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No. 40) NAGARI PLATES OF ANANGABHIMA III ; SAKA 1151 AND 1152 237 Similar is the GRAD with w and tta (cf. lines 54, 64, 66, 69, 71, 74, 114, 128, eto.). In some cases i is not distinguishable from v (of. yasy-anao in line 109). The sign for medial i often does not rise much above the top mätra of the consonants and somewhat resembles the a-matra (cf. keskmi in line 1). It is of course expected that b should be indicated by the sign for v. Of initial vowels, the inscription under discussion employs a (lines 60, 66, 82, 96, 97, 121, 123, 134, 146), ā (lines 25, 50, 89, 120), 6 (lines 9, 10, 36, 37, 47, 64, 67, 69, 87, 106, 123, 132, 133), 4 (line 122), ri (lines 144, 145), e (lines 16, 56, 75, 81, 90, 103, 140, 141) and 6 (line 1). Of final consonants there are & (line 16), (lines 29, 62, 79, 85, 126, 130, 140, 145) and m (linas 4, 10, 11, 20, 27, 35, 41, 43, 45, 48, 53, 61, 67, 89, 111, 116, 146, 150, 151, 153). The half-nasal sign called chandra-bindu is employed in writing Om in line 1. Double danda as a mark of interpunotuation is usually joined at the bottom. In some cases the anusvāra looks like the superscript .
The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. Its composition is partly in prose and partly in verse. With the exception of only one, all the eighty verses of the introductory portion of the epigraph are found also in the oopper-plate records of the successors of the king who issued the charter under discussion.
As regards orthography, attention may be drawn to the occasional reduplication of certain Consonants in conjunction with r. A common mistake in the record is the confusion between $ and . Interesting is also the spelling of words like frēyānsi (for trêya msi) in line 1, payāni (for payamsi) in line 79, vanta in lines 8 and 10 and vansa in line 83 (for varsa), tämura (for tāmra) in line 142, singha (for siriha) in line 132, ato. Riis once indicated by ru in line 144. In a largo number of cases final m followed by a consonant has not been changed into anunvāra, while in a few it has been substituted by the anusvāra wrongly (cf. lines 102, 137). It has been usually joined with v in wrong sandhi (lines 40, 48, 53, 150, 151, 152).
The inscription contains several datos on which different gifts of land were made by the king responsible for the charter, although the exact date when the charter was issued is not mentioned. Lines 122-23 refer to the Mina-sankranti on Saturday, Chaitra sud 9, in the Saka year counted by chandra (1), ishu (5) and rudra (11) which indicate, according to the well known principle arikānāri våmato gatil, tho Saka year 1151. The date regularly corresponds to Saturday, the 23rd February, 1230 A.C. Line 126 speaks of a gift made on Thursday, Magha badi 6 in the Dext year (abd-äntarë), i.e., in Saks 1162. This date corresponds to the 26th December, 1230 A.C. Lines 134-35 refer to a lunar eclipse on Thursday, Märgaśīrsha sudi 15 in the same year (lasmin= èv-abdë), i.e., in Saka 1152. The date corresponds to the 21st Novembar, 1230 A.C. Line 137 speaks of the Makara-sarikrānti no doubt in the same year falling on the 26th December, 1230 A.C. Line 142 refers to a solar eclipse on the Karkatak-āmāväsya apparently in the same year (.e., Saka 1152), although it has to be admitted that, according to Swamikannu Pillai's Indian Ephemeris, the solar eclipse took place in Saka 1152 not on the Karka fak-āmavasya (Thursday, the 11th July, 1230 A.C.) but on the Vrishabh-āmāvasyā (Tuesday, the 14th May, 1230 A.C.). The last date is found in line 146 which speaks of the Makar-āmāvasyä on Sunday apparently in the same Sala year. This date corresponds to the 5th January, 1231 A.C. The actual date when the charter under discussion was issued must have come sometime after this date probably in the same year 1231 A.C.
The prose portion of the inscription in line 122-49 records a number of grants of land made by the celebrated Ganga monarch Anangabhima III (circa 1211-38 A.C.) in favour of certain Brāhmanas. As already indicated above, this part of the charter is preooded by no less thun eighty verses (with a prose passage between verses 6 and 7), seventynine of which are found quoted with slight variations in some later records of the family. These verses describe the genealogy of the Imperial Ganga family up to the reigning monarch. The resemblance of our text is the clouest
