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A VALABHI GRANT.
JANUARY 5, 1872.]
resume them? The grantor of land dwells in Heaven for sixty thousand years, and he who takes it away or allows it to be taken away lives in hell for as many years. The prince Dhruvasena is minister (executive officer) here. Engraved by Divirapati Skanda-bhaa the son of Dirirapati Vasha [?] bhata, minister for peace and war. 326* in the bright half of Ashâdha. hand [sign manual].
REMARKS.
THREE Copperplates of the Valabhî Dynasty have been hitherto deciphered and translated. Two of there were discovered by Mr. Wathen, and the third by Dr. Burns of Kaira. Mr. Wathen's translation of one of the two and his remarks on the other are given in the fourth volume of the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal. One leaf of the latter was afterwards deciphered and translated by the Rev. P. Anderson. The translation, a Devanagari transcript, and a lithographed copy are given in the third volume of the Bombay Asiatic Society's Journal. A transcript and translation of D. Burn's copperplate are to be found in the seventh volume of the Bengal Society's Journal. We shall distinguish these by the numbers 1, 2, and 3. No. 1 records a grant of land by Dharasena II, the great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty and the seventh in Mr. Anderson's list; and Nos. 2 and 3 are said to be from Dhruvasena, the thirteenth in the list. The copperplates now translated were put into my hands by the Editor.† The grantor, in this case, is Dharasena IV., the twelfth in Mr. Anderson's list and consequently the immediate predecessor of the king who is considered as the grantor in Nos. 2 and 3.
Dr. Bhau Dáji gives, in one place, the dates of five copperplate grants of this dynasty, whilst in another he mentions seven dates professedly derived from copperplates. But he does not say when or by whom so many grants of the Valabhî kings were discovered, nor who deciphered and translated them, or where the plates or their transcripts and translations are to be found. Mr. Thomas, as appears from his edition of Prinsep's Essays, knows only of the three I have mentioned.
The descriptions of the several kings in all these plates are given in the same words; so that, so far as they go, they may be considered to be copies of each other. There are a few varietates lectionis but some of these at least must be ascribed to the ignorance or carelessness of the engraver. The published transcript of No. 1 is generally correct; but those of the other two are full of mistakes, and it is difficult or impossible in a great many places to make out any sense. Any one wall acquainted with Sanskrit may ascertain the truth of this for himself
Remarks on this reading of the date will be made in a
fature number.
17
by comparing the several transcripts with that of the present one. Many instances of this might be given, but I shall confine myself here to one: The plays on certain grammatical terms, and Shâlâturîy a, the name of Pânini, were not at all made out by previous decipherers; Guna-v.iddhi was read by Mr. Anderson and the Calcutta scholar as Guna-bhri bhih, and Shâlâturîya as Shalagariyas. But these mistakes are not in the original copperplates. Nos. 1 and 2 are preserved in the museum of the Bombay Asiatic Society and I have collated these (in original) with the present one. I did not find there the mistakes I speak of, and which are to be ascribed to the transcribers. The translations based upon such transcripts must, of course, be equally wrong.
The genealogy of the Valabhi kings as gather ed from the present grant is as follows:From Bhatarka sprang
! Guhasena.
Dharasena II.
Shilâditya I.
Kharagraha I.
Dharasena III.
Dhruvasena. T Dharasena IV.
This genealogy agrees in every respect, so far as it goes, with that in Nos. 2 and 3. The exact relationship between Bhatarka and Guhasena is not given; but in No. 1 he is represented as his great grandson. No. 1 gives also the names of the soveral sons of Bhatarka who succeeded each other.
The name of the grandfather of Dharasena IV. and brother of Shiladitya I. is given as Ishvaragraha by the translators of Nos. 2 and 3. In the present plate it is clearly Kharagraha and I find it so even in No. 2. Mr. Wathen's reading of it was Charagraha which is nearer to the true name than Ishvaragraha.
From a passage in the description of Kharagraha, the younger brother of Shiladitya, it appears that during the life-time of the latter, the former held the reins of government. For he is. there spoken of as having administered the affairs of the kingdom in obedience to the orders of his guru which word must, from the analogy of the guru of Upendra or Krishna mentioned there, as well as for other reasons, be taken to mean elder brother.' Mr. Anderson has entirely misunderstood this passage. The Calcutta translator gives the substance of it though the bearing of the analogy does not seem to have been clearly comprehended. There appears to have been a sort of usurpation here, for Shiladitya's children were passed over and the
Jhey won, B. H. lat. Soc. Vol. VII. . Watson.-Ed.
Jour. Bomb, R. p. 230.
