Indian Antiquary Vol 07

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 79

MARCH, 1878.]
THE UMETÅ GRANT OF DADDA II.
61
GURJARA GRANTS, No. II. THE UMETA GRANT OF DADDA II.
(See Ind. Ant. vol. V. p. 110 ff.)
BY G. BÖHLER. THE subjoined grant of Dadda II. of instances the elements of compound consonants
1 Bharoch was discovered in 1875 by the are placed not vertically, the one below the other, Rev. Joseph Taylor, of Borsúd, in the house of but horizontally, side by side. Thus we find a & Vânia at U metâ (Kheda zilla). Mr. Taylor for tta. (Pl. I. 1. 14, Pl. II, 11. 5, 13.) Worthy at first presented me with a paper impression of notice is also the occurrence of the viráma of the plates, and later very kindly moved the in the shape of a horizontal stroke placed below owner (not without considerable trouble) to lend the vowelless consonant (PI. I. 1. 1., Pl. II. 1. 13). the original for a few days. During that time I The peculiar shape of the letters occurring in had a half-size photograph taken, which, as the the signature of the king have been noticed in plates were in a very fair condition, came out my article on the Kåvi plate of Jay a bhata, very distinct and clear. It is from a copy of and I still adhere to the opinion that these this photograph that the annexed photozinco- letters represent the forms used in everyday graph has been prepared.
life. I may add that, since the article on the The measurements of the plates are 12 inches Kävi inscription was written, I have received by 17}. The left-hand ring with the seal is news of a Jaina palm-leaf MS., preserved in the still in its proper position. The latter appears Sanghavinâ pâda Bhandar at Anhilvádto bear the same inscription as that of Dr. PÅthan, which dates from the end of the tenth Barn's Kheda plates, Šrísámantadaddah. But century A.D., and shows the usual Jaina-Devathe letters on the seal are so much corroded that någari forms. The lately published grant of it would be impossible to decipher them with the first Chaulukya king of Pathan, Malaraja out the help of the earlier grants. Both the I., which belongs to the same period, is written plates and the seal are very massive, and the with the much more antique-looking Kayastha former nearly free from verdigris. They have Devanagari character. This fact proves that been well kept, and probably have been cleaned in the tenth century, at least, the characters with tamarind juice. The letters are large and used for literary purposes differed from those deeply incised, with the exception of the last line employed for official documents. It consequentof Plate I. and of the beginning of the last line Jy confirms the interpretation which, first, Prof. of Plate II. For in the latter the strokes intended Dowson, and myself later, have put on the occur. to form the last syllables of the word madhava renge of two alphabets in the Gurjara plates. run one into the other, and the name is not The varnádvalf furnishes no new informaclearly distinguishable even on the photograph. tion. It gives the well-known three kings of
The grant itself closely resembles the Ilâo the Gurjara dynasty-Dadda or Dada I., grant, likewise issued by Dadda II., which Jayabhata, surnamed Vitaraga, and has been published by Professor Bhandarkar in Dadda II., surnamed Prasantarâga, whose the Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. X. pp. 19 names were first correctly given by Professor seqq., as regards both the letters and the word- Bhåndärkar. Little information regarding the ing. As might be expected from the proximity events of their reigns can be gathered from of their dates—Saka 8. 400 and 417—they are the inscriptions of Dadda II. An allusion to the both copies of the same model form. Professor war with Valabhi, of which Jayabhata Bhandarkar's remarks on the characters of the speaks in the Kdvi grant, is, in my opinion, conIl&o plates are all applicable to the Umet & tained in the epithet payonidhéritobhayatatavagrant also. I have only to add that in a few nalekhavihritanirankuéadánapravdhapravrittadig. Ind. Ant. vol. V. p. 110.
1. 8) for samaya, wistrimfa (ibid.) for Wistritsa, sanwach. • The information comes from Pandit Nardyaninkar
chhara (PL. II.1.6) for samvatsara, belong probably to the
writer of the original, whose ignorance of Sanskrit is also of Surat, who spent more than six months at P/than and attested by such grammatical mistakes as gramah.. prati. carefully examined the palm-leaf MSS. preserved there. paditam, likhitaróchaitat, &c.
The spelling is worse in our grant than in the Illo I consider the latter merely & misspelling. Dadd. sasana. A good many mistakes are due to carelessness corresponds to the modern D & Ajt, and the first syllable on the part of the engrayer. Others, c.g. bomaya (PI. I. ought therefore to have two consonante.