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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
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pravodanti in line 16. Attention may also be drawn to the doubling of k followed by, as in Dikkrama in line 1: the doubling of the consonant preceded by r in many cases; and the doubling of vin savvat (sanoat) in line 24. There are a few mistakes of spelling, e.g. tāmbra for tāmra in line 11.
The charter was issued from Sarabhapura by king Mahāsudēvarāja, described as a paramabhāgavata, on the 10th day of the second Bhadra in the 7th year of his reign and records the confirmation of the grant of a village, the name of which is lost in the broken portion of the first plate. The village was formerly granted by the venerable Nanna to Karanika Kansippasvāmin of the Pārāśara götra and the Taittiriya sākha. The resident agriculturists of the village were informed that the grant was being renewed by the king after making the village a-chățabhaça-prāvēbya (not to be transgressed by regular and irregular troops) and saruva-kara-visarjjita (free from all taxes). They were further enjoined to pay to the donee his due share.
This is one of the three charters of Mahāsudēvarāja issued in the 7th year of his reign, the two others being the Arang' and the Kauvātāli plates. Of the six copper-plate grants of his time 80 far known, five, including the one edited here, were issued from Sarabhapura and they were engraved by Drönasimha. The sixth, viz. the Kauvātāl plates, as well as the Thakurdiyā plates of Mahapravararāja, both of which were issued from Sripura, modern Sirpur in the Raipur District of Madhya Pradesh, were engraved by Gõlasimha. This shows that Mahāsudēvarāja had Drõņasimha as his official scribe at Sarabhapur and Gõlasimha at Sripura.
Mahāgudēvarāja belonged to the dynasty of the so-called Sarabhapura kings whose history and chronology have been a matter of controversy among scholars. The names of the kings of this family so far known from the inscriptions are : Narēndra, son of Sarabha; Mahājayarāja, son of Prasanna who is also known from a number of gold and silver coing on which his name occurs as Prasannamātra ; Mahāsudēvarāja who was the son of Mõnamätra (descended from Prasanna according to the Khariar' and Arang® plates) or of Mabādurgarāja according to the Kauvātāl20 plates; and Mahāpravararāja, son of Mānamātrall. The real name of the father of Mahāsudēvarāja, as revealed by the Kauvātāl plates, was Mahādurgarāja. Mānamātra was therefore his secondary name. Whether Prasannamätra was also a similar secondary name is not possible to
1 Above, Vol. XXIII, p. 22, n.4.
Ancient India, No. , p. 49; Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, 1945-48, p. 12, No. 53 and Plate. [The real name of the king is Pravara.-Ed.]
IHQ, Vol. XIX, p. 145. It has been suggested (of. also The Vaka ţaka-Gupta Age, p. 86; The Classical Age, p. 219) that this Sarabha is identical with Sarabharaja, maternal grandfather of Göparāja of the Eran inscription (Gupta year 191) of the time of Bbănugupta (CII, Vol. III, p. 91). There is nothing to substantiate this identifica. tion except the common names. [The identification seems to be quite satisfactory in the present state of our knowledge.--Ed.]
• Hiralal, op. cit., p. 106-A ; No. 177-b ; CII, Vol. III, p. 193.
• IHQ, Vol. IX, pp. 696-96 ; Vol. XV, pp. 475-76; The Vakafaka-Gupta Age, p. 87, note 3; JNSI, Vol. XII, Pp. 8-10.
"Above, Vol. IX, p. 173.
Ibid., Vol. XXIII, p. 22.
[His real name was Durga.-Ed.] 10 Ancient India, No. 6, p. 40; A. R. Ep., 1945-48, No. A. 53. 11 Above, Vol. XXII, p. 22.
