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OCTOBER, 1878.]
and other rites, and which is to continue as long as the moon and sun and ocean and earth may last and is to be enjoyed by sons and sons' sons in succession, should be assented to and preserved by future governors", whether of my lineage or others, who are desirous of the general reward of bestowing a grant of
land, having taken into consideration that worldly existence is as (frail as) the pith of a reed or a bamboo or the stem of a plantain-tree, and that pleasures are as transient as the waves of the ocean, and that fortune is as unsteady as the leaves of the sacred fig-tree when struck by a strong wind, and that youth fades away like the flowers of a sirisha-tree in bloom. He shall incur the guilt of the five great sins, who, having his mind obscured by the thick dark
ness of ignorance, may confiscate (this grant)
or assent to its confiscation! And it has been
said by the holy Vyas a, the arranger of the Védas; The giver of land dwells for sixty thousand years in heaven; but the confiscator (of a grant), and he who assents (to such confiscation), shall dwell for the same time in hell! They, who confiscate a grant of land, are born
as black snakes, dwelling in the dried-up hollows of trees in the forests of the Vind hy a mountains, destitute of water! Land has been enjoyed by many kings, commencing with Sagara; he, who for the time being possesses land, enjoys the benefits of it! O Yudhishthira, best of kings!, carefully preserve land that has been previously given to the twiceborn; the preservation (of a grant) is better than making a grant! Those gifts of land, productive of religion and wealth and fame, which have been made by kings in former times, are like the unused remnant of garlands (offered to an idol); what good man would take them back again ?
(This charter) has been conveyed as a message by Nannavåsa paka, and written31 by Khuddasvâ mi, the High Minister for peace and war, on the day of the full-moon of (the month) Vaisakha, in the year three hundred and ninety-four. The year 394; the
SANSKRIT AND OLD CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
19 Lit., 'lords of possession',-bhoga pati.
30 Dútakan. Conf. the statement Dataks 5 tra mahasamdhivigrahika-sri-Chamḍaśarmmá, Pl. II, 1. 11, of the second of the Chaulukya grants published by Dr. Bühler at Ind. Ant., Vol. VI., p. 180; the third, and the fifth to the eleventh, of the same set of grants, have each a similar statement. Conf., also, sit-Kandakanaka-datakans, in 1. 24 of the Kivi grant of the Gurjara king Jayabhata, the father of Dadda II., published by Dr. Bühler at Ind. Ant.,
251
fifteenth (day) of the bright fortnight of Vaisâk ha. Engraved by the Kshatriya Mâtrisimha.
No. XLVII.
It remains to add of the Kaira grant of Vijayaraja that it is in a way a palimpsest. The backs of the plates contain a cancelled inscription, which was evidently intentionally hammered down after heating the plates. This cancelled inscription commences on the second plate; there are twenty-three lines of writing on the back of that plate, and sixteen on the back of the first plate. It is, of course, very indistinct and difficult to read, and no facsimile can be made of it; but careful cleaning of the plates has made a good deal of it legible, with the
help of the inscription in favour of which it was
cancelled. The characters in which it is en
graved differ from those of the extant inscription in only three points;-1, The vowels é and ai are marked by strokes above the line;-2, and 3, The letter va is more of a triangular The letter na is invariably formed with a loop ;shape. In these three peculiarities, which happen to be illustrated by one of the passages containing the date of which a facsimile is annexed, they agree with the characters of the two grants of the Gûrjara king Dad da II., which were found at the same place and time, and also with those of the Umêtâ grant.
I have transcribed as much of this cancelled
inscription as is legible, and can be supplied, without any doubt. It commences :[] Svasti Vijaya-[vi]kshépán=Na(?ná)".
ya(?pdpul?dhu)ra(?ka)-vásakán Mánavya-sagótrá [nam] Hári[ti]-putranam Svdmi-Maháséna-pá[ddnudhya][2]tanám Kalu(?li)kydnám anvayê vyapagata-sajala-jaladhara-paṭala-gagana-tala-gatabibirakara-kirana-kuvala-yatara-ya[sáḥ] Śri-Jayasimha-rajah [*] Tasya [su]taḥ prabala-riputimi[ra]-vi palta(?)la-bhidurah satatam-udayaetho naktan-divam-apy-akhandita[4]pratá[pa]-83
-divdkaró vallabha-ranavikrántaŚrt-Buddha[va]rm[m]a-rajah [||] Tasya [su]taḥ.
In the remainder of this line, the whole of 11. 5 and 6, and the greater part of 1. 7, only a
Vol. V., p. 109. The Dataka, messenger', must be the official to whom the charter was entrusted to be conveyed from the court, where it was issued, to the local authorities concerned.
1 sc., caused to be written, by an engraver employed in his office.'
33 One letter, or perhaps two, is quite illegible here. 33 Four or five letters are quite illegible here.
