________________
No. 51] TWO PLATES FROM KANAS
329 4. Plate of Lokavigraha-bhattāraka; Gupta year 280 This is a single plate measuring 4.85 inches by 2.5 inches and having writing on both obverse and reverse. There is a projection in the middle of the left end of the plate, to which & seal was originally soldered. Of this seal, however, nothing but a small lump of bronze protruding throagh a hidden hole on both the obverse and reverse of the projection now remains. There are eleven lines of writing on the obverse of the plate and ten lines on the reverse. The size of the letters is small. The preservation of the writing, especially on the obverse of the plate, is extremely unsatisfactory as some of the letters have completely peeled off. The weight of the plate, together with the lump representing the original seal, is 15 tolas only.
In point of palaeography and orthography, the inscription closely, resembles the Sumandala plate of Prithivivigraha-bhattāraka edited by me in the pages of this journal,' and hardly anything calls for special mention. The tail of letters like k and ris short and not lengthened considerably downwards as is usually the case. The sign of interpunctuation is usually a short horizontal or slightly curved stroke. Full-stop is sometimes indicated by two such strokes (of. line 19), not differing much from the sign for the visarga ; but often the usual double danda has been employed, although the head of the first of the two dandas is considerably curved towards the left (cf. lines 15, 21). The language of the inscription is Sanskrit, and, with the exception of two of the usual imprecatory verses at the end, the record is entirely written in prose.
The date of the charter engraved on the plate as given in words in lines 2-3 reads: pravarttamānē Gupta-kāla-samva(samva)tsarē aśīty-uttara-sata-dvaye. It is quoted in line 15 as Samoat 200 80 Phälguna(na)-di 5. Thus the date of our record is the Afth day of the month of Phālguna in the year 280 of the Gupta era corresponding to 599-600 A.C.
The inscription records the grant of a village called Urddhvaýsinga situated in the Utida or Mutida vishaya (district) in Dakshipa-Tosali. The grant was made by the royal officers (viniyuktakāb) of the said vishaya, including such officers as the vai svāsika, vishayapati and arsabrihadbhogika, when parama-dēvat-adhidaivata-bri-Lokavigraha-bhattāraka was ruling in Tosall comprising eighteen forest states (Tosalyani s-dshțādas-atavi-rājyāyāṁ). The declaration regarding the grant was addressed to the present and future enjoyers of the share of the produce (bhāgabhujah) such as the officers of the mahāsāmanta-mahārāja, rājaputra, kumārāmātya, uparika, tadayuktaka, vaiśvāsika, vishayapati and aṁsa-brihadbhõgika. Of the officials, aṁsa-brihadbhõgika seems to be the same as bhogika or brihad-bhogika of other inscriptions, and vaibväsika, not usually found in charters,' may indicate a privy councillor or one in charge of secret and confidential communications. Having ascertained that the village in question had in it no land uncultivated for a long time (chira-khila-sünya) and that its land possessed many qualities (anëka-guna), the officers granted it, with a view to gaining dharma, artha and kāma, with the permission of the paramadēvatādhidaivatafri-paramabhattaraka, no doubt referring to Löka vigraha-bhattāraka. The grant was made according to the principle governing permanent endowments to last as long as the moon and sun endure (ā-chandr-ārkka-sama-kaliy-akshaya-nivi-dharmmēna) with the determination of the four boundaries. The purpose of the grant was the institution of bali, charu and sattra at the matha of the illustrious Maņināgēsvara-bhattāraka of Chaikāmbaka or Ekāmbaka and the maintenance of the Brāhmaṇas of different gotras, who were students of the Maitrāyaniya branch of the Yajurvēda. It is interesting to note that the Brāhmaṇa students of the Maitrāyaniya school, associated with the matha of Maninaga-bhattāraka, are also mentioned in the other charter edited below. The word matha seems to indicate here 'a temple endowed with a monastery or college'. The grant under
1 Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 79 ff.
* The designation parichakaranopariska*)-vaidväsika-brihadbhögin is found in lines 53-54 of the Bappur plates of Dharmaraja to be edited by me in this journal. Cf. also Lüders' List, Nos. 125(Q), 127, 128, 141.
6 DGA
