Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 24

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[FEBRUARY, 1912.
4.-Anavada stone inscription of Sarangadeva [Vikrama]-Samvat 1348.
This inscription was found early in 1904 when some excavations were being carried on by the Irrigation Department of the Baroda State at Auâvâdâ, the old Anahila pâtaka, nearly three miles from Pâtan in the Kadi division. It is now deposited, I am told, in the kacheri of the Vahivâțdâr.
The record consists of twenty-four lines covering a space of 1' 43" broad by 1' 5" high. The initial letters of the first seven lines have peeled off, but in all other respects the stone is very well preserved. The characters are Nagari. The language is Sanskrit, and excepting the verse at the commencement the whole of the record is in prose. As regards-orthography it is sufficient to note (1) that a consonant following r is doubled and (2) that the sign for is employed for b only once in mulvibhrate in line 1. In respect of lexicography may be noticed the words: (1) prekshant(na)ka and (2) sthitaka both occurring in line 7, and (3) vyakti in lines 9 and 21. The first means "theatricals," the second "a grant in perpetuity," and the third "specification of details." In lines 7, 9, and 10 occurs the word palamána, the meaning of which is uncertain. It occurs in other inscriptions also, e. g, in a Chaulukya copper-plate grant of v. s. 1280 (above, Vol. VI, p. 197, Plate II, line 3), where it appears to be equivalent to parva-pradatta of the other grants of the same dynasty. Is palamana, therefore, a mistake for pályamana?
The inscription opens with the well-known stanza with which Jayadeva's Gita-Govinda commences. Then follows the date, which is Sunday the 13th of the bright half of Ashadha in the [Vikrama] year 1848. At that time Mahárájádhiraja Sâramgadeva was reigning at Anahilvaṭaka; his Mahdsamdhivigrahika Mahamatya Madhusudana was doing all the business of the seal, relating to the drawing of documents, etc., and the Panch (Pañchakula) consisted of Mahanta Pethada, and others, Pethada being appointed by the king as keeper of the seal at Pâlhaṇapura (Palanpur). The inscription then proceeds to record the gifts that were made on the aforesaid date as well as previously, for the worship, offering, and theatricals before the god Krishna. The previous grants are first specified. They are: (1) drammas 180 in perpetuity by Karana, (2) drammas 72 from the customs-house in perpetuity, (3) drammas 72, (4) drammas 36, and (5) drammas 48, four being for each amávásyd day by Seth Devala, accruing from his Sikiri (?). The new gifts were made by the five-fold people of the town (panchamukha-nagara) consisting of (1) the Panch, (2) the Brahmanas who are called Purohitas here, (3) the Mahajanas, of whom some were Sadhu (Sahukâr), some Sreshthi (Seth),. Thakkura, Son! (goldsmiths), Kamsaras (braziers), and so forth, (4) Vanijyarakas (Vanjârâs), and (5) Nau-vittakas (ship-owners). The new grants were: (1) half a dramma paid by the seller on one dhadf of madder (manjishtha), (2) one dramma paid both by the seller and buyer on one dhadd of solonum Melongena (Hingudi), (3) some portion from each cart filled with grain, the nature of which is not clear, and (4) one pali from a ghadd or jar of ghi by the seller.
It has been stated above that our inscription commences with the initial benedictory stanza of the well-known Gita Govinda. The Gita-Govinda, we know, was composed by Jayadeva, who is supposed to have flourished in the last quarter of the 12th century and lived during the reign of Lakshman sena. 33 And the fact that the stanza is quoted as the invocatory verse in our inscription shows that "the work had already within a century become quasi-sacred." Again, it appears from our inscription that there was a temple of Krishna existing in Anâvâdâ long before the time of king Sârangadeva to whose reign it refers itself and who no doubt belonged to the Vaghelâ dynasty. This is worthy of note, as we have not yet found any ancient temple dedicated to Krishna and hardly any reference given to such a one in old inscriptions. The only reference I know of is furnished by a Harsaudâ stone inscription of Devapâla of Dhârâ dated v. s. 1275, which speaks of an image of Krishna being put up by one Kesava near a temple of Sambha.3
12 Journal and Proceedings of the As, Soc. Bong, Vol. II, No. 5 (May, 1903), pp. 187-9. 23 Above, Vol XX, p. 312, 1. 14.