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260
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXIV.
TRANSLATION. On the first day 1, (of the sixth fortnight) 6 (of the ... season) in the year (thirtyAvo) (36 of the king .. ., this) shaft (surmounted) with a Dharmachakra has been established at the eastern gate in the Great Monastery of Dhatiakada, (which is) in possession of the school of the Parvafaillyas, the monkish order of ascetics, by ..., the minister, & resident of Atapura, an immigrant from Agaloka son of Viraskanda (?), .... of the householder Skandanaga, for the benefit and happiness of all the beings in the world."
No. 37.-TWO INCOMPLETE GRANTS OF PRAVARASENA II.
By Pror. V. V. MIRASHI, M.A., NAGPUR. In October 1938 Mr..D. R. Gomkale, M. A., LL. B., Pleader of Nagpur, made over to me for decipherment four copper-plates, which he had obtained through the good offices of Mr. S. S. Dapurkar of Kävli. They were in the possession of Mr. N. H. Jane of Bēlorā, & village in the Arvi tahsil of the Wardhā District, which is situated on the left bank of the Wardha about 6 miles south by east of Mörsi. On examination I found that they fell into two sets of two plates each, called hereafter Set A and Set B. Each set originally consisted of three plates, but the last plate of Set A and the first one of Set B are not forthcoming now. The first plate of Set A is inscribed on one side only and all the other plates on both the sides. The plates of Set A are slightly larger in size and heavier in weight than those of Set B. The former measure 9-9" by 4.99 each and weigh 671 tolas; while the latter measure 9.6" by 4.8" each and weigh 64 tolas. About 2" from the middle of the proper right side of each plate there is a round hole t" in diameter for the ring which originally held together the plates of each set, but neither the rings nor the seals, which must have been connected with them, are now forthcoming. All the plates are in a state of excellent preservation. The letters are deeply cut and some of them show through on the other side, especially in the case of the first plate. When carefully examined, the grants appear to be palimpsests, all the plates showing here and there clear traces of earlier letters, which were beaten in before the present charters were incised on them. These earlier letters were box-headed and of the same type as those which were later engraved in their place. So the earlier charters undoubtedly belonged to the same period. As their letters have been almost everywhere carefully beaten in, it is not now possible to say who issued them, what they recorded and why they were cancelled.
As stated above, both the inscriptions are incomplete. The preserved writing of the first one, which has lost its concluding part, contains 18 lines and that of the second, of which the initial portion is missing, 24 lines. The characters of both are of the box-headed variety and resemble in a general way those of the other grants of Pravarasēna II. They include the numerical symbols for 10, 34 and 1 in 11. 29 and 30 of Set B. The only peculiarity worth noticing here, which is not usually met with in other Vākātaka grants, is the use of the looped t. In both the sets t appears in the looped and unlooped forms; for instances of the former, see yatoin l. 14 of Set A and viditam= in 1. 17 of Set B, and for those of the latter, notice Shodashy
* We expect here the proper name of the person, but it has apparently been left out by the writer of the epigraph, probably through oversight. 1. For discussion about this locality see the introduction.
I am indehted to Dr. B. C. Chhabra, Asistant Superintendent for Epigraphy, for various suggeetions in connection with this article. **The symbol for 3 deserves to be specially noted, as it is not of the usual type. See below p. 267, a. 16.
