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212 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVIII grant of Dandimahādēvi (who flourished about three quarters of a century later than the issuer of the present charter) and the Jajpur (Hansēšvara temple) inscription mentioning the royal couple Subhākara I and Madhavadēvi (who were the grandparents of the issuer of our charter), both of which have been recently edited by me for the pages of this journal.' The only point of palaeographical interest, to which attention may be drawn, is the way in which the number 100 is written in line 22. Here the usual lu symbol indicating 100 is rather unusually followed by a cypher apparently indicating the absence of the ten and unit elements in the number. This is no doubt due to the influence of the decimal system of writing numerals which was becoming popular in various parts of India even before the rise of the Bhauma-Karas of Orissa. The Bhauma-Kara king, who is usually styled Subhākara II, is already known from his two copper-plato grants, viz., the Hindol and Dharakota plates, both of which are dated in the year 103, the former on Srāvaņa sudi 7 and the latter on Bhadrapada sudi 7. It is interesting to note that, while the number 103 has been written in the Dharakota plate as 100 3 in the usual way, the same number has been written in the Hindol plate as 100 0 3 with the cypher indicating the absence of the ten elsment in it. The charter under discussion was issued about three years earlier than the Hindol and Dharakota plates referred to above.
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. It is written in both prose and verse. It should, however, be pointed out that, while the texts of the Hindol and Dharakota plates of the year 103 closely resemble each other, the draft of the present document issued in the year 100 is quite different. The verses employed in the charter under review are also different from those found in the Hindol and Dharakota records. As, moreover, will be seen from our discussion below, the present inscription offers some interesting new information
The inscription is dated in the year 100 Vaisakha sudi 5(?). As is well known, the era used by the Bhauma-Kara kings of Orissa is identified by some scholars with the Harsha era of 606 A.C., although there are writers who are inclined to assign the epoch of the era to a later date. Thus the date of the record under discussion falls in 706 A.C. or, if the views of the second group of scholars are preferred, to sometime in the eighth century or later. I have fully discussed the problem of Bhauma-Kara chronology in connection with the Säntiragräma grant of Dandimahā. dēvi recently, and hardly anything in this connection requires special mention here.
The charter belongs to king Subhākara II of the celebrated Orissan imperial family called usually Bhauma in earlier records and Kara in the later. It was issued, like other grants of the family, from the city of Guhadēvapātaka, otherwise called Guhēsvarapāțaka. This city, which was apparently the capital of the Bhauma-Kara kings, has been identified with modern Jajpur on the Vaitarani in the Cuttack District of Orissa. It is mentioned as a jaya-skandhāvāra ; but it has been shown that, although the word skandhāvāra usually means 'a camp,' it has also the sense of a rājadhāni in medieval lexicons. The description of Guhadēvapāțaka in prose in lines 1-2 of the record under review is followed by another prose passage saying that, after the death of the Bhauma kings beginning with Lakshmikara, the throne passed to Mahārājādhirāja Paramėgvara Subhākara I who was a paramāpāsaka,' a follower of the Buddhist faith.' It may be pointed out in this connection that, in the Neulpur? plate of Subhākara I himself, the king is described as a
1 Above, p. 180. ? B. Misra, Orisa under the Bhauma Kings, pp. 12-22;J BORS, Vol. XVI, pp. 69-83; JAHRS, Vol. IV, pp. 189-94.
• The plate now belongs to the collection of the Utkal University, Cuttack, and I had recently an opportunity of examining it through the kindness of Mr. C. M. Acharya. An examination of the original plate revealed the fact that the publishel transcript of the text of this inscription contains some errors,
My article on the inscription is being published in this journal. . Above, D. 180. • Successors of the Satavahanas, pp. 47-48 1 Above, Vol. XV, pp. 3; Mista, op. cit., p. 4.
