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464 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXI on täla leaves. This charter was burnt in the course of a conflagration in the donee's house; but it was known to the secretariat that the village oontinued to be enjoyed by the donee unhindered. King Narendra confirmed the grant to Sankhasvämin, son of Bhåbrutasvamin, by means of a charter incised on oopper plates, together with all the rights such as bhoga, bhāga, dhanya and hiranya, for the increase of the religious merit of his deceased father. The dutaka of the grant was the secretariat itself. The record was engraved by one Sridatta or Datta.
King Narēndra, son of Sarabba, is already known to us from his Pipardula plates issued in his 3rd regnal year. The present charter, issued in his 24th regnal year, indicates that he had a fairly long reign. Neither the Pipardula plates nor the present inscription give any pedigree and the ruler is mentioned with the simple title Maharaja. The legend appearing on the seal of both the records says that Narēndra was the son of Sarabha who was perhaps the founder of the Sarabhapura dynasty. It is also noteworthy that the Gaja-Lakshmi motif is oommon to the seals of the grants issued by the kings of this family and this may go in favour of assigning Narendra of our reoord to the Sarabhapura dynasty. The editors of the Pipardula oopper-plate inscription bave rightly suggested that Sarabha mentioned in the legend on his son's seal is probably no other than Sarabharaja, the maternal grandfather of Göparāja who died at Eran in 510 A.D.
The only point of interest in the present inscription is the reference to the original charter which is said to have been written on ala leaves and was later confirmed by the present dooument. There are many instances of older grants being renewed or confirmed by subsequent rulers; but this is probably the only instance, so far notioed, where it is expressly stated that a charter was written on täla leaves.
Kurud, where the plates were found, is hardly 27 miles from Raipur and about 8 miles north of Arang, both of which are known to be the findspots of charters belonging to the Sarabhapara dynasty. The present plates again support the oonolusion drawn by the editors of the Pipardula plates that the rule of this dynasty was mostly oonfined to the environs of Raipur and that their capital Sarabhapura probably lay in the neighbourhood of Sirpur.' In the excavations at Sirpur, & small gold coin of king Parsannamätra was found in the lowest stratum which was superimposed by buildings attributed to the Pandava kings. This also shows the early associations of the Sarabhapura kings with Sirpur which is hardly 3 miles from Kurud on the opposite bank of the Mahanadi. Knowing these details, it is clear that the river Gangā, mentioned in the present record, can only be the Mahanadi which is one of the most important rivers in the region. It would be improper to connect it with the famous river Ganges."
Tilakēsvara, where the king was camping at the time of making the grant, cannot be identified with certainty. There is a likelihood of its being some celebrated temple in the vicinity of Kasavaka, probably the small village Keshwa standing on the bank of a nullah bearing the same name about
[The words of the inscription have not been taken here literally in the analysis of the contento. See below.-Ed.)
*[See below.-Ed.) • [The mention of tho adhikarans the dataka of scharter is rare in insoriptions.--Ed.)
180, Vol. XIX, p. 143 ; OIT, Vol. III, pp. 91-93. .no, Vol. XIX, p. 144.
• The detailed results of these exoavations oonducted in 1953-58 on behalf of the University of Saugar and the Department of Arobaeology, Government of Madhya Pradesh, are now under publication.
For a river called Gangi on account of its sanotity, so the Paithan and Purushottampuri plates of Yadavs Ramachandra, where the Godávarl is styled a Ganga. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, p. 317-18; above, Vol. XXV, p. 208. [lf all the rivers are oalled Gangs, their individual namas become moaningless. The Godavart hng been called Ganga because one of its names waa Gautama-gangi (of, above, Vol. XXVIII, p. 281, text line 37: Doto alan ita other names Gautami, Gautama-sambhavi, ato.). The Mahanadl could hardly have been called Gangl without any qualification. Soo below, p. 207.-Ed.)
