Book Title: Epigraphia Indica Vol 32
Author(s): D C Sircar, B Ch Chhabra,
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Previous | Next

Page 177
________________ 126 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA (VOL. XXXII 3. Plate of Paramardin, V. S. 1247 This is also a single plate which is rather thick and heavy and weighs 108 tolas. The plate containe 18 lines of writing on one side only. In the centre of the last line, there is a hole as if the writing continued on another plate and the two plates were held together by means of a ring passing through the hole in both of them. The diameter of this hole is about 7". In the central part of the upper section of the inscription, a space about 2.4" square is ocoupied by the engraved Agure of seated Lakshmi instead of the usual Gajalakshmi. For the protection of the writing, copper bands were fixed on the margins of the inscribed side of the plate by means of copper rivets. These bands are now broken at some places where only the small holes in the plate meant for the rivets can be seen. The date of the charter is quoted in lines 9-10 as Saturday, Phålguna-sudi 14, V.8. 1247. It corresponds regularly to the 9th February 1191 A.D. The beginning of the document is similar to that of Paramardin's grant of V. S. 1239 edited above. The grant portion commencing in line 6 refers to the king's order addressed to the Brāhmanas and other people assembled at Italā-gråma in the Pāsuņi vishaya in respect of the grant of 10 lāvas of land in the said village. The king made the grant on the date discussed above when he was at the Manikarnika-ghatta at sri-Vārānasi (.e. modern Banāras in U.P.) apparently in the course of a pilgrimage. In the present state of our knowledge, it is difficult to believe that the Banaras region formed a part of Paramardin's dominions about the time of the record. The Gāhadavāla kings are known to have had their headquarters at Vārāṇasi and, according to tradition, the contemporary Gahadavāla monarch Jayachchandra (c. 1!70-93 A. D.) maintained friendly relations with Paramardin whom he is said to have helped in his wars against the Chābamäng king Prithvirāja III (c. 1177-92 A. D.). A recent writer has, however, suggested that Chandella Paramardin was really on hostile terms with Gāhadavāla Jayachchandra. But there is really no proof in favour of this suggestion and the present inscription referring to the Chandēlla king's stay at Vārāṇasi seems to go against it. If Paramardin succeeded in capturing the Gähadavāla capital even for & short time, that fact is not expected to have been suppressed in his records like the one under review. The donee of the present charter was Padmadharaśarman already known from the other grant of the king edited above. The conditions of the grant, quoted in lines 12-16, are the same as in the other record. The document ends with the imprecatory and benedictory stanzas quoted in lines 16-18. It seems that the writing was continued on another plate which is now lost. But the inscription on this lost plate would have contained only the passage sva-hasto=yam rājaSrimat-Paramarddidëva sya matan mama together with a reference to the names of the writer and engraver of the document. Of geographical names, besides Kālañjara, the inscription mentions Manikarnikā-ghatta at Vārāṇasi (i.e. the well-known Manikarnika Ghāt at Banāras), where the king was staying at the time of making the grant, and the village of Italā in Păsupi-vishaya, where the gift land was situated. The name of the locality, whence the donee's family hailed, is quoted in the present record as Patalipura instead of Pāțaliputra or Pātaliputra as fonnd in the two inscriptions edited above. The locality is meritioned here as a Bhattägrahāra. 1 Ray, DANI, p. 541. 'N. Bove, History of the Candellos, pp. 96-97.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512