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No. 38) THREE PLATES FROM PANDUKESVAR
279 The present insoription records the grant of some land which was in the possession of a person named Dēnduväks and was lying within the jurisdiction of the administrative unit called Theppalasäri forming a part of the vishaya or district of Kärttiköyapura. The name of the vishaya shows that it was the distriot round the city of Kārttikėyapura which was apparently the capital of Lalitaśūradēva. For the religious merit of himself and his parents, the king made the grant in favour of the god Nārāyana-bhattāraka installed by Bhatta Sripurusha in a village called Garudagrāma. It is interesting to note that the king, who claims to be a devout worshipper of MakeSvara (Siva), made the grant in favour of Nārāyana or Vishnu. It is said that the temple of Närayaņa should get some help from the Brahmacharins attached to the tapovana at Badarik-Asrama. This shows that Garudägräma was probably close to Badarik-asrama. The executor of the grant was the officer in charge of the Department of Gifts (mahādān-ākshapa çal-adhikrita), whose name Was Piūka. The same official is also mentioned in the Pandukāśvar plate of the 21st year of Lalitasüradēva's reign; but the name was wrongly read there as Yijaka. The record was engraved by Gangabhadra from the draft of the original prepared by Aryaţa who was in charge of the Department of War and Peace (mahäsandhivigrah-akshapatal-adhikrita). Both these persons are also known from the published inscription of Lalitabūradēva.
of the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, Kärttikēyapura is identified with Baijnath or Vaidyanāth (lat. 29° 54' 24" N., long. 79° 39' 28"E.), a village in Pargana Dänpur of the Hazūr Tahsil in the Almora District. According to a tradition noticed by Atkinson, the oity was built by a Katyüri king of the Katyūr valley in Kumaun on the ruins of an older city named Karavirapura. It is not improbable that the name Kärttikėyapura is a Sanskritized form of the aboriginal name Katyūr. Possibly Kartripura of the Allahabad pillar inscription' was just another Sanskritized form of the same name. Badarlk-Asrama is modern Badrinath (lat. 30° 44' 29" N., long, 79° 32' 1" E.) which is a village in Pargana Malla-Painkbanda, 55 miles north-east of Srinagar, and contains the celebrated temple of Badarinātha or Badari-Narāyana. The tapovana referred to as located at Badarik-āsrama may possibly be identified with modern Tapoban or Dhaktapoban, a village on the left bank of the Dhauli river about nine miles from Joshimath. It is considerably away from Badrinath ; but the Bhavishya-Badari lies near it. Thappalasiri and Garudägrāma cannot be identified.
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1 Siddham Svasti [l*] Srimat-Kärttiköyapurat=sakal-amara-distJitanuja-manuja-vibhu
bhakti-bhāva-bhara-bhar-ānamit-āmit-õttamanga-samgi-vikata-mukuta-kiriţa-vita: ka-köţi
kõți-svēt-aikatā2 11-anayaka-pradipa-dipta-didhiti-pāna-mada-rakta-charana-kamal-amala-vipula-va(ba)ha[la]
kirana-kosar-āsāra-särit-abēsha-visēsha-moshi-ghana-tamas-tējas&s=Svardhuni-d hauta.
jațājū3 tasya bhagavató Dhūrjjatëh-prasidān=nija-bhuj-opárjjit8(t-au)rjjitya-nirjjita-ripu
timira-lavdhö(bdh-o)daya-prakābah dayā-dākshinya-satya-sattva-sila-baucha-saury-au
dürya-gāmbhirya-maryād-arya vfitt-abcha4 rya-karya-vary-ādi-guna-gan-ālamkrita-sariraḥ mahā-sukfiti-santāna-vi(bi)j-āvatāraḥ Kritayug
āgama-bhūpāla-lalita-kirttih Nanda-bhagavati-charana-kamala-kamala-sanātha-mūrttiḥ art1 Thn Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, Vol. II, p. 488. * Select Inscriptions, p. 267.
From impreusions. Expressed by symbol.
