used for the aspirated one in-palam and vice versa in abhishtham both in 1. 20. The anuseara is wrongly changed to m before v in paradattam=vā 1. 27 and to n before a sibilant in vansa 1. 4, Taradansaka 1. 11 and nrisansat 1. 19; cases of wrong sandhi occur in anyāns-cha 1. 8, uchchhrijya 1. 21 and dānāt-sreyo 1, 28, etc. As regards orthographical peculiarities sanctioned by Sanskrit grammar we may notice that the consonant preceding and following is doubled in some cases, e.g., bauryya 11. 2-3, sarvva- 1. 8, pittro 1. 14, ch-attra 1. 22, etc.
115
The plates were issued by the illustrious Maha-Sivaguptaraja, the son of the illustrious Harshadeva', who was born in the lunar dynasty and was a most devout worshipper of Mahes vara (Siva). They record the king's donation of the village Kailasapura in the bhoga or subdivision of Taraḍamsaka to the community of venerable monks from the four quarters residing in the small monastery at Taraḍamsaka, which had been constructed by Alaka, the wife of Kōra deva3. The gift was made on the occasion of a solar eclipse on the new-moon day of Ashadha at the request of the king's maternal uncle the illustrious Bhaskaravarman..
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This Maha-Sivaguptaraja, the son of Harshagupta, is evidently identical with the homonymous king, also known as Bälärjuna and mentioned in several stone inscriptions at Sirpur (ancient Sripura) in the Raipur District. From one edit Varman dynasty of Magadha. As shown of these by R. B. Hiralals we learn that his mother Văsață was a daughter of king Suryavarman elsewhere, this Suryavarman is probably identical with the pri prince Suryavarman, a son of the Maukhari king Isänavarman, whose Haraha stone inscription is dated in (Malava) Samvat 611 (A. D. 555). Bhaskaravarman who is called in the present plates the maternal uncle of MahaSivagupta was, thus, a son of Süryavarman. The name of Suryavarman is omitted in the later Maukhari genealogy and it is therefore supposed that he must have predeceased his father" or if he came to the throne he left no male issue. The present inscription shows, however, that his son Bhaskaravarman lived to a fairly advanced age. Was Suryavarman, then, a younger son of Itänavarman who consequently never came to the throne? Or if he succeeded his father as implied by his title nripa in the Sirpur stone inscription of Vasață, was his son Bhaskaravarman prevented from succeeding him in consequence of a war of succession? These questions cannot yet be answered in the absence of sufficient evidence.
1 See, above, Vol. XXII, p. 17, n. 5.
The king is named Harshagupta in the legend on the seal
The text reads
कीरदेवभाय्यालकाकारित.
but as this gives no satisfactory meaning, we propose to read
See Bhandarkar's List of Northern Inscriptions, Nos. 1654 and 1655. Also Hiralal's List of O. P. Intrig sions, Nos. 173 and 184.
The Lakshmana Temple Inscription, above, Vol. XI, pp. 184ff.
See Thakurdiya plates of Maha-Pravararaja, above, Vol. XXII, p. 19. Above, Vol. XIV, p. 115.
Ibid., p. 111.
