________________
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII
As Mr. Rājaguru failed to notice the most important historical information supplied by the inscription, as yet unknown from any other sources, viz., the spread of imperial Gupta suzerainty over the Kalinga country, I re-edit the record.
The set consists of three plates having rounded corners and each measuring 6-2 inches by 2.8 inches. They are strung together on a ring to which a seal is attached. The oval brass seal contains on its coater-sunk surface (1.25" x 1.5") the emblem of a törana or gateway and the legend Mahārāja Dharmma. The first and the third plates are written on one side only, the second being written on both the sides. The three plates together with the ring and seal weigh 64 tolas while the weight of the ring with the seal is 20 tolas only.'
The characters belong to the class commonly characterised as the Gupta script and are assignable to the sixth century A.D. They have points of similarity with, but are earlier than, the alphabet of the Ganjam inscription of the time of Saśānka dated in the Gupta year 300 (619 A.D.). The letters in the present record has retained its round loop in some cases and even in the forms with the triangular loop it has no inside opening as is the case in the Ganjam inscription. The latter inscription employs the sign for v to indicate b in all cases; but, in the present record, b has been indicated in some cases by its distinct sign and in others by the sign for v (cf. brāhmao in lines 12 and 13, but vappa in line 5 and vahuo in line 17). Of the initial vowels, we have instances of only à (line 19), u (line 16 ) and ē (line 10). Final t occurs once in line 19. Interpunctuation is indicated by a short horizontal stroke. The horizontal stroke indicating the completion of the record at the end of the charter is, however, considerably longer and is possibly meant to indicate a double stop.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit, although Prakrit influence can be traced in the word dāndavūsikafor Sanskrit dāndapātika in line 7. With the exception of four imprecatory verses about the end of the charter the record is throughout written in prose. As regards orthography, the inscription under discussion resembles the Ganjam inscription and the East Indian records of about the sixth century. Attention may be drawn to the occasional reduplication of some consonants in conjunction with a following y (cf. mätty-Opao in line 7, vritt-addhyayanao in line 13, etc.). Reduplication of certain consonants in conjunction with a preceding or following r is more regular. Wrong sandhi in cases such as Onyang=cha (line 8), °yikāns-cha (line 9), nāyām-vasuo and rāyām- varttao (line 2) and dattām=vā (line 21) is noteworthy. The rules of sandhi, which is optional in prose, have not been observed in such cases as osmābhih Mäghao and 'yanë etado in line 10. The visarga followed by a sibilant has been modified in some cases (cf. räjabhis-Sao in line 17, bhis-saha in line 22) but not in others (cf. tunuh sao in line 5). Finalm has been wrongly changed to anusvāra at the end of the second or fourth foot of a verse (cf. lines 18, 21). .
The date of the inscription is indicated in words : varttamāna-Gupta-rajye varsha-data-dvaye panchātad-uttarë in lines 2-3 and Māgha-krishnasy=aikādśyām=uttar-āyanè in line 10. The grant was thus made on the occasion of the uttar-āyana, falling on the eleventh tithi of the dark fortnight of Māgha in the year 250 apparently of the Gupta era. The date corresponds to the 20th December 569 A.D.
1 An examination of the original plates, received in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India from Pandit Tripathi, showed that Mr. Rājaguru's description of the plates and the seal is misleading.
* Above., Vol. VI, pp. 143-47 and plate. . [This form need not be due to any Prakrit influence--Ed.).
. For the importance of the ayana as an occasion for offering gifts, see Garuda Purana (I, chapter 51, verse 29) quoted in the Successors of the Satavahanas, p. 209 : ayand vishuvé chaiva grahandchandra-siryayo, branly. adishu kalah datlath bhavati chakshayam.
.I am indebted to Mr. D. N. Mookerjee for the astronomical calculation.
