________________
260
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVII
Chandatumgam in the Kämvörāla vishaya in favour of a number of Brāhmaṇas. The epigraphie text, as already indicated above, begins with a verse in adoration to the god Sankara, i.e., Siva. This is followed by a description of the skandhāvāra situated at Värädda (lines 2-8). It is said to have been endowed with gardens, groves and bowers which were attached to certain temples. The expression shanda-mandapa may also mean shades for the bull attached to the temples of Siva. The population of the locality is described as fully contented and the place as free from quarrels, thieves, famines and diseases. The place is further said to be beautified by trees grown in deep glens watered by many springs and producing flowers and fruits of various kinds in great abundance. This description of Vārāddā seems to suggest that it was not merely a camp but was actually the capital of Nēţtabhañja whether permanent or temporary. The description of the skandhāvāra is followed by another of the king (lines 8-17) who is compared to the mighty epic kings like Raghu, Nahusha and Mandhātņi but is not endowed with any specific royal epithet. The king is said 'to have been a paramabrahmanya (very friendly to Brāhmaṇas) and paramamahé svara (devout worshipper of Mahësvara, i.e., Siva). One of the interesting epithets of the king says that Nattabbañja was born in the family of Drumarāja, while another seem to suggest that he was the inheritor of the fortune of ninety-nine past generations of kings. It seems that Drumarāja was the progenitor of the old royal family to which Néttabhañja belonged. The king's order regarding the grant in question was issued to the royal officers, to the adhikaranas (administrative offices) of that time as well as of the future (lines 18-20) and to other dependants serving in the Kāmverala vishaya. The officials and subordinates included the samanta, mahāsāmanta, rājan, räjanaka, rājaputra, antaranga, kumāramatya, uparika and tadayuktaka. They were told (lines 20-22) that the king had granted the village of Chandūtungam as a free gift and a revenue-free holding in favour of certain Brāhmaṇas belonging to the Kausika gòtra and the Vājasaněya charana. The names of the Brihmanas and the shares of the holding allotted to each one of them were also specified in the following order (lines 23-27): Väsudēvasvåmin 3 shares, Golasvāmin 1, Adityadeva 1, Yajñasvamin 1, Chharampasvimin 1, Sivasvāmin 1, a second Chharampasvamin 1, Gõpēndragvamin 2, Kayārasvåmin 2, Karayānasvamin 1, Bhöyisvāmin 1, Jayasvāmin 1, & second Jayasvamin 1, and Ravichõņasvāmin l. Lines 28-32 suggest that the grant was actually made on behalf of the queens, Kshatridēvi and Kaivartadēvi, and the räja-putri (princess) Mēghāvalidēvi for the easy access of the three ladies to heaven. The names of the two queens are interesting as they appear to refer to the particular communities to which they belonged. If the queens of Nettabhañja belonged to the Kshatri and Kaivarta communities, we have here a glimse of the working of the social order in ancient Orissa. After the usual entreaties to the future rulers for the preservation of the grant and imprecatory verses in lines 32-39, we have the date of the document in the 26th year of Nēttabhañja's reign (line 39). The charter ends with the name of the writer and that of the engraver of the plate. The writer was Vandya-Dēvabhadra and the engraver Dhirabhogika. The correct interpretation of the designation bhogika, which occurs in a large number of inscriptions, is difficult; but the expression Vandya prefixed to the name of Dēvabhadra reminds one of the Vandy-opadhyāyas who are a section of the Kulina class among the Radhiya Brihapus of Bengal. Although the origin of the Kulinas such as the Vandy-Opadhyâya and Chatt-õpidhiga is referred to a late date, we know that the name Břihach-Chatta is found in a Bengal inscription of the sixth century and have elsehwere suggested that the Brahmanical cognomena in question
[ The context does not justify such an inference. The expression vona-shanda-mandap-opatiita 'simply moans beautified by arbours and parks, the word sharida meaning multitude.--Ed.)
• C. Successors of the Satavahanas, pp. 47-48.
It is possible to think that the ladies were dead and the grant was made on the occasion of their traddha ceremony.
Cf. Select Inscriptiona, Vol. I, p. 351. • Ibid. pp. 498-99.
