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No. 39–TWO VALABHI GRANTS FROM MOTA MACHIALA
(3 Plata) A. 8. GADRE, BARODA
The two copper-plate grants which are being published now were brought to the notice of Shri 8. R. Rao, the then Assistant to the Direotor of Arobaeology, Baroda, in January 1963 when he was conducting trial excavations at MOA Machfall which is a small village about seven miles to the north-east of Amreli, the headquarters of the District of that name in the Bombay State. The information regarding the plates was supplied by Shri Jani, a pottery-marksman employed during the excavations. Shri Rao brought the inscribed plates to me when I was camping at Amreli. I examined them on the spot and purchased them from their owners for the Archaeological Department, Baroda. My thanks are due to Shri Rao and Shri Jani for bringing these records to my notice.
The grants belong to the Maitraka rulers of Valabhi, A to Dhruvasna I and B to Dharasēna II. Grant B had a thick coating of rust and many scratches on it. Both the plates were chemically treated by Shri Mathur, an Assistant of the Archaeological Chemist in India, who was working on the preservation of the wall paintings in the Tambekar Wada at Baroda. This made it possible for me to photograph the plates. I am highly indebted to him.
The characters of the records belong to the Southern Class of alphabet. Noteworthy are the forms of the jihvāmúliya and upadhmāniya occurring in Grant B (line 16 and 18). The final oonsonants are represented with a horizontal bar on the top (cf. t in line 23 and m in lines 24-25 of A). As regards orthography, the consonant following r in a conjunct is doubled. The doubling is resorted to before y also (cf. pād-amuddhyāta in line 11 of A). Among the instances of wrong spelling may be mentioned the use of ri for ri. The language of both the records is Sanskrit. The imprecatory portion at the end is as usual in verse, the rest being in prose. Both the charters purport to make gifts to Brāhmaṇas. Many of the villages and areas mentioned in them could not be identified. But these seem to have been situated, around Mötä Machiālā where the plates were found.
A. Grant of Dhruvasëna 1, Year 206 The two plates of this grant, which are engraved on their inner sides only, have two holes at the top for rings with which they were orginally secured. Both the rings are now missing. The plates measure 11%' x 61' each. They were found in a very good state of preservation.
The charter was issued from Valabhi by the Maitraka king Dhruvasõna I. It bears the date: Sam 206, Asvayuja su. 5 and purports to record the grant of a piece of cultivated land (aita) known as Thuntakakolika in the eastern part of the village of Suvarnakiya (or, less probably Kaguvarnakiya) included in Sinabarataka-sthall. The land was 100 pädāvarias (Bighis) in area. The gift was made to the Brāhmaṇas Gangasarman, Gangadēva and Chunuka of the Sāņdilya götra, who were students of the Vājasanēya school of the Sukla-Yajurvēda.
1 The plates were purchased for Rs. 20 from Bhimaji Nanji of Mötā Máchfälā. Machtála is generally spelt Māchhlya'a
The inscription reads Thamfaka which seems to be the name of a person of the Kolika community. This person seems to have been the possessor of the land.-Ed.)
See Journal of the University of Bombay, Vol. III, part i, pp. 77-78, note 5. The exact area of poddraria is unknown.-Ed.). [800 below.-Ed.)
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