________________
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
VOL. XXX
1953-1954
No. 1–DHULEV PLATE OF MAHARAJA BHETTI , YEAR 73
(1 Plate)
V. V. MIRASHI, NAGPUR This plate was in the possession of Mr. Kalulal Ardavi, a Brāhmaṇa of Dhulēv (also called Rishabhadēva) about 40 miles south of Udaipur in Rajputana. According to his account, it was found at Kalyanpur, about 4 miles south-east of Dhulēv. It has been briefly noticed by the late M. M. Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha in the Annual Report of the Rajputana Museum for 1932-33. Pandit A. K. Vyas, Superintendent, Archæology and Museum, Udaipur, invited my attention to its date at the Jaipur Session of the Indian History Congress held in December 1951, and kindly supplied me with an excellent photograph of it for decipherment and study. I found the record of considerable importanoo in view of the recess controversy regarding the Harsha era. I therefore edit it here with the kind permission of Pandit Vyas.
This is a single coppor-plate, measuring 12;' broad and 34" high, and is inscribed on one side only. It weighs 261 tolas. There was apparently no seal discovered with it; at least there is no indication of one having been soldered to it. The inscription consists of seven lines, inscribed breadthwise, of which the last appears to have been added subsequently. The record is in a good state of preservation. The average size of the letters is 2". The characters are of the NorthIndian Alphabet and resemble in a general way those of the Udaipur inscription of Aparājita dated V. 718.1 Worthy of note are the curves of some letters and signs which are ornamentally treated. As regards individual letters we may note the initial ů in Obbaraka, 1. 8; & which appears looped in some cases (of. Dutakd, 1. 5) and unlooped in others (of. -kutumbi-, 1.1); the lingual & which occurs in Bhattivadasya, I. 6; n which is generally looped as in Bhaffināga, 1.2, but, in some cases, unlooped as in anumatik, 1. 3. Y is generally as in the Udaipur inscription, but the curve of its left member is turned inside, not outside as in that inscription ; see bodhayaty-astu, 11. 1-2. Superscript = generally appears above the line (cf. varsha-, 1. 4), but in -nimittyartha, 1. 2, it is formed on the line.
The language is Sanskrit, and except for one imprecatory and benedictive verse, the whole record is in prose. The wrong form karshāpayataḥ in place of karshayataḥ in l. 3 and the use of the instrumental case in stating the date deserve notice. The orthography shows the use of the medial ri for ri in tri-saptatibhih, 1. 5, the reduplication of the consonant preceding and following (866 Chandrāttrêya, I. 2' and sarvvān, 1. 1) and of that following an anusvāra in paripatthanā, 1. 3 and samvatsarė, I. 5.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of Mahārāja Bhötti of Kisbkindbā. It purports to record the consent of Mahārāja Bhetti to the gift of the agrahāra village Ubbaraka to the Brāhmana Bhattināga of the Chandrātrēya götra and Vājasaneya (dakha) for the religious
1 Above, Vol. IV, pp. 29 ff. For similar characters, see also the Vasantgadh inscription of Varmaláta; ibid., Vol. IX, pp. 187 ff.
* The inscription mentions Vadalja)sančya as a gótra, but gotra there is evidently & mistake for dakha.
