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No. 36] TWO INSCRIPTIONS FROM BHILSA
213 möktavyā. The passage quoted above seems to record the grant of a quarter Adivarāha-dramma (a coin apparently named after Pratihāra Bhöja I Adivarāha, circa 836-85 A.D.) per month and, for this purpose, it appears to have been so arranged that a Pañchiya ka-dramma (another coin possibly equal to a quarter Adivaräha-dramma)? would be paid monthly out of the rent of a vīthi belonging to Nāga but made bhõg-adhīnā (probably under a lease) by the donor who agreed that the said vithi could be taken away only after substituting another of its kind for it. In the inscription under study, in what we have read as pa (followed by a number) in lines 4, 6, 7 and 11, p has a sign above.it resembling an old medial o mark, although medial o is written differently in other cases occurring in the record. The mark as well as the fact that the akshara in question 18. followed by a number suggests that this pa in our record is a contraction. Possibly it stands for the coin called Pañchiyaka-dramma which, as known from its mention in the Siyadoni inscription quoted above, was current in the Malwa region in the early medieval period. Thus our inscription seems to say that the vithi in question, which belonged to Vuvāka and fetched a monthly or annual rent of 13 or 130 Pañchiyaka-drammas, was purchased by Hatiāka and was granted by him as an agrahāra in favour of the god Nārāyaṇa (Vishņu) worshipped in the Bhāillasvāmin temple apparentiy as a subordinate deity. The custom of installing the images of various gods and goddesses in the temple (or in shrines built in the temple precincts) of a well-known deity is not only prevalent even today but is also evidenced by numerous epigraphs including the Siyadoni inscription referred to above. The word agrahāra usually means an area of land granted in favour of Brāhmaṇas as a rentfree holding. But in inscriptions we have sometimes reference to other kinds of agrahāras such as the Vaisy-ägrahāra (i.e. land given as a rent-free holding in favour of certain Vaisyas)' In the record under study, the vithi in question was made what may be called a dēv-agruhära. In connection with this grant, the inscription uses the word mayā (i.e. by me') instead of tēna (i.e. by him ') required by the context. This coupled with the fact that the other two vithis, as will be shown below, were granted for the merit of the donor's parents probably suggests that the first of the three vīthis was granted for his own merit.
The second of the three vithis belonged to a merchant whose name cannot be fully read. It was situated at Khahanāsithi which seems to have been the name of a market place. Its rent wag pa 50 (i.e. 50 Pañchiyaka-drammas). The third vithi belonged to a person named Govinda. Its rent was pa 40 (i.e. 40 Pañchiyaka-drammas). These two vīthis were purchased by Hațiäka who granted them in favour of the Mothers (i.e. the Mother-goddesses worshipped in the Bhāillasvāmin temple or in shrines in its precincts) for the merit of his parents. The rent of the three vithis was expected to meet the expenses of the regular offerings (niyuta-bhöga) to the god and goddesses in question. The intention of the donor seems to have been that the vithis themselves could be utilised (samālabhyāb), probably implying their sale or mortgage, at critical junctures (sandhi-pātë) or emergencies. The concluding part of the inscription is very much damaged and the purport of this section is not clear.
The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it refers to the exdstence of the temple of Bhāillasvāmin at Bhilsă as early as 878 A.D. So long we had no definite evidence regarding the worship of the said god at Bhilsā before the tenth century. In regard to the name of the god Bhäillasvāmin, it is possible to suggest that the deity was originally installed by and named after a person called Bhāilla. Such a personal name is not unknown in the records
1 Above, Vol. I, p. 178, text lines 37-38.
* The word dramma was derived from the Greek drachma weighing originally 67.5 graine, although the IndoGreeks adopted the Persian Siglos standard of 86.45 grains (Rapson, Indian Coins, pp. 3, 6). The silver coins of the Adivaräha type appear to have followed the 67.5 grains standard (cf. Smith, Cal. o. Ind. Mus. pp.(241 f.). The Panchiyaka-dramma seems to have been a much heavier copper coin like the Yaudhoya drammas (of. ibid., p. 182, coin No. 18 b).
C. JRAS, 1962, p. 5.
