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No. 48]
PURI PLATES (SET B) OF GANGA NARASIMIIA IV
305
however, the word seems to be used in a modified sense to indicate an arrangement made according to order. That mudala and ajri were not used in Oriya exactly in the same sense is suggested by epigraphic passages using both of them. The Oriya inscriptions of the Süryavamsis have the following passages in a similar context: agāṁ ho la, Agnisarmā mudrāhastura gocharë võilā murale, avadharita ā ngā pamānē, avadhārīta ägyāṁ võilā mudalē, samastanka mukāvilārë aigāṁ hõilā, pujā av kāśe gyān höilā, āgyan voli hõila, etc. We have to note also the expressions Gateśvaradīsa-śrichandana-ág avathirita ajñā-võila mudal: and avadhārita-nudala-pramāně occurring in the latter part of our inscription. The same modified sense of the word can also be traced in the Mādalā Pāñjāa in such passages as éri-navarë vijë kar mudala karāile, sri-pāda-mudalë, rājyaru-e-manta mudala karāi, etc. Mahāson īpati was a high military officer, apparently higher than tho sēnādhyaksha mentioned earlier. Srikarana indicates a scribe-accountant and purð, prefixed to it, may possibly connect the official with the pura or capital of the Ganga monarch, although it may also be connected with Sanskrit puras and point to a front rank among the Srikaranas. The word puro occurs in another grant of Narasimha IV as pörð, while the Mädala Panji speaks of two officers of a Ganga king named Anangabhima as Pora-Pāñjidhara-Parikshā Mithuni Panda and Põra-Srikarana Suruya-Puranāyaka.
Line 1 on the reverse of Plate VI says that the land granted to Dēvarathācharya measured one hundred vātis. It is further said (lines 1-5) that on Panditavāra (Wednesday), the 2nd of the solar month of Vpischika (Mārgaśīrsha) and the seventh tithi of the dark half of the lunar month in the 23rd Anka year, the fri-charana (king), when he was doing japa (counting of beads) after having offered worship at the kataka (city or residence) of Dēvakūta and when a number of officials were in his presence, granted two villages covering one hundred vätis of land to Dēvarathācharya. The details of the date show that it corresponds to Wednesday, the 22nd November, A.C. 1396, a year after the grant was originally made. The officers present on this occasion were: (1) Pätra Māhāmuni Purðhita, (2) Dvārapariksha Trivikrama Sandhivigraha (Sāndhivigrahika), the same as No. 5 of the first list of officials quoted above, (3) Vudhālēnka Sömanātha Vähinipati, and (4) Bhitarabhandāra-adhikari Narahari Sandhivigraha. In the official designation Vudhälēnka, the word vudha is the same as Sanskrit vriddha (Prakrit vuddhā)=mahā, while lēnkā means a Sūdra servant of a king or a deity. Vähinipati was a commander of the forces, possibly the same as Sēnādhyaksha mentioned in the first list quoted above. The designation Bhitara-bhandāra-adhikari (bhitara being the same as Sanskrit abhyantara) suggests that there was another officer styled Bahir-bhāndārādhikärin. The Bhitara-bhandāra-adhikari was probably the officer in charge of the treasury or store-house in the inner part of the royal palace. On this occasion also the mudala or arrangement regarding the grant was made in the presence of the officer Puro-Srikarana Visvanātha Mahāsēnāpati. According to this arrangement (lines 4-5 on the reverse of Plate VI), the one hundred vifis of land granted to Devarathacharya were offered in the form of two villages situated in the Madanakhanda vishaya which formed a part of Köshthadēsa consisting of eight khandas or divisions (like the said Madana-khanda). Madanakhanda is later referred to as Odamvõlo (or Odamõlő)-Madanakhanda. The two gift villages are called here Saisögrämi-Mökshēsvara and Dakshiņa-Rādasõõgrama, although later the former has been referred to only as Sāisõgrāma and the latter sometimes as Radha or sao. The first village was a part of Sāisõgrāma, known as Mākshēsvara. Köshthadosa or Kothadosa is the name of a Pargana in the Puri District ; but the expression may also indicate an area in the king's private possession.
1 See J.A.S.B., Vol. LXII, 1893, Part I, pp. 91, 93, 96, 99, 100.
* Cf. Madala Panji, ed. A. B. Mahanti, Cuttack, 1940. pp. 27, 28, 30. Unfortunately, Mr. Mohanti AB absolutely nothing to say about the meaning of such words, inspite of the fact that they are not recognised even in the voluminous Pramoda Abhidhan (pp. 2891) published in 1942.
Op. cit., p. 28. Some of the officers known from our record are also mentioned in several other inscriptions of the time of Narasimha IV. Cf. J.A. H, R. S., Vol. VIII, pp. 70 ff.
5 DGA
