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348
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1890.
with what is otherwise known to us from the inscriptions, I conceive the succession in the family of Yaśôvarman to have been as follows:
Yaśôvarman had three sons, Jayavarman, Ajayavarman, and Lakshmivarman; and he was in the first instance succeeded by Jayavarman. Soon after his succession and certainly some time between Vikrama 1192 and 1200), Jayavarman was dethroned by Ajayavarman, who and whose successors then became the main branch of the Paramára family in Málava, and continued to style themselves Maharajas. The third brother, Lakshmivarman, however, did not submit to Ajayavarman; and, as stated in E., he succeeded by force of arms in appropriating a portion of Mâlava, which he and his son and grandson de facto ruled over as independent chiefs. At the same time, Lakshmivarman and, after him, his son and successor Harischandra looked upon Jayavarman, though deposed, as the rightful sovereign of Malava, and, in my opinion, it is for this reason that Harischandra, in the grant D., professes to rule by the favour of that prince, and that both Lakshmivarman and Harischandra claim for themselves no higher title than that of Mahdkumára, a title which was handed down to, and adopted by, even Lakshmi. varman's grandson Udayavarman.
A. - Copper-Plate Grant of the Maharaja Yasovarmadeva.
The (Vikrama) year 1192. The plate which holds this fragmentary inscription is one of (apparently) two plates, the first of which has never been discovered. It is inscribed on one side only, and measures about 14%" by 10%". The edges of it were raised into rims, to protect the writing. The concluding portions of lines 7-13 have suffered somewhat from corrosion; but the writing is nevertheless well preserved and may, with one or two unimportant exceptions, be read with certainty. The weight of the plate is 4 lbs. 24 oz. - The rings belonging to this grant, with possibly a seal on one of them, are not now forthcoming. But on the plate itself, in the lower proper left corner, there is a representation of Garuda, depicted entirely as a man, except for the wings attached to his shoulders; he is kneeling, half front and half to the proper right; and in his right hand he holds three snakes, which he is about to devour or otherwise destroy. - The size of the letters is about ". The characters are Någari; and the language is Sanskrit. The inscription is carefully written, and in respect of orthography I have only to state that b throughout is denoted by the sign for v. The avagraha is used in line 6, in the sandhi of a final d with an initial a.
The insoription is one of the Maharaja, the illustrious Yalovarmadove, and records (in lines 3-6), in terms which call for no remarks, the grant of the village of Laghuvaimgangpadra and of part of the village of Thikkarika, or, as the name is written in line 2, Thikarika, to two people the names of whom must have been given in the now missing portion of the grant. Owing to the fragmentary state of the inscription, the exact purport of the preceding lines 1-2 is not clear to me; but it would appear that the two villages mentioned were granted instead of other land, somehow connected with a place called Devalapataka, which had been given to the grantees on the occasion of the annual funeral ceremonies in honour of the lady Momaladevi, probably the mother of Yaśðvarman. Lines 7-12 contain five of the customary benedictive and imprecatory verses. These are followed by the date, given in figures only,
the 3rd of the dark half of the month Mârgasiras of the year 1192,' corresponding, probably, to either the 27th October or the 25th November, A. D. 1135. Line 13 mentions, as díltakas,
the Purðhita, the Thaklura, the illustrious Vamanasvâmin; the Thakkura, the illustrious Purushottama; the Mahápradhúna, the Rajaputra, the illustrious Dêvadhara, and others. Line 14 contains the usual --'(may) bliss (and) good fortane (attend)! ;' followed by the
• In the inscriptions Jayavarman is not actually called a son of Yalovarman. . The original has, in line 2, the ungrammatical ubhaya-jana-dubhydan.
• It may be noted that lines 1 and 2 contain the terms bha-hala and bhl-nivartana, denoting certain measures of land. The expression brahmana-mapyakiya, in line 1, also appears to be used in a technical sense.
