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346
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1890.
The three inscriptions are grants of some of the later Paramára rulers of Malava; and they may be shortly characterised thus:
A, is the concluding portion of a grant of the Mahárúja Yakovarmadeva, dated in the (Vikrama) year 1192.
B. is part of a grant of the Paramabhattára ka, Maharajadhirúja and Paramésvara Jayavarmadeva, the successor of Yaśðvarmadêva.
C. is part of a grant of the Mahálumára Lakshmivarmadova, dated in the (Vikrama) year 1200, confirming a grant made by Yasovarmadêva, who is represented as the predecessor and apparently the father of Lakshmivarmadêva, in the Vikrama year 1191.
To shew the mutual relation of the princes who issued these grants, it appears desirable to refer here, shortly, to other copper-plate inscriptions of the later rulers of Mâlava. Five yuch inscriptions have been hitherto published, viz. :
D. - The Pipliânagar' grant of the Mahakumára Harischandraddva, the son of the Nahákuinára Lakshmivarmadêva, of the Vikrama years 1235 and 1236, edited by L. Wilkinson in the Jour, Beng. As. Soc., Vol. VII. p. 736.
E. - The Bhopal grant of the Mahálcumára Udayavarmadáva, the son of the Vahákumára Harischandradêva, of the Vikrama year 1256, edited by Mr. Fleet, ante, Vol. XVI. p. 254.
F. - The Piplianagar' grant of the Maharója Arjunavarmadêva, of the (Vikrama) year 1267, edited by L. Wilkinson in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc., Vol. V. p. 378.
G. - A Bhopal grant of the same, of the (Vikrama) year 1270, partly edited by Dr. F. E. Hall in the Jour. Amer. Or. Soc., Vol. VII. p. 32.
H. - Another Bhopal grant of the same, of the (Vikrama) year 1272, edited by Dr. Hall, ib. p. 25.
In comparing these eight inscriptions with each other, the first thing to strike us is that (omitting the grant A., the commencement of which is missing) the inscriptions B., C., D. and E. open with two verses in praise of the god 'Siva, which are followed by prose passages containing the genealogies of the granters; while the inscriptions F., G., and H. open with nineteen verses, of which four are in praise of the moon and of Parasurama, Râma and Yudhishthira, and the rest of which is occupied with genealogical matter. Moreover, while in F., G., and H. the granter describes himself as Maharaja, this title, in the other group of inscriptions, is applied only to the granter of A. (and was probably applied also to that of B.); and the three princes, who issued the grants C., D., and E., are content to style themselves by the lower title of Mahákumára.
The line of princes, presented to us in the inscriptions F., G., and H., is this: - 1, Bhôjadêva, the ornament of the Paramara family; 2, Udayaditya ; 3, Naravarman ; 4, his son Yakóvarman; 5, his son Ajayavarman ; 6, his son Vindhyavarman ;3 7, his son Subhatavarman; 8, his son, the Mahdrája Arjunavarman, whose grants are dated in the (Vikrama) years 1267, 1270, and 1272.
3 as the matter may be of some importance, I would point out here that the verse referring to this prince has not been hitherto properly explained. The verse reads thus:
Dharay-oddhritaya sardham dadbâti sma tridharatâm
Birnyaginasya yaay-isis-tråtum lôka-trayim-iva It; and it was translated by Mr. Wilkinson: "The sword of this warrior assumed a threefold edge, when upraised to yield protection to the three worlds ;" and by Dr. Hall: - "Of whom, skilled in warfare, the sword, with its edge upraised, as if to deliver the three worlds, assumed a triple edge;" Dr. Hall adding in a note, that "the Sanskrit is here peculiar, the idiom employed being of very questionable purity." Both translators have overlooked the fact that the first word of the verse clearly denotes Dhara, the capital of MÁlava, and that in the last word of the first half there is a reference to the Ganges (tri-dhord=tri-sretas tri-patha-ga), which in its triple course flows through heaven, earth, and the lower regions. I would translate the verse, somewhat freely, thus: - The sword of this (prince), skilled in war, acquired, with Dhard rescued (by it), the properties of the Ganges, (inasmuch as, like the Ganges, it now had three dharis), to protect, as it were, the three worlds.'
