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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XXV.
To
and supplicants enjoying comfort under the shade of an arbour, as it were, of his enormous wealth obtained by his unequalled might and exertion; who is devoted to the feet of his parents issues (the following) order to all the assembled householders of the village of Jijjika belonging to the Vonkhara-bhoga! -
(L. 12) “We have granted this village, in two equal gbares,-after making it an agrahāra which is to last as long as the ocean, the mountain, the moon, the stars and the sun, and freeing it from all impositions, for the increase of Our own religious merit, life, fame and strength as well as for the acquisition of religious merit of Our parents—to Aghisvămin, son of Rudrasvamin and to his (Agnisvāmin's) son Rudrasvămin, who belong to the Vishnuvsiddha götra and are religious students of the Taittiriya säkhā.
* Therefore, you should abide by this (order) according to usages obtaining heretofore.
“I also exhort the future kings :-Even having obtained possession of the entire world by means of right, inheritance, or conquest, while ruling on this earth, they should always preserve this gift.'
"And there are also two verses :
(Verse 1)- Yudhish bira ! Most excellent among the possessors of land i diligently preserve (a gift of land given by yourself or given by somebody else. Maintenance (of a donation) is more meritorious than donation (itself).
(Verse 2) A donor of land enjoys himself in heaven for sixty thousand years. A confiscator (thereof) and one who consents (to the confiscation) remain in hell for the same number of years."
(L. 25) The increasing Year 30 9; the day 20 1 of (the month c/) Vaisakha. (L. 26) This has been written by the king's Sāndhivigrahika Dēvasimhadēva.
1 For a note on bhöga, see above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 59 and 64.
* Dr. A. C. Burnell quotes (Elements of South Indian Palæography, 1st ed., Mangalore, 1874, pp. 84-86) passages from old texts like the Yajnavalkya Dharmasastra, the Mitakshara, the Smritichandrika, etc., to show that vonunon usage required that the Sāndhivigrahika, among other officials of the same rank, should be entrusted with the task of drafting a royal grant (nåja banana).
