________________
June, 1892.)
GRANT OF JAYADITYA OF VIJAYAPURA.
169
GORAKHPUR COPPER-PLATE GRANT OF JAYADITYA OF VIJAYAPURA.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN. THE plate which contains this inscription was discovered in the Gorakhpur District of the
1 North-Western Provinces, near the river called the Little Gandhak. It was brought to Mr. John Ahmuty, Magistrate of the district, and by him commanicated to Captain Wilford, who presented it to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in whose Library it is still deposited. The inscription was first edited in 1807, with a translation and a facsimile, by H. T. Colebrooke, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX. pp. 406.12; and Colebrooke's paper was afterwards reprinted in his Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. 11. pp. 247-54. I now re-edit the inscription from an excellent ink-impression, made and supplied to me by Mr. Fleet:
The plate is inscribed on one side only. It measures about 161" broad by 12%" high, not including an oval projection, with a raised rim, on the proper right side, on which is riveted a disc of the same shape, similarly with a raised rim, which contains a flat button about an inch in diameter; on the counterpunk surface of this button there is some emblem which may perhaps be an animal, but it is a good deal worn and damaged. The edges of the plate are fashioned thicker than the inscribed surface, to serve as rims to protect the writing. Towards the bottom, a small portion of the writing has suffered slightly from corrosion ; otherwise the preservation of the plate is perfect, and, with the exception of two aksharas in line 24, everything may be read with certainty. -The sise of the letters is about #". The characters are boldly and well drawn and deeply engraved. They belong to the northern class of alphabets. Of the same type as those of the Aphsad inscription of Adityasena, they show a further development of the northern alphabet in the direction of the ordinary Naguri, and may perhaps be assigned to the beginning of the 10th century A. D. Attention may be drawn especially to the peculiar manner of writing the diphthongs é, ai, 8 and au, when they follow a consonant, which agrees with the practice of some Kaņheri inscriptions of the 9th century, described by me, ante, Vol. XIII. p. 133. It may also be noted that in the conjunct ry the sign for r is written on tho line, in paryanka-, line 3, and aryanari, line 23; and that the sign of an tsrára is several times placed after, not above, the akshara to which it belongs, e.g., in -salvanánt, and varudhen, in line 15. - The language is Sanskrit ; and, excepting the symbol for or at the commencement of the first line, the whole inscription is in verse. As regards orthography,b is throughout denoted by the sign for v; the dental sibilant is used instead of the palatal in sasvat, line 9, and sáévati, line 16, and the palatal instead of the dental in Sachivasya, line 21 (but not in sachirah, line 9); the dental n is employed instead of anusvåra in sansdra., line 2, and pronsás (for punsas-, i. e. pusisas=), line 16; the vowel si occurs instead of the syllable ri in déritya, line 13; before r, t is doubled in tattra, line 6, and bhráttrá, line 22; and the word duh kha is (correctly) spelt dushkha, in line 5. In respect of grammar and lexicography I may point out the unusual and incorrect word utkhatin uprooting' or 'extracting,' in line 3; nripadkání for rajadhání, in line 6; the employment of susita, in line 12, in the sense of 'given as a grant;' and the ungrammatical use of the gerund doritya, in line 13.
Opening with four verses in honour of the deities Siva, Brahman, Vishņu, and Parvati, the inscription (in lines 4-11) relates that at the royal residence of Vijayapura, on the declivity of the northern mountain (uttaragiri), there was the king Jayaditya, a son of the king Dharmaditya, and that his minister was Madoli, a son of the minister, the great sámanta Ksitakirti. And it records (in lines 11-12) that this Madbli gave the village of Dummuddu. maka, which he had obtained by the king's favour, as a grant to the goddess Durga. Lines 12-18 glorify the liberal, admonish future rulers to respect this grant, and deprecate its resumption. Further, three verses in lines 19-22 state that the preceding prasasti of the minister was composed by the Kayastha Nagadatta ; and another verse adds that the verses referring to
1 See Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX. p. 406.
* See Mr. Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, Plate xxviii.
