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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVII No. 32- KOLHAPUR PLATES OF SILAHARA GANDARADITYA; SAKA 1037
(1 Plate)
G. H. KHARE, POONA The set of copper plates which I edit here belonged originally to Mr. R. N. Apte, Principal (now retired), Rajaram College, Kolhapur. He handed it over to the late Prof. K. B. Pathak, who entrusted it to me with a tentative reading of the same. I edited it in Marāthi some years ago in the Sources of the Mediaeval History of the Dekkan, Vol. I, pp. 33 ff. I re-edit it here for the benefit of a wider circle of scholars.
The set consists of three plates measuring 101" x 7" strung on a circular ring with a dia meter of 2)". The two ends of the ring are soldered into the bottom of a rimmel rectangular seal, which bears in relief the figure of a flying Garuda facing front, with a cobra in his left hand. The brst and the third plates are written on the inner side only, while the second is inscribed on both the sides. The rims of the plates being raised, the writing is well preserved. The whole set together with the ring and the seal weighs 278 tolas.
The record is written in Kanarese script of the 12th century A.D. and calls for only a few remarks. The writing in general resembles that of the Silāhāra Marasinha's grant of $.980.1 Initial short i has two forms; the one in ity-ākhyāti (1.29) and iti grāma (1.47), and the other in Iduvarādityah (1.41). The Dravidian r occurs only in one place, viz., Maruvakka (1.39). The end of most of the stanzas is marked by a spiral, sometimes ornamental. The stops of the prose portions in lines 50 and 61 are also indicated by spirals.
The orthography has some peculiarities. Lingual ! is generally substituted for dental l; but in some words such as Lakshmi, Mahalakshmi, Gonkala, Güvala, Bhillama, Ballāla, the dental I is retained. The upadhmāniya which resembles sha is found in two places : tanayah-pratāpa(1.7) and Lakshmih=prādo (1.9). Consonants preceded by the rēpha have been generally doubled; but there are exceptions. Second and fourth letters of the five classes when doubled after a ripha change the prior consonant to the first or the third letter of the same class as in garbbhair(1.35) and jivit-ārttham (1.49); but this observance also is not without exception. In libra (1.30) Alone ~ has been changed to b. In varnnale, (1.19) and Ossalabhāyitah (1.21) and saka- (1.45) we find n and s substituted for u and á respectively. On the other hand in Maruvakka-sarppal (11.13, 39) & has been substituted for s.
The language of the record is Sanskrit intermingled with a few Kanarese words and phrases such as gampana for kampan (1.46), -iruvanan (1.48), kodevaram (1.50), Maruvakka-sarppah (11.13, 39), Ayyana-sinihah (1.39), Iduvarādityaḥ (1.41), nārgyāvunda (1.48). The portion between the verses 20 and 21 as well as that following the verse 24 is in prose while the rest of the record is in verse.
After invoking the Boar form of Vishnu, the record introduces the Silähära dynasty of Kard or rather Kolhapur and gives the genealogy of the family from Jatiga I to Gandarāditya who issued the present grant. This genealogy has some omissions wbich it is very difficult to account for.
1 Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India by J. Burgess and Bhagwanlal Indraji, p. 102. : The genoalogy given is as follows: 1 Jatige I
2 Náyima 3 Chandra 4 Jatiga II
6 Cavale
5 Gónkala 7 Márasimha
8 (ūrala 11
9 Bhija
10 Balliļa
II Gandarāditya
