________________
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXII
Arali was added to the main charter as a subsidiary issue is further suggested by the fact that the boundaries of the gift land quoted in lines 24 ff. refer to the village of Padali (i.e. Päṭṭali) only.
202
The village of Paṭṭali or Padali was bounded in the east by a naidhāni-silā (probably meaning 'a boundary pillar') and a bilva tree; in the south by a pit and another naidhāni-sila; in the west by a pit (called Bhuṭṭaka probably after the name of the locality or its owner) and a mango tree; and in the north by a pit (called Käsimbi probably after the name of the locality or its owner) and certain forests. The above section of the charter is followed in lines 26 ff. by some of the wellknown imprecatory and benedictory verses. The date of the grant, viz. year 313, is quoted in lines 34-35 as the year of the victorious reign of the Gängeya dynasty. The document was written by Mahäsändhivigrahika (i.e. the officer in charge of war and peace) Samiraja and the plates were engraved by the akshasalin (i.e. goldsmith) Damachandra.
The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it is one of the few charters issued by a erown-prince, the most well-known instance of this class of documents being the Mayidavolu plates1 of the Pallava Yuvamahārāja Sivaskandavarman who flourished in the first half of the fourth century A. D. The circumstances leading to the issue of a charter by the crown-prince insteau of the king himself in these cases cannot be determined.
5
In order to determine the identity of the Ganga crown-prince Rajendravarman, son of king Anantavarman, we have to take note of the following records of the family: (1) Alamanda plates of Anantavarman son of Maharaja Rajendravarman, dated year 304; (2) Indian Museum plates of Mahārāja Devendravarman, son of Maharaja Rajendravarman, dated year 308, (3) Tekkali plates of the same king, dated year 310; (4) Nämpali grant of Yuvaraja Rajendravarman, son of king Anantavarman, dated year 314; and (5) Mandasa plates of Rajendravarman, son of Anantavarman, dated year 342. These records show that the Ganga king Rajendravarman was succeeded by his sons Anantavarman (year 304) and Devendravarman (years 308 and 310) and that Devendravarman was succeeded by Rajendravarman, son of his elder brother and predecessor Anantavarman. The charter under study, issued by Anantavarman's son Rajendravarman as Yuvaraja in the year 313, is therefore the third of his known records, the other two being his Nampali grant issued likewise as Yuvaraja in the year 314 and his imperfectly deciphered Mandasa plates of the year 342 probably issued as king. The present epigraph mentions Lōka-mahādēvi, mother of
1 Above, Vol. VI, pp. 86 ff. Another such instance is the Uruvupalli grant (Ind. Ant., Vol. V, pp. 5 ff.) of the Pallava Dharma-Yuvamahārāja Vishnugopa; but the record is dated in the regnal year of the reigning monarch Simhavarman. If, however, the dating would have been in an era, as in the present case, Simhavarman's name could have been omitted since it is not mentioned in the formal part of the grant. Cf. the Halsi plates of the Kadamba Yuvaraja Käkusthavarman, probably dated in the Gupta year 80 (Suc. Sat., p. 334). For a grant issued by a Mahāyuvaraja, see B. Ch. Chhabra, Antiquities of Chamba State, Part II, p. 64.
Above., Vol. XXX, pp. 18 ff.
Ibid., Vol. XXIII, pp. 73 ff.
Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 312 ff. As the date is written in this record as bata-maye dab-ollarë, it was not quite certain that the intended reading is really bata-traye das-ottare (i.e. in the year 310). No doubt on this point can, however, be entertained after the publication of the Indian Museum plates issued in the year 308. That the two records belong to one and the same Ganga king is clear from the fact that the same scribe and engraver are mentioned in both the charters. The Indian Museum epigraph was written by Rahasya (i.e. Rahasyadhikrita) Sarvachandra and engraved by Akshasalin bri-Samanta Khapḍimala, while the writer of the Tekkali charter was ari-Samanta Sarvachandra and its engraver Akshasalin iri-Samanta Khandimala. The undated Chicacole (Srikakulam) plates (JAS, Letters, Vol. XVIII, 1952, pp. 17ff.) of the same king were also written and engraved by the said persons, viz., Sarvachandra-ért-sämanta and śrl-samanta-Khandimala. The official designation Rahasya alac occurs in the Chicacole (Srikakulam) plates (Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, pp. 11-12 and Plate) of Satyavarman, the first son of Devendravarman and successor of Rajendravarman of our inscription. This record is dated in the Ganga year 351 which was at first wrongly read.
A. R. Ep., 1923-24, pp. 97-98; Journ. Or. Res., Vol. IX, 1935, pp. 59-63. R. Ep., 1917-18, .Appendix A, No. 13 (of. p. 137).
