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No. 41.] KARITALAI INSCRIPTION, LAKSHMANARAJA: [KALACHURI] SAMVAT 593. 255
boundaries, along with (its) hidden treasures and deposits, mango and Bassia latifolia trees, pits and barren plots, water and land, with (the privilege of) collecting toll and revenue, to the illustrious Kamalavana Merchants' Association, immigrant from Khadirapadra (and) resident in Suvarnapura, to be enjoyed as long as the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth (endure).
(Ll. 21-22)" Being aware of this, you should dwell in happiness, offering (to it its)customary share of income, rent, (tribute of) gold, and so forth.
(LI. 22-25) Being in possession of the charter, this illustrious Kamalavana Merchants' Association has, in its turn, bestowed (the same village), having registered it as a deed, on the two temples, (one) of the lord Kesava (and the other) of the lord Aditya, for charity, oblation and offerings as well as for repairing wear and tear (in the temples).
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(Ll. 25-26) And, future kings should, through respect for the dharma and out of regard for Us, protect this Our grant as their own grant. For, it is declared in the Dharmasastra :-"
(Ll. 27-41) [Here follow twelve of the customary verses.]
(Ll. 41-44) (This charter has been issued) during the victorious reign of the illustrious P. M. P. Janamejayadeva, the overlord of Trikalinga, an ornament of the Sōma-kula, in the seventeenth year on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Ashāḍha, where in figures (it is) Anno 17 Ashadha sudi 5.
(Ll. 44-48) Highly renowned in (all) the three worlds is this very illustrious Janamējayadēva, the administration of whose kingdom has been carried on by his minister, Sadhāraṇa by name, an eminent Dvija (lit. twice-born) by birth, whose intellect is clear owing to (his knowledge of) all the lores of polity and law worth knowing, who is manifestly a very Brihaspati (lit. preceptor of gods) in (expounding) the Vedas and the Vedanga-vidyas (such as) Siksha, Kalpa, Itihasa (and so forth), (and) who is (on account of all that) possessed of suprem lory.
(Ll. 50-51) This tāmrasāsana has been composed by Kailasa's son, the illustrious Alava, the Mahākshapaṭalin1 (attached to) the illustrious Mahāsāndhivigrahin Rāṇaka Malladatta ; and engraved by Haradasa, son of Sīvṛillā.
No. 41.--KARITALAI STONE INSCRIPTION OF LAKSHMANARAJA: [KALACHURI] SAMVAT 593.
BY PROF. V. V. MIRASHI, M.A., NAGPUR.
Kārītalai is now a small village twenty-nine miles North by East of Murwārā, the headquarters of a tahsil of the same name in the Jubbulpore District. The place seems to be of great antiquity, for an inscription in shell characters and another of the Gupta period3 have been discovered there. There are several old temples at Kārītalai, from one of which, probably dedicated to the Boar incarnation of Vishnu, a fragmentary inscription of the reign of the Kalachuri king Lakshmaṇarāja, the son of Yuvarajadeva I -Keyūravarsha was brought over to Nagpur and is
1 This designation denotes the high officer in charge of the akshapatala office. The latter term has been variously rendered by Record Office', ' Court of Rolls', Court of Justice', Archive' and Accountant General's Office'. The word mahakshapatalin has been discussed by Prof. J. Ph. Vogel in his Antiquities of Chamba State, Pt. I, p. 133. Dr. Shamasastry translates the term akshapatala as 'accountants' office' in Kautilya's Arthasästra (p. 66).
Hiralal, Inscriptions in C. P. and Berar (Second Ed.), p. 45.
C. I. I., Vol. III, pp 117ff.
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Cunningham has described the ruins at Karitalai in A. S. R., Vol. IX, pp. 7-8. He mentions a huge statue of the Boar 8' long, 7' high and 2'9" broad. The Kärltalai stone inscription was probably put up at a templeof the Boar incarnation, see vv. 27 and 35 of it, above, Vol. II, pp. 178-9.
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