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No. 5.]
KOLHAPUR COPPER-PLATES OF GANDARADITYADEVA: SAKA 1048.
The genealogy of the Silahāra dynasty given in these plates is as shown below:
Jatiga (1) Nayimma
Gühala (I)
Chandraraja
1 Jatiga (II)
Gōmkalla I Marasimha.
Kirttiraja
Chandraditya.
29
Gühala (II)
Bhojadeva
Gandaräditya.
It agrees with the usual genealogy of the Silähäras of Kolhapur1 with the differences: (i) that here we have no mention of Ballāļa, a brother between Bhōjadeva and Gandaraditya; and (ii) that Guhala (I), in these plates, is shown as the elder brother of Gōmkalia which information we have got here for the first time. In other Silahāra plates we are only told that Gōmkalla and Gūvala were the sons of Jatiga, but in the present record Guhala is definitely mentioned as an agraja which cannot mean anything but an elder brother. Guhala is called isa here, and in the plates published by Bhagvanlal Indraji we also get: tad-bhrātā Gūvalō rājā nirjit-āri-vrajō'bhavat. But it is very difficult to say in the light of the available materials whether Guhala ruled the country any time, for it appears to have been usual to call all the royal brothers as rājā, etc. Possibly Guhala died early and without any issue. That might explain why Gōmkalla is so prominently mentioned; and after him Guhala is mentioned casually, though he was the elder brother.
As to the contents of the plates, the grant opens with a few verses giving the genealogy of Gaṇḍarādityadeva of the Kolhapur branch of the Silahāra dynasty. Then we have a long list of the titles of this ruler. Gandaraditya, in response to the request of his minister Maillapayya, is stated to have granted lands at Kōmnijavāḍa which is in the khampana (something like our modern Taluk) of Koḍavalli in the district of Miriñji, for the repairs of the temple of Khedäditya at Brahmapuri in Köllapura and for the maintenance of eight Brahmins whose names and gōtras are given. The grant was made in the Saka year 1048 when Gaṇḍaradityadeva was in his camp at Vallavaḍa-grama. The grant concludes with the usual verses of curse on those who may violate the conditions of the grant.
A few words may be added regarding the localities mentioned in these records. The Silahāras are called Tagarapuravaradhisvara, and about the identification of the city of Tagara
1 See J. B. B. R. A. S., Vol. XIII, p. 8; Bhandarkar, Collected Works, Vol. III, p. 175. Sce Khare, Sources of the Medieval History of the Deccan, Vol. I, p. 33.
[The word agraja here has probably to be taken in the sense of the first born son' (i.e., Gönkalla was the eldest son of Jatiga). The Silahara grant of Marasimha dated Saka 980 published in the Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India (pp. 102 ff.) states clearly that Gühala was the younger brother of Gönkalla. The Kasēļi plates of Bhōjadeva (An. Rep. of the Bharata Itihasa Samsödhaka Mandala for Saka 1835, pp. 222 ff.), which also contain the verse under discussion give the reading aditaḥ in place of agrajab. Thus we find in the plates under publication the same order of descent of the brothers, viz,, Gönkalla, Güvalla, Kirttiraja and Chandraditya as in other Silähāra charters.-N. L. R.]
