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No. 45.]
CHITTAGONG COPPER-PLATE OP KANTIDEVA.
315
As regards orthography, the following points may be noted. Final consonants like and tare represented by distinct symbols (cf. m in lokam, 1. 8: kshayam. 1. 12: t in värāt and väsakāt, 1.1; bhūt, 1. 7), while a slanting stroke is added below n (mahān in 1. 10). The sign for denotes b as well. Consonants are not doubled after r, the only exceptions being Varddhamana in 1 1 and kirtti, in 1. 11.
The inscription refers to three generations of a Buddhist family. The first name is Bhadradata, obviously an error for Bhadradatta. He was devoted to the Buddha and defeated his enemies. His son Dhanadatta married Vindurati (Bindurati), a devotee of Siva and a daughter of a great king. The issue of this marriage was king Kāntidēva who is styled Patamasaugata, Paramēśvara and Mahārājādhirāja. It is obvious that neither the father, nor the grandfather of Kāntidēva was a king, and he must either have inherited his throne from his maternal grandfather or carved out an independent kingdom for himself.
As to the locality of the kingdom, the record furnishes us two clues. The reference to future kings of the Harikēlā-mandala in l. 16 leaves no doubt that it was included within his kingdom. It is just possible also that Harikēlä сonstituted his entire dominion, though this is by no means certain. For, the future kings of Harikēlā might have been selected for admonition only on the ground that the land to be granted was situated there.
The lexicographer Hēmachandra explains Harikēla as a synonym of Vanga, while Vanga, Samatata and Harikēla are mentioned in the Ma jusrimülakalpa as distinct localities. According to two manuscripts preserved in the Dacca University Library, Harikõla, which may be taken as & variant of Harikēla, is synonymous with Sylhet. I-tsing also describes Harikēla as the eastern limit of E. India. It is thus clear that like many other geographical terms, Harikēla was used both in a broader sense, as a synonym of Vanga, and in a narrower sense to denote various parts of it. Harikēlā of this inscription is obviously a variant of the usual form Harikēla.
The kingdom over which Käntidēva ruled must, therefore, be located in Vanga, though its exact position is difficult to determine. The only other clue in this respect is furnished by the mention of Vardhamāna-pura as the city from which the plate was issued. Vardhamāna is the name of a well-known city in West Bengal which gave the name Vardhamana-bhukti to & territorial division in ancient Bengal. As no other city of this name is known in ancient or modern Bengal, the Vardhamāna-pura of our plate should be identified with the city of Burdwan, if there is no insuperable objection against it.
The expression Harikēlā-mandala led DJ to infer that Kāntidēva "was only a local chieftain of a comparatively small territory (mandala) which subsequently (during the supremacy of the Chandra kings) developed and lent its name to the whole of East Bengal ". DJ were wrong in thinking that a mandala denotes only a small territorial unit. For, this term is also used along with big kingdoms and territorial units as is evidenced by the expressions “Ganda-mandala " and " Varēndri mandala" Harikēlā-mandala may, therefore, well denote the whole of Vanga
1 Abhidhanachintamani, v. 957. [Monier Williams gives "Harikëllya' and oxplains it as the country of Bengal.-C. R. K.)
2 Ed. by Ganapati Sāstri, pp. 232-33. * Rupachintamanikosha (No. 1451) and Rudrakshamähätmya (No. 21416). • Takakusu, I-tsing, p. xlvi.
Rajatarangini, IV, 148. • Ramacharita by Sandhyakaranandin, Kaviprasasti, v. 1.
