Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 63

No. 7--DHARWAR PLATES OF THE TIME OF SIMHANA (2 Plates)
D. C. SIRCAR AND S. SANKARANARAYANAN, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 28.3.1958)
The set of copper plates, published in the following pages, was acquired by the Government Epigraphist for India during the year 1925-26. It consists of 3 plates each measuring about 18 inches by 5 inches with the rims slightly raised all round in order to protect the writing. They are strung together on a ring about 3 inches in diameter, to which is fixed a seal (11" by 2"), slightly mutilated at the top. The figure of Garuda in the flying posture with the hands in worshipping attitude is cut in bold relief on the countersunk surface of the seal. The inscription is engraved on the inner side of the first plate and on both the sides of the rest. The set weighs 205tolas. There are altogether 89 lines of writing, 20 on the first plate, 21 each on the obverse and reverse of the second plate, and 22 and 5 respectively on the first and second sides of the third plate.
The inscription is engraved in the Southern Nagari characters of the 13th century A.D. The language is Sanskrit (with the exception of a Kannada endorsement in lines 85-86) and is written in a mixture of poetry and prose. The palaeography and orthography resemble those of records like the Haralahalli plates of the time of Simhapa, the king during whose reign the present charter was also issued, and the Tasgaon plates of Krishna. The initial forms of the vowels i and è occurring in lines 73, 75, 77, 84 and 89 are interesting. B has been distinguished from v by the insertion of a dot inside the loop of the latter. In two place names in lines 29 and 30, the letter 7 of the South Indian alphabets has been indicated by rr. There are a few cases of ddh being represented by dhdh (cf. lines 66, 84) and of the use of the sign of medial u as the mark indicating a final consonant (cf. lines 4, 26, 28). Jihvāmüliya seems to have been indicated by s in line 3 and sh in line 4. Final n has sometimes been changed to anusvära (cf. lines 2, 6, 25), while often un has been preceded by an unnecessary anusvära (cf. lines 25, 41, 49, 51-53, 60-61, 64-65, 74). Among orthographical errors, & for s and b for v have been written in a number of cases.
The date of the record is quoted in lines 39-41 as the Saka year 1173, Plavanga, Jyeshthapaurņamāsi, Thursday, lunar eclipse. This is irregular. The cyclic year Plavanga corresponded to Saka 1169 and not to Saka 1173 which, moreover, falls after the end of Simhana's reign. In Saka 1169-Plavanga, a lunar eclipse occurred on the full-moon day of Ashadha (not Jyeshtha), which corresponds to Wednesday (not Thursday), the 19th June 1247 A.D. This date falls within the period of Yadava Simhana's reign. The object of the inscription is to record
1 See A.R.Ep., 1925-26, No. A 4; paragraph 5 (p. 94).
Of. also the Kannada case-endings suffixed to a few words in lines 29, 30 and 31.
JBBRAS, Vol. XV, pp. 386 ff. and Plates.
Above, Vol. XXVII, pp. 210 ff. and Plates.
Fleet assigned Sithhana's rule to the period between 1210 and 1247 A.D. (cf. Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 519, 522, 526). The initial yoar is uncertain, different inscriptions suggesting about a dozen different dates ranging between 1197-98 and 1216-17 A.D. See B. K. No. 68 of 1928-29, dated in the regnal year 45, Subhakrit, Dvitiya-Bhadrapada ba. 15, Friday, solar eclipse, corresponding to the 26th September 1242 A.D., and B. K. No. 1 of 19:44-35. dated in the 18th regnal year, Vijaya, Phalguna éu. 5 (sic. 6), Monday, corresponding to the 6th February 1234 A.D. This abnormal phenomenon probably refers to the various stages in Simhana's struggle for empire, though some of the dates may be due to confusion.
The eclipse took place in the latter part of the night of Wednesday. The grant, made on the occasion of the eclipse, might have been actually registered on the next day, i.e. Thursday.
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