Indian Antiquary Vol 18

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 43

FEBRUARY, 1889.]
GRANT OF TRILOCHANAPALA.
83
BENGAL ASIATIC SOCIETY'S COPPER-PLATE GRANT OF TRILOCHANAPALA.
THE (VIKRAMA) YEAR 1084.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.LE.; GÖTTINGEN. T EDIT this grant from an excellent ink-impression, made and supplied to me by Mr. Fleet. 1 It does not appear to have been previously published; though a reference on the plate,to an entry in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVII. p. 621, recording the presentation of a copper-plate grant, which seems to be this one, by Mr. R. Brown,-would indicate that it has been on band for about sixty years. But the inscription has been incidentally mentioned, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXI. p. 8, note, by Dr. F. E. Hall, who,“ with the plate before him," stated that it contained a land-grant of the "king Vijayapala, son of Adyapala, son of Trilochanapala." The original plate is now in the Library of the Bengal Asiatic Society at Calcutta. From the entry in the Asiatic Researches, referred to above, it appears to have been discovered at Jhusi, a town in the Allahabad District, North-Western Provinces. opposite the city of Allahâbâd, on the left bank of the Ganges.
The plate, which is inscribed on one side only, measures about 17}" by 141", without including the projection, the object of which is not apparent, at the top of the plate. It is smooth; the edges of it being neither fashioned thicker, nor raised into a rim. Its preservation, - however, is perfect; and every letter has come out clearly and distinctly in the impression, so that the actual reading of the text is nowhere in the least doubtful. The plate is thick ; and the letters, being rather shallow, do not show through on the back of it at all. The engraving is good; but, as usual, the interiors of some of the letters shew marks of the working of the engraver's tool.-There is no ring-hole in the plate, for a ring, with a seal attached to it; and no indication of a seal having been soldered on to it.The size of the letters is between " and ".--The characters are Nagari. They are boldly and beautifully drawn; but either the writer or the engraver has often confounded those signs which are at all similar to one another (na and ka; da, bha, and ha; ma and sa; va, cha, and dha; sa or sva, and tha; and others), and has several times omitted the superscript é and the medial d, so that the inscription contains a rather large number of minor mistakes which will be pointed out in the text. -The language is Sanskpit; and, except for the benedictive and imprecatory verses in lines 12-16, the inscription is in prose. The language is grammatically correct; except that in line 12 the singular form asya has been employed for the plural éshám, or rather @bhyah.-In respect of orthography, I may note that b has throughout been written by the sign for v; that the dental sibilant has been employed for the palatal sibilant in param[6]svara, line 2, dasáparádhah, line 5, sikha, line 7, asésha, line 8, and kusa, line 10; and that for the conjunct mra we find mora in sámvra, line 5.
The inscription is one of the Paramabhattáraka, Mahárájádhirája, and Paramésvara, the illustrious Trilochanapaladeva, who (lines 1-3) is represented as meditating on the feet of the Paramabhatáraka, Mahárdjádhiraja, and Paramésvara, the illustrious Rajyapaladeva, who, again, is said to have meditated on the feet of the Paramabhatáraka, Mahárájádhiraja, and Paramêsvara, the illustrious Vijayapaladeva. Trilochanapaladeva, being in residence on the banks of the Ganges near Prayaga, (lines 3-11) in the customary manner informs the king's officers and the mahattamas and other inhabitants of the village Lebhundaka, in the Asurabhaka vishaya, that, having bathed in the Ganges and having worshipped Siva, etc., he, on the Occasion of the dakshindyana-sarikránti or commencement of the sun's entrance on its southern course, on this meritorious day, gave the aforesaid village, with its belongings, to six-thousand Brahmans belonging to Pratishthana,' who were of various gôtras, had various pravaras, and were followers of various Vêdic schools; and he admonishes the people concerned to
1 The original has Pratisthana; but I have little doubt that the name intended is Pratishthana, a town at the confluence of the GangA and Yamun... on the left bank of the Gang, opposite to AllahAbad;' and that Pratish thana is the older name of the very town Jhoat, where the grant is reported to have been found. See ante. Vol. XV. p. 140, note 3. The samo place appears to be meant by drffa-pratishthana, in the grant of Govindachandra, in Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXVII. p. 249.