Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

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

Page 97

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVIII
the mriga-dava (the deer park) of Kaái (now Sarnath, Banaras) where the Buddha delivered his first sermon on Dharma. Just below this representation, between two lines, occurs the legend Sri-Srichandradevah written in relief. There is also a floral base for the support, as it were, of the legend, as is the case with the wheel emblem within its own circle. It may be noted that the Buddhist Pāla kings of Bengal also used the same emblem on the seals attached to their copper charters.
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The inscription consists of 42 lines, the obverse containing 23 lines and the reverse 19 lines. The execution of the writing is excellent, the letters in all lines being almost of uniform size, which is about". The characters employed in the inscription belong to a variety of the northern alphabet which was used, specially in Bengal, in the 10th-11th century A.D. From a comparison of the script of the Vishnupada (Gaya) temple inscription of the 7th year of king Nārāyaṇapāla and of that of the Narasimhadeva (Gaya) temple inscription of the 15th year of king Nayapala, with that of our inscription (though engraved on copper), it may be assumed that our inscription belonged to a period intermediate between these two kings' reigns. It may also be surmised that the script of this inscription does not belong to any period much earlier than that of the inscriptions of the time of the Varman kings of East Bengal. Of initial vowels we have the signs for a (in avapa, line 15, arddha, line 24, a-chata", line 27, a-kiñck line 27 and Agastya, line 28); a (in ädhärö, line 11, adisati, lime 25); i (in it, line 7, iti, line 31 and 40, ie, line 33); u (e.g. in ubhau, line 38) and è (in eva, line 3, ēkāta, line 15, ekadesa-, line 35). It is noteworthy that as in Narayanapala's inscription referred to above and in the Silimpur stone-slab inscription, the initial i is represented in this plate also by two ringlets placed side by side with a short horizontal bar above them. There are to be noticed some peculiar forms of consonantal conjuncts, such as ksh (in bhikshu", line 4, didriksha", line 9, °dhyaksha, line 23, °kshän-, line 25, samakshe, line 33); kty (in bhaktyä, line 7, °kty-antaḥ line 20); tva (in snätvä, line 28, kritvä, line 28, bhutvä, line 39); shn (in [Jishno°, line 13); ky (in grähga, line 27); tm (in atma°, line 29), jñ (in nayajñaḥ, line 15, °rāji, line 21); and ran (in purana, line 5, -Purana, line 5, Suvarna, line 8 and line 9, suvarnn, line 9).
As regards orthography, as almost in all the eastern epigraphs specially in Bengal, the letter bis throughout expressed by the sign for v. Other peculiarities which call for special netice are the following:-(1) almost all consonants such as g, ch, n, t, m, y and v are doubled after ar; (2) s is susbstituted for the visarga before a following s (in Jinas-sa, line 1, dus-sadhya", line 24, etc., but the visarga sign has been retained after pitribhiḥ saha, line 39); (3) the sign for amagraha has sometimes been used (as in chandro-'bhavat, line 5) and sometimes omitted (as in Dharmmo-py", line 2); (4) final t, n and m are indicated by signs of the letters smaller in size, but the final m has a peculiar shape of its own in [chikna] m, line 15, tritiyāyām, line 28; and (5) the guttural nasal si has been used instead of the anusvära before the palatal sibilant & (vanse, line 4, karānuḥ line 7).
The language is Sanskrit, which is generally correct, except where some mistakes occur due to the inadvertence of the scribe or the engraver. After the introductory words Om svasti the inscription contains 8 verses in praise of the predecessors of the royal donor, which are followed by about 13 lines of prose after which we have 6 verses describing the genealogy of the donee and eulogising the donee himself. The grant then has again 2 lines of prose and this is followed by three of the usual benedictive and imprecatory verses. It may be noted here that the first 8 verses which describe the history of Srichandra's dynasty are identical with the 8 verses in the Rampal plate of the king. So far as these verses in the present plate and the (yet
Fide: R. D. Banerji's The Palae of Bengal (Mem. A. S. B., Vol. V, No. 3), plate No. XXIV. Ibid., plate No. XXVI.
E.a. the Belava plate of Bhojavarmadeva, above, Vol. XII, plates opposite PP. 40-41. Above, Vol. XIII, pp. 284 ff, and plate.