Indian Antiquary Vol 18

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

Page 97

MARCH, 1889.]
SUDI AND VADI.
85
the fame of Our parents and of Ourself (1. 17), (by Us, viz.) by the Mahamandalésvara, the illastrious Vaijalladeva" (1. 18), who belongs to the Chahuyaņa lineage (1. 17), for the purpose of feeding fifty new Brahmaņs in the southern division in the village of) Khandbhaka (1. 18), the above-mentioned village of Alavidagåmva, with certain rights and privileges that are specified, but exclusive of the rights of enjoyment of gods and Brahmans, is given by this charter to the charitable alms-house (sattrágára) at Khandobaka (1. 21).
" (In lines 21 to 31 the grantor gives an injunction to future rulers to continue the grant; and quotes seven of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses. And his speech ends with the word iti, in line 31.]”
Line 31 contains the date of the year 1231, the month Karttika, the bright fortnight, the civil day 18, on Wednesday; which must denote the day on which the charter was written or assigned.
And the inscription ends with the record that the Dútaka is the Pratíhára Sobhanadeva; followed by the words "this is the sign-manual (sva-hasta) of the Mahamandalesvara, the illustrions Vaijalladeva; and by the mention of an official named Vamadeva, whose post and connection with the grant are not quite clear.
SUDI AND VADI.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN. As regards the true signification of the expressions su. di. and va. di., and their use in ancient records, I, of course, entirely concur in the views expressed by Mr. Fleet, in a note on p. 147 of Vol. XVI of this Journal, But there can, in my opinion, be no doubt that, in more modern times, the Hindus have looked upon sudi or sudi, and vadi or badi, as words, and have taken the former to be equivalent to śukla-pakshé ' in the bright half,' and the latter to krishnapakshe 'in the dark half' of a month.
In grammar, one would naturally look for these terms, if they should have been regarded as independent words, in the gaņa svarádi; and it is instructive to note that, while in the KasikaVritti, composed about A.D. 650, there occurs neither sudi nor vadi among the svarádi, the Ganaratnamahodadhi, which we know to have been compiled about A.D. 1140, does contain sudi, explained by sulla-pakshe, in that gans; and the quite modern Ganaratnávali enumerates among the svaradi both áudi and vadi, explained by bukla-pakshe and krishna-pakshé respectively.
And I am even able to quote several dates in which the terms sudi and vadi have actnally been coupled with a tithi or lanar day; a proceeding which may be utterly illogical, but which shows that the writers had altogether forgotten the original meaning of sudi and vadi, and that, to them, these terms were synonymous with śukla-pakshé and krishna-pakshe, and nothing else.
1.-From a photolithograph in Archæol. Survey of India, Vol. XX. plate xxii., we learn that on the pillar of a temple at Dubkand,' abont 76 miles south-west of Gwalior, there is a short inscription, dated
Samvat 1152 Vaišasha (kha)-sudi-pamchamyam, i.e. 'on the fifth (lunar day) of sudi (i.e. the bright half) of Vaibakha, of the year 1152.'
2.-In Professor Peterson's valuable Report on Sanskrit MSS. for 1884-86, Appertdix, p. 156, the date of the completion of a commentary on the Bhavabhavand is given in the following verse, -
Saptatyadhik-aikAdaśa-varshasatair=Vikramad-atikrâmtaiḥ nishpannå vșittir-iyam Sråvaņa-vadi-panchami-divasê, II
See note 17 above. * The exact force of aprirva is not evident. But it seems to indicate fifty fresh Brahmans, who had not been fod on any previous occasion, and who perhaps had just come to establish themselves in the village, or at the sattrigara.