Epigraphia Indica Vol 29

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

Page 88

No. 5) TWO SAILODBHAVA GRANTS FROM BANPUR
39 The charter belongs to king Dharmarāja Mānabhita of the Sailodbhava family of Kõů. Kāda in inodern Orissa and closely resembles the other charters of the same king in respect of palaeography, language and orthography. The date of the charter under discussion is uncertain. After the word (Sam*]vat, only the figure 1 can be traced, the writing of the following portion being damaged in the plate. It is therefore doubtful whether the date is year 1 or any other regnal year between 10 and 19. The Sailodbhava king Dharmarāja Mānabhita seems to have flourished about the close of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth (circa 695-730 A.C.).
The draft of the present charter closely follows that of the Kondedda grant issued by king Dharmaraja Manabhita in his thirtieth regnal year. The eighteen verses forming the introduotion of our charter as well as the lengthy prose passage introducing the king as kusali (lines 1-40) are the same as the corresponding part of the 'Kondedda grant (lines 1-47), with slight changes (including minor mistakes) in the text and the names of the places whence the charters were issued. Verses 1-11 of the record dealing with the predecessors of the reigning monarch are merely a selection from the introductory stanzas found in the records (of. the Banpur plates edited above) of his father Ayasõbhita II Madhyamarāja. Verses 12-18 describe the achievements of Dharmarīja Mānabhīta himself. It is well known that only one of these verses (verse 15) gives a valu. able historical information. It seems to say how Dharmaraja had an elder brother named Madhava (i.e., Madhavavarman probably named after his grandfather) who bogan to bear ill will against his younger brother as soon as he ascended the throne, how Dharmarāja defeated this Madhava at the battle of Phåsikā, how Madhava thereupon took shelter under a king named Tivara, and how both Madhava and Tivars were defeated by Dharmaraja in a battle fought at the foot of the Vindhyas. This Tivara may have been a later member of the Pāņduvamsa of South Kosala. Verse 16 discloses the king's secondary name Mānabhita.
The proge passage following the introductory verses in our inscription refers to the place whence the charter was issued. The name of the place is doubtful but may be Asilida or Silida. The king is here described as a devout worshipper of Mahēsvara (Siva) and as devoted to his parents. Another interesting passage says that he was the son's son (i.e., grandson) of one who took an avabhritha bath after the Asvamēdha sacrifice (asvamēdh-avabhritha-snāna-nirvaritita-sünosu tanuyaḥ) apparently referring to the performance of the horse sacrifice by his grandfather Sainyabhita Madhavavarman II Srinivasa, already discussed above in connection with tho Banpur plates of Ayasobhita II Madhyamarāja, father of Dharmaraja Mänabhita.
The passage recording the grant in the inscription under review is defective. The engraver had at first omitted a longthy passage mentioning the donee, the gift land and the actual donor and later squeezed only the important words and names from the omitted passage in the limited space. The defective description suggests that the real donor of the grant was the queen Kalyāņadēvi (or Srikalyāņa") and that her grant was endorsed by the king. The gift land consisted of 3 measures styled ţimpira in a locality called Suvarnaralöndi situated in the Thorana vishaya and
The Kondedda grant of the 30th rognal year (above, Vol. XIX, pp. 267-70), the Nivina grant possibly of the 9th regnal year (above, Vol. XXI, pp. 38-41) and the Puri plates of a doubtful dato (J.B.O.R.S., Vol. XVI, pp. 178 ff). Bhandarkar's reading of the dates of the Pari and Kondedda plates is wrong (see List, Nos. 204041; Successors of the Salavahanas, p. 401).
1 He ruled at least up to his 30th regnal year.
This Tivara cannot be identified with Mahäbiva Tivara of the Panduvamia as tho letter flourished in the sixth century (circa 565-80 A. C.; soe I. H.Q., Vol. XIX, p. 144). Dharmaraja's rule (covering not less than 30 years according to the Kondedda grant) can hardly be placed earlier than the last quarter of the seventh century becauso, as indicated above, his grandfather performed the Advamedha before his 13th regnal year falling sometime after 619 A.C. and ruled for at least 50 years (cf. the date of the Cuttack Museum plates) and his father ruled for at least 20 years (cf. the date of the Parikud plates). • The Parikud platos suggest that Madhyamaraja took part in the performarce of his father's horse-sacrifice,
B 2