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No. 25] DHULLA PLATE OF SRICHANDRA
137 Bhattasali) in the Khôdira villi vishaya within Paundra-bhukti and measured 4 halas. The second plot, apparently in the same area, measured 3 halas and was situated in a locality the name of which appears to us to be Nõndiyājo-Jayastara, although it was read by Bhattasali as Löniyājādāprastara. The third plot of land also measured 3 halas and was situated in the village of Tivaravilli no doubt in the same region. The fourth plot measured 2 halas and 6 drogas and was situated in a village (called Parkadimundā and situated in Ikkadāsi-vishaya according to Bhattasali) in the Yolā mandala. The fifth plot measured 7 halas and was situated in a village (the name of which is read by Bhattasali doubtfully as Mūlapatrā) apparently in the same neighbourhood. As stated in line 23, the five plots together measured 19 halas and 6 dronne. The exact areas of the land measures called hala and drona (dronavāpa of earlier records) are unknown.
The list of officers and others to whom the royal order in respect of the grant was issued is found in lines 23 ff. It is similar to the lists found in other charters of Srichandra, although its resemblance is closer to the one in the Rampal plate than that in the Madanpur plate. The privileges to be enjoyed by the donee as enumerated in lines 30 ff. are also similar to those in the list found in the other records of the king.
The description of the donee is found in lines 33 ff. He was the Brāhmaṇa Vyasagangaśarman who belonged to the Vārdhakausika götra, the pravara 2f the three rishis and the Kaņva saklā and was the son of Vibhuganga, grandson of Nannaganga (or Nandaganga) and great-grandson of Jayaganga. He is described as the Sāntirãrika, or performer of propitiatory rites, exactly as Pitavāsaguptasarnan, the donee of Srichandra's Rämpäl plate. But, while Pitavāsa received & grant for performing a ceremony called Kõțihoma, Vyūsaganya received the lands mentioned in the present record for performing four hömas in connection with a rite called adbhuta-śānti. In the expression adbhuta-santi which is well-known to the student of the Puräna aud Smriti literature, adbhuta is a synonym of utpāta and means any portentous or unusual phenomenon foreboding calamity to a king or a private individual or the population of a land, and sänti is a propitiatory rite performed with a view to aiérting such an evil.
The grant was made by the king in the name of Lord Buddha for the merit of his parents and himself. The charter is stated to have been authenticated by the Dharmachakra seal as in the Case of the king's other grants. The gift lands were made a rent-free holding according to the well-known principle of bhumi-chchhilra-nyāya (i.e. the free enjoyment of land by one who first brought it under cultivation).
Lines 40 ff. contain some of the usual imprecatory and benedictory stanzas also known from the king's other records. The date, which has already been referred to above, is quoted in lines 46-47. This is followed by the contractions mahīzā-ni...mehāksha-wi, two damaged letters between the two groups of letters probably reading anu. The contraction ni has been regarded as standing for wibaddha or wirikshita, i.e. registered or examined. The contractions mahusā and mahāksha apparently stand respectively for the official designations Mahasandhivigrahika and Mahākshapatalika. It appears that the record was first examined by the Mohäsiindhi igrah ika and then by the Mahākshapatalika.
Of the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, the location of Harikēla, Chandradvipa and Vikramapura has been discussed above. The Paundra-bhukti was the territorial division, the headquarters of which were originally at the city of Pundravardbana identified with modern Mahästhan in the Bogra District of North Bengal. During the age of the Palay, this bhukti or province included considerable parts of South-Eastern Bengal. Although the
1 See the Albhuta-santi section of the Matsya Purana, chapters 228-38 ; cf. also tho quotations from number of authorities in the Sabdakalpadruma (Parisishto), A. V. dlhula.
* Cf. JAS, Vol. XX, pp. 216-17.
