Epigraphia Indica Vol 25

Author(s): Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 14

No. 1.) REWAH PLATES OF TRAILOKYAMALLADEVA: [KALACHURI] YEAR 963.
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The record is interesting in that it is not the usual land-grant but is a vitta-bandha or deed of mortgage'i for the village Alirā, situated in the Dhövabasta pattana of the Dhanavähipattala. The village was pledged by the Saiva teacher śāntasiva, son of the royal preceptor (rājaguru) Vimalasiva, to the Rāņaka Dharēka, but no mention is made of the actual amount of money that was taken as loan. The mortgagee, who belonged to the Vatsa-gotra, was a son of Sēvarāja (Sivarāja) and grandson of Rāsala. The document is said to have been issued from A camp in a certain auspicious place, apparently in the city of Dhövahatta (11. 10-14). The deed was executed by Nādaśiva, another son of Vimalasiva, on the authorisation of his elder brother Sāntasiva (11. 15-18). The mortgagee was given all the rights of collecting taxes. As far as it can be made out from 1. 19, the meaning of which is not quite clear, he also appears to have been given the right of holding the village in pledge as long as he wished, probably meaning thereby till all the dues were cleared. There were seven witnesses to the deed, viz., the Pattakila Madanē, Silē, Thakur Süpata, Thakur Gāmgē, Ramadhavala, Gargadēva and Kavita (? 11. 19-20). It appears from the use of punctuation marks in lines 20-21 that Thakur Göllana, probably an additional witness, was also authorised to take possession, evidently on behalf of the mortgagee. The document was drawn up by the Pandits Visvēsvara and Gamgādhara and engraved by Sīruka. As it is not a land-grant, it naturally does not contain any imprecatory and benedictory verses at the end.
In connection with the identification of Trailokyamalla mentioned in the present record we may observe that most of the birudas used by this ruler were used by the Kalachuri rulers of Tripuri and also by the Gāhadavāla rulers of Kanauj. But though places in the neighbourhood of Rewah were within the Kalachuri territory we do not know of any Kalachuri ruler of this name. I would therefore identify this Trailokyamalla with the homonymous ruler mentioned in the Rewah Plates of Harirāja of V. S. 1298. Cunningham and Kielhorn have already suggested that he is no other than the Chandēlla ruler Trailökyavarman for whom we have records dating from V. S. 1261 to 1298 (A.D. 1205-1241). But while Trailökyavarman, like his predecessors, calls himself Kalanjarādhi pati in both the sets of Garrah plates of V. S. 1261' and Trikalingadhipati in the Rewah plates of the Mahārāņaka Kumāra pāla dated V. S. 1297,. he is called Kanyakubjadhipati in the present inscription, a title used by the Gahadavāla rulers of Kanauj. Though this last-mentioned title is not found in any other Chandēlla record, it is not unlikely that with the decline of the Gāhadavāla power, Trailökyamalla assumed this title, as he did also the title of Trikalingādhipati borne by the Kalachuris of Dāhala. Many years ago a hoard of 48 silver coins of the Chandēlla Madanavarman was found at Panwar in the Teonthar Tahsil of the Rewah State. This find tends to show, as has been already suggested by Dr. H. C. Ray, that even in the time of this ruler the Chandēlla power penetrated into Bāghelkhand, north of the Kaimur range. But that the country around Rewah still continued to be under the Kalachuris for several decades is certain. We have two inscriptions of the Kalachuri Vijayasimha's time to support this view. The first is the Rewah plate of Salakshanavarman, the chief of Kakarēdi (modern Kakreri on the border of Rewah and Panna States) and still a feudatory of
For a deed of mortgage engraved on brick which was found in a village near Jaunpur, 30 J. A. 8. B., Vol. XIX, PP. 464-66. It is dated Samval 1273 Ashadha-budi 6 Ravau (=Sunday, 11th June, A.D. 1217) and records the loan of 2,250 drammas on the pledge of certain fields.
• Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, pp. 235 f. . Above, Vol. XVI, pp. 274 ff. . Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, pp. 231 ff.
sco J. P. 4. 8. B., Vol. X (1914), PP. 199 f. Sve bis Dynastic History of Northern India, Vol. I, pp. 727 f.