Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 89

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVIII,
The record is not dated. But as pointed out above, it has to be assigned to a date not muc' later than the tenth century. In this connection, it may be pointed out that the inscription refers to one Silabhañja who seems to be no other than Silabhañja I Angaddi, founder1 of the Bhañja royal family of Khiñjali-mandala (about the Keonjhar State) ruling from Dhritipura and Vañjulvaka. This is suggested by the fact that the record unler discussion was engraved by Padmanabha who was a son of the Vanik Pandi and was an inhabitant of Gandhaṭapați. Now this person seems to be identical with the Vanik-suvarnakara Padmanabha, son of Pandi and engraver of the Sonpur plates of Ranaka Ranabhañja who was the son of Satrubhañja and the grandson of Silabhañja-Angaddi. It is interesting to note that Satrubhañja was also known as Gandhata and was possibly the founder of Gandhaṭapați, the native place of Padmanabha son of Pandi. The Patna Museum Plates' of Rinaka Ranabhañja mentions his queen Vijyä who was the daughter of Raṇaka Niyārṇama. It is very probable that this Niyarṇama is no other than Ranaka Niyarṇava mentioned in the Santa-Bommali plates of the Ganga king Devendravarman (dated Ganga year 520 falling in 1016-18 A. D.) as the father of Bhimakhedi and the grandfather of Dharmakhedi of the feudatory Kadamba family of Jayantyapura. The Mandasa plates (dated Saka 917-995 A. D.)' mentions Kadamba Dharmakhedi as the feudatory of Ganga Anantavarman. His grandfather Niyarṇava or Niyarṇama thus appears to have flourished about the middle of the tenth century which, or rather the third quarter of the tenth century, seems to have been the age of Ranabhanja. It is then possible to assign Ranabhañja's grandfather Silabhañja to about the first quarter of the same century. As, however, the name of Gandhaṭapați mentioned in our record seems to presuppose the rule of Silabhañja's son Satrubhañja-Gandhața and as Padmanabha is known to have served under Silabhañja's grandson Raṇabhañja, the inscription under discussion may be roughly ascribed to the age of the Bhañja kings Satrubhañja and Ranabhañja of Khiñjali-mandala who, as already indicated above, probably ruled about the second and third quarters of the tenth century.
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The record under discussion is a kraya-sasana (cf. lines 4 and 7) which literally means 'a deed of purchase' and indicates actually a sale deed. It may also indicate land sold by means of a kraya-sasana'. The village that formed the subject of the kraya-sasana is called Taḍēsva(śva)ragrāma (line 7) which was apparently situated in Khindarasimgha (i.e., Khindaraśringa) forming part of the Gömuṇḍa-mandala (or Mōmunda-°) in the kingdom of the illustrious Narendradhavala (line 1). Gōmunda-mandala (or Momunda-°) may actually have been the name of Narendradhavala's kingdom (cf. Khiñjali-mandala forming the entire kingdom of a branch of the Bhanja family). In lines 1-5 of the epigraph, it seems to be said that a person named Seḍā, who was the son of the Bhandari (Sanskrit Bhundägarika) Raniya and the grandson of the Kulaputraka (nobleman) Vanadeva, purchased the above village from the illustrious Šilabhañjadeva, as a kraya-sāsana, paying some rupyaka, i.e., silver or money; the purchase appears to have been made through the illustrious Rāņaka Ghōnghaka who was the son of the illustrious Rāņaka Vikära and the grandson of the illustrious Ranaka Mudhavaraha (probably Murdha-varaha) and was a scion
1 The Jangalpadu plates (JKHRS, Vol. I, pp. 181 ff.) of apparently the 14th regnal year of Satrubhañja appear to represent this Šilabhañja as the son of Malla-Gambhirade[va] and the grandson of Yathasukhadeva. The identification of Satrubhanja of this inscription with the homonymous ruler of Khiñjalt-mandala is, however, not entirely beyond doubt.
JBORS, Vol. VI, pp. 483 ff.
Above Vol. XX, pp. 100 ff; Bhandarkar, op. cit., No. 2055.
JAIRS, Vol. III, pp. 178 ff; cf. Bhandarkar, op.cit., p. 286, note 2.
IKHRS, Vol. I, pp. 219-21.
8 JBORS, Vol. XVII, p. 184.
7 Select Inscriptions, Vol. I, p. 458, note 1.