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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Vol. XXIV.
pressions interspersed here and there. On this account the inscription may be assigned to the period following the age to which the Präkrit charters of the Pallavas have been ascribed 1.6. to the period of the mixed Präkrit charters like the Mattepad Plates of king Damodaravarman'. The late Rao Bahadur Krishna Sastri has, on valid grounds, ascribed these latter to about the 4th century A. D.', to which period may be assigned the present inscription also.
The following Prakrit forms used in the record may be noticed thatthin (1. 12), and tilthati (1.13). Of orthography the use of the jihvāmūliya in the expression, Koffikkayyā (1. 3) and of the upadhmāniya in amätyah-pungdo (1. 5) and okritah-parama- (1. 14) deserve to be noticed.
In his article Mr. Pisgurlencar states that the emblem on the seal is a peacock. But I have to differ from him and suggest that it is only a swan in a very conventionalised style. It is noteworthy that similar objects in tile or wood are adopted as house-top crests or gable-ornaments in Nova Goa even at the present day.
The charter is addressed by (king) Dāvarāja of the Gömins from the prosperous Chandrapura to the future bhogikas, āyuktakas and sthāmyas (?) (11. 1 and 2). The object of the inscription is to record the gift of tolls, etc. (?) in the village) Thanniyarka-Kotikayyā in the country or division of Jiyaya, to two Brāhmans named GovindasvĀmin and Indrasvåmin of the Bhäradvāja-gotra, with the income accruing (?) in the village (pariupitta) and also the income realised on things brought (änita) into it, evidently articles of merchandise, together with a house-site (griha-sthāna) and pasture-land for cows (98-prachära) to each (11. 3 to 7). The charter further enjoins on the proper supply to the donees of the grass from the pasturer and of fuel (kāshtha) (11. 7 and 8).
From the wording of the record it appears as if the king proclaims his ratification or sanction of the above-mentioned gifts made by Prabhu Näga-Bhögtelmätya, for the acquisition of (his own) spiritual salvation (punya) (11. 4f.).
The executor of the grant (or the royal ratification) is the Sarvatanträdhikrita (Superintendent of all Departments) Amarēbvara, who was a very righteous man (parama-dhārmika) and one devoted to truth (satyasandha) (11. 14 and 15).
The charter was written or composed (likhitam) by the Rahasyādhikrita (Private Secretary) Prabhakara (11. 15 and 16).
The inscription is dated in the twelfth year of the victorious and prosperous reign of the king, on the twelfth day (dvādali) of the dark fortnight of the month of Māghe (u. 17 and 18). At the end comes the invocation of prosperity which partly reminds us of the closing expression in the Hirehadagalli Plates of the early Pallava king Siva-Skandavarman".
The king Dēvaraja who is compared to Indrs (Devarāja) is not known from other sources 80 far. The family of the Gömins is also new and may be the one with which the patronymic Glömāyana is connected.
1 Above, Vol. XVII, pp. 327 ff.
Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, 1920, page 95, para 1. See also above, Vol. XVII, p. 328.
. The original reads shamy-adayo which may be a clerical mistake for gramy-adayo cf. gramika (C. I. 1., Vol. II, p. 112n) and gråmeyaka(above, Vol. XVII, p. 327). Or it may be a mistake for sthamyos derived from sthaman meaning 'a seat' or 'place and denote the looal officials'. This may correspond to the standdhikararikas of the later inscriptions (of. above, Vol. II, p. 323) and athanadhikritas (ibid., Vol. VI, p. 186n).
For other early instances of this officer being employed to compone copper plate oharters se above, Vol. I, p. 7 and Vol. VI, p. 13.
. Above, Vol. I, page 7, Text L 52.
