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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII
The smaller plate, marked D by Mazumdar, is obviously the second or middle plate of another tri-phali-tāmra-sāsana. This part of the incomplete inscription records a grant in favour of the son of the donee of Someśvara's charter. There is no evidence in support of Mazumdar's contention that this incomplete charter is a forgery. As the donee of this grant was the son of that of Sōmēsvara's charter, it is possible to think that, for some reason unknown to us, the son took out the plate recording a genuine grant in his favour from a tri-phali charter and kept it in another similar document by the side of the latter's second or middle plate recording a grant in favour of his father. The third plate of the record may have been considered unnecessary as it no doubt contained only some imprecatory and benedictory verses with or without the date. If the grant was received from the same ruler, viz., Sōmesvara of the Soma-vamsa, the first plate must have contained matter similar to that on the first plate of the father's grant and may have been considered unnecessary, wrongly of course, on that account. The nature of the draft, which is not exactly the same as in other similar records, as well as the fact that it is part of a different record and is neither complete in itself nor fits in Someśvara's grant in the father's favour would suggest that the document is genuine. The large number of mistakes in the language need not be taken as an evidence of the spurious nature of the grant, as many other early-medieval Orissan records including Sōmēsvara's charter itself are by no means free from errors.
Among other errors of Mazumdar, reference may be made to his reading Kisal-rajya*]khandiya (believed to speak of the Kōsala country) in line 9 of the inscription. The correct reading of the passage is no doubt Kesalōga-khandiya. The name of this Kesalögi khanda is apparently preserved in that of modern Kelg, the find-spot of our record. Sten Konow's suggestion that modern Kelga represents the ancient Kamalapura seems to be wrong. As regards the emblem on the seal attached to the charter, no photograph of which was published, Mazumdar says: " On the top surface thera is a seated figure with the right arm outstretched to the knee, within the enclosure of a blossoming creeper. The figure seems to represent a goddess, and, if so, she is the representation of Lakshmi. I may state, however, that the posture indicating peaceful meditation is hardly consistent with the figure of any goddess." The representation is, however, of the seated Gaja-Lakshmi as on the seals attached to other charters of the Sōmavamsi kings. The two figures of elephants were wrongly regarded by Mazumdar as the representation of creepers. In view of the numerous errors that crept into Mazumdar's article on these plates, they are re-edited in the following pages.
A. Plates of Somē svaradeva
The plates on which the charter is incised have been described by Mazumdar. The palaeography and orthography of the inscription resemble closely those of other Orissan epigraphs of about the twelfth century A. C. and does not call for special notice. The medial signs of u, u, and ri are often undistinguishable. The language is Sanskrit; but it is full of errors and is greatly influenced by the local dialect.
The charter was issued from Suvarnapura, i.e., modern Sonepur. The inscription records a grant of the village of Attēṇḍā in the Kesalōgā khanda (sub-division) of the Uttaravalli vishaya (district), made by the Sōmavamsi prince Sõmeśvara in favour of the Brahmaņa, Bhattaputra Udayakaraśarman, who was the son of Bhaṭṭa Vidyakara, grandson of Bhaṭṭa1 Jayakara and greatgrandson of Bhattaputra Lakshmidhara, and belonged to the Kumārahārīta gōtra having five pravaras. I have not been able to trace the Kumaraharita gōtra elsewhere. Bhatta was a Brahmana who was himself learned, while his son who was not himself learned may have been called Bhattaputra. The Brahmana donee was a student of the Madhyandina-Kapva branch of the
! Jayakara is called Bhattaputra in the fragmentary grant edited below.
