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No. 46]
BARDULA PLATES OF MAHASIVAGUPTA YEAR 9
peculiarities may be noted the occasional doubling of the consonant before or after ; as in pillrör 1. 16, sauryya 1. 3, sarvva 1. 8, varjjitaḥ 1. 10.
The inscription purports to record the gift of a village named Vaṭapadraka situated in the Kösira-Nandapura vishaya to several Brahmanas by the illustrious Mahāsivaguptarāja, son of Harshadēva, of the lunar lineage, an ardent worshipper of Mahesvara, for his own merit and that of his parents. The gift was made on the 12th day of the bright half of the month of Kärttika in the 9th year of his increasingly victorious reign. The grant village was to be divided into thirteen shares, twelve of which were full and one was half. The full shares were to be enjoyed by Brahmaņas, whose names are specifically mentioned and who it seems had settled in the region. of Chhatranaṭā. The half share was to be allotted to a Brahmana of unimpeachable character (a-vigraha-charitaya). The royal order communicating this grant was addressed to the residents of the village, including the chief members amongst them (sa-pradhanan prativāsinaḥ), as also to the royal officials, Samahartri, Sannidhätyi and others including the Karanas.
This Mahasivagupta belonged to the earlier line of rulers known as the Pandava or Sömavamsi kings of South Kōsala and is identical with his namesake, who bore the distinctive epithet Bālārjuna as known from stone inscriptions discovered at Şirpur. He had a distinguished career and was credited with an unusually long reign of about sixty years as indicated by the Lodhia plates. About half a dozen stone inscriptions and three copper plate documents assignable to his reign have so far been discovered. Of these records only two are dated, namely the Lodhia plates and the present ones and the dates are in regnal years. But unfortunately these dates are not verifiable for want of sufficient details. So we have to fix his date by approximation only on consideration of palacography and other circumstantial evidence.
The latest attempt in this direction has been made by Principal V. V. Mirashi, in his 'Note on the Date of the Somavamsi Kings". I generally agree with his views and place Mahasivagupta in the first and second quarters of the 7th century A.D. In view of the high regnal year accorded to him by the Lodhia plates, viz., 57th year, it is likely that his reign extended still further into the third quarter of the century.
The following places are mentioned in the charter. The grant village Vaṭapadraka may be identified with modern Baṭapadaka, a small village about four miles from Bardūla, the provenance of the present plates. The territorial division (vishaya) Kösira Nandapura, wherein the grant village was situated, appears to be identical with Nandapura bhoga mentioned in the. Pipardula plates of the Sarabhapura ruler, Mahārāja Narendra. The headquarters of this Nandapura vishaya, which is qualified by the epithet Kōsira (probably meaning scrubby from kusara) to distinguish it from its other namesakes, may be identified with the site of the two adjoining villages, Nandapur big and small, in the Bilaspur District, not far from Sakti on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. This site is reported to contain some ancient vestiges and herein was discovered a silver coin of Prasannamatra of the Sarabhapura family some years ago. There is a reference in I. 11 to a tract named Chhatranață wherein the donees, it appears, had settled down (Chhatra nālā-sima-nivishṭa). This name is similar to some of the Dravidian names denoting territory, such as Punnața and Karnata. I am unable to identify this region.
1 This passage may also be interpreted so as to mean that only the first person mentioned among the doneer, viz., Nārāyaṇopadhyaya was a settler in the region called Chhatranață.
Above, Vol. XXIII, p. 115.
See below, pp. 319-325.
Above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 227 ff.
I am indebted to Pt. L. P. Pandeya for this suggestion.
I.H.Q., Vol. XIX, p. 144.
1. H. Q., Vol. XIX, pp. 144-45.
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