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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXV.
and it was subsequently utilised for making a brief record of the other Grant, leading to the natural presumption, that Ranabhañja was the younger brother of Narēndrabhañja and ruled after him. But some peculiarities in Inscription B, edited below, seem to point to the opposite conclusion.
The donee in the first Grant was Bhattaputra Sitaladēva-sarman belonging to Bahy. sicha-charana, Āsvalāyana-sākha, and Vatsa-götra. The donee in the other case was Bhattaputra Trivikrama.
The inscription is of great historical importance as it furnishes new materials for the reconstruction of the history of the Bhanja dynasty. The kings mentioned in it, viz., Kottabhañja, bis son Vibhramatunga, and the two sons of the latter, viz., Narēndrabbañja and Ranabhañja, belong to what has been called the second group of Bhañja kings by Mr. R. D. Banerji. This group is now known to us from the following eight copper-plate grants, though Mr. Banerji knew only the first three of them.
1. Bāmangbāți plate of Ranabhañja. 2. Khandadēuli plate of Ranabhanja." 3. Bāmanghāti plate of Rajabhañja. 4. Ukhunda plate of Prithvibhanja. 5. Kēšari plate of Satrubhañja (re-edited below, C). 6-7. Two Ādipur copper-plates of Narēndrabhañjadēva (edited below, A and B).
8. Adipur copper-plate of Durjayabhañjadēva.?
The first two Grants now edited (Nos. 6-7) closely resemble Nos. 1-4 and possess all the special characteristics which distinguish them from those of the other Bhañja kings. As a matter of fact the texts of the bistorical portion of all these Grants (except Nos. 5 and 8) seem to have been derived from a common draft, though slight modifications have been introduced here and there. No. 5 contains some important additions which are not to be found in others, while No. 8 Omits altogether the traditional account of the origin of the family.
All these records (except No. 8) begin with a reference to Virabhadra, the Adi-Bhanja or the First Bhañja, also called Ganadanda. He is said to have come out of an egg of pea-hen in the bermitage called Kotyāśrama and was brought up by the sage Vaśishtha. Only No. 5 adds a few more details, particularly that he was the lord of 85,000 villages. 10 All the records (except No. 8) refer next to Kottabhañja who must be regarded as the first historical king of the
1 R. D. Banerji, History of Orissa, Vol. I, p. 178. 2 The Grant is also known as Jamdapir plate from its findspot (above, Vol. XVIII, pp. 300-1).
* Nos. 1 and 3 were originally edited by Babu Pratāpa Chandra Ghosha in J. A. S. B., Vol. XL, pp. 161ff., and subsequently re-edited by Babu Nagendranath Vasu in the Archaeological Survey of Mayurbhanja, Vol. I, pp. 14111. A stanza engraved on the pedestal of an image, now in the Khiching Museum, refers to a king called Rayabhanja who may be the same as this king Rajabhañja (Ann. Rep. Arch. Survey, 1922-3, p. 128). But it contains no historical information. According to Mr. R. D. Banerji this Rayabhanja was a different king (Orissa, p. 183).
Edited by MM. H. P. Sastri in J. B.O.R.S., Vol. IV. p. 172, 6 Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIII, pp. 427 ff. • Ibid., pp. 429 f.
Below, pp. 172 f.
* For these characteristics of. Banerji, op. cit., p. 180. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. XII, pp. 231 ff.
Ins. No. 8 applies some of these epithets to Ranabhanja. lu Mr. Misra, who edits the plate, translates the passage as follows: "...... Virabhadra who formerly was busily engaged by 88,000 sages, and in view of their request Ramadēva served him and then made him the lord of 88,000 villages". This meaning is very doubtful. The word read as muni' is probably 'sūnu. Cl. C, edited below.
