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No. 20]
NINGONDI GRANT OF PRABHANJANAVARMAN
In connection with the passage samvatsarika-kara-pan-āgra-satau(të) dvau(dvě) pointing to the annual cess or nominal rent fixed for the agrahara granted by our record, reference may be made to a passage of exactly similar import occurring in the Bobbili plates of Chandavarman_edited by Mr. R. K. Ghoshal. Unfortunately, Mr. Ghoshal entirely missed the real meaning of the passage in question, while an editorial note thereon from the pen of the late Mr. C. R. Krishnamacharlu hardly went far to improve upon his reading and interpretation. The passage in question runs as follows: Chandavarmma Tiritṭhānagrāmē sarvva-samavētān-kuṭumbinaḥ bhojakāms-cha samājñāpayaty-asty-ēshő(ska) grāmő-smābkir-ātmanaḥ puṣy-dyur-yyajasām-abhitriddhayê
ā
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samudr-adri(dri)-sasi(si)-tārak-ārka-pratishtham-agraharam kritvā sarvva-kara-parihārais-cha parikritya sharin{trisé)d-agrahara-smánych-grahāra-pradėya[*] sävba(sāṁva)tsarikam sa(pa)n-agram sata-bhu(dva)yan-ch=a[m*]śam ch-opanibandhya)(dkya) Tiriṭṭhāṇa-vāṭakāgrahāra[*] Brāhmaṇānāṁ nānā-gā(go)tra-sabrahmachariņām samprattaḥ. The meaning of the passage is quite clear. It should be noticed that the number 36 has been used here in the sense of 'many' or 'all' as in expressions like [Bengali] chhatris-jat ('the 36 castes','i.e. all the castes or most of the castes), [Hindi] Chattis-garh (literally, 'the 36 forts', a name applied to an area originally consisting of 'many' forts), etc. It may be pointed out in this connection that a copper-plate grant of the Suryavanśi monarch Kapilēsvara (1435-70 A.D.) uses the passage-āvēdanāni shaṭtrim śat-tyaktva in connection with a gift of land. The word avedana (found in the form avadāna or āvadāna in some Oriya records) no doubt indicates the royal dues, thirtysix kinds of which are vaguely referred to in the passage. The number 36 is used here evidently in the sense of 'all'. Similar significance of other numerical expressions such as 18 has been discussed in our paper on the Kanas plate of Lokavigraha. Thus the section shaftrimsad-agrahāra-sāmānyañ-ch=āgrahārapradeyam samvatsarikam pan-agram sata-dvayan-ch-am sam ch-opanibandhya would mean 'having registered the amount payable for the agrahara in advance annually at 200 panas as in the case of all other agraharas'. The same thing is no doubt indicated also by the passage shaftrimsadagrahara-sāmānyan-kritva occurring in line 6 of the Brihatproshtha grant of Umavarman. Thus the usual custom referred to seems to have been the grant of agraharas on a cess or nominal rent of 200 panas a year. As shown in my article on the kara-sasanas referred to above, the amount fixed for annual payment was sometimes styled kara or rent; but often the grant was specifically declared to have been made rent-free and the payment was given the style tri-odaka which was the name of a particular cess. The Bobbili plates refer to the grant of the agrahara as rent-free and therefore mention the amount payable by the donees annually as the agrahāra-pradēya aṁsa.
The inadequately quoted date of the charter, already discussed above, comes in lines 15-16. The document ends with the mention of the ajñapti or executor of the grant, whose name seems to be Jyeshtha. He is called a Mahadandanayaka (possibly, a police officer) who acted as a duta (envoy or representative) of the Mahapratihara (officer in charge of the palace gate). The name of the Mahapratihara is not mentioned. But it appears that he was originally entrusted with the work of executing the king's grant, but that he did the work through another officer who may have been one of his subordinates.
1 Above, Vol. XXVII, pp. 33-36.
The Brihaddharma Purana, Uttarakhanda, Chap. XIII, speaks of the number of the mixed castes, otherwise called Sadra, specifically as 36, but gives a list in wirich no less than 40 such castes are enumerated. See R. P. Chanda, The Indo-Aryan Races, pp. 194-95.
See Journal of the Bombay Historical Society, Vol. VI, p. 107 (text, line 173). Dr. K. B. Tripathi points out to me that the corresponding Oriya passage in line 188 of the same record, wrongly read by the editor of the inscription, actually reads chhattisi avadana madhyakari chhari.
Above, Vol, XXVIII, p. 330.
Ibid., Vol. XII, p 5.
