Chaudwār plates #1 of Mahābhavagupta Dharmakandarpa year 31

Metadata

Current Version:  draft, 2024-12-17Z

Editor:   Amandine Wattelier-Bricout.

DHARMA Identifier: INSSomavamsin00011

Hand Description:

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Corresponding Artefact:

Layout: -49 lines are observed/preserved on the artifact.

Edition

^{⎘ plate 1v 1}Om svasti| śrimad-ārāma^🧭-samāvāsi¿n?⟨t⟩aḥ śrīmato vijaya-kaṭakāt| parama-bhaṭṭā-
²raka-mahārājādhirāja-parameśvara-śrī-śivagupta^👤-deva-pādānudhyāta-parama-māheśva-
³ra-parama-bhaṭṭāraka-mahārājādhirāja-parameśvara-soma-kula-tilaka-trikaliṅgādhipati--
⁴mahārājādhirāja-śrī-mahābhavagupta^👤-devaḥ kuśalī| ko¡ś!⟨s⟩ala^🧭-deśe povā^🧭-vi¡ś!⟨ṣ⟩ayīya-
⁵-raṇḍā^🧭-grāme| tathā Alāṇḍalā^🧭-grāme| ¡v!⟨b⟩rāhmaṇān saṁpūjya tad-vi¡ś!⟨ṣ⟩ayīyān yathākālā-
⁶dhyāsinaḥ samāhartṛ-sannidhātṛ-niyuktakādhikār¿ī?⟨i⟩ka-dāṇḍapāśika-cāṭa-
⁷-bhaṭ{ṭ}a-piśuna-ve⟨t⟩rikāvarodhajana-rāṇaka-⟨rājaputra⟩-rājavallabhādī¿na?⟨N⟩ sarvvāN sa-
⁸mājñāpayati| viditam astu bhavatāṁ yathāsmābhir ayaṁ grāmaḥ ¡ṣ!⟨s⟩anidhiḥ so-
⁹panidhis sa-daśāparādhas sarvva¡v!⟨b⟩ādhāvivarjjitas sarvvopari{ka}karādāna-sahitaś catuḥ-
¹⁰-sīmāparyantas sā⟨mra⟩-madhukas sagartoṣa⟨ra⟩s sa-jala-sthala-sahitaḥ pratiniṣiddha-cāṭa-bhaṭ{ṭ}a-pra-
¹¹veśaḥ| ṭ{ṭ}akārī^🧭-vinirggatāya| ko¡ś!⟨s⟩ale^🧭 turvvunā^🧭-vāstavyāya| bharadvāja-gotrāya| ¡v!⟨b⟩ā-
¹²rhaspaty-āṅgirasa-pravarāya| vāja¿sena?⟨saneya⟩-śākhadhyāyine bhaṭṭa-śrī-mahattama-sādhāraṇā^👤-
¹³ya| bhaṭṭa-śrī-śobhana^👤-sutāya| saliladhārā-purassaram ā-candra-tārakārkka-kṣiti-sama -
^{⎘ plate 2r 14}kālopabhogyāya| mātā-pitror ātmanaś ca puṇya-yaśobhivṛddhaye tām{v}ra-śāsanenākarī-
¹⁵kṛtya pratipāditam ity avagatya samucita-bhoga-bhāga-kara-hiraṇyādibhir pratyāyam upanaya-
¹⁶dbhir bhavadhiḥ sukhena prativastavyam iti| bhāvibhiś ca bhūpatibhir ddattir iyam asmadīyā dharmma-
¹⁷-gauravād asmad-anurodhāc ca sva-dattir ivānupalanīyā| tathā coktan dharmaśāstre|

sakala-bhūpāla-mauli-mālā-vi-
³⁵lagna-māṇikya-mayūkha-vrātābhira¡ṇ!⟨ñ⟩jitāṅ¿gi?⟨ghri⟩-kamala-yugalaḥ pracaṇḍa-dorddaṇḍa-maṇḍa-
³⁶lāgra-khaṇḍitārāti-matta-mātaṅga-vimukta-muktāphala-prasādhitāśeṣa-raṇa-mahī-
³⁷-maṇḍala|

parama-māheśvara-parama-
⁴³-bhaṭṭāraka-mahārājādhirāja-parameśvara-soma-kula-tilaka-trikaliṅgādhipati-śrī-
⁴⁴-mahābhavagupta^👤-deva-pāda-padma-pravarddhamāna-vijaya-rājye eka-triṅśatt¿i?⟨a⟩me s¿ā?⟨a⟩mvatsa-
⁴⁵re| mārgga śudi tithau trayodaśyāṁ yatrāṅkenāpi samvat 31 mārgga
⁴⁶śudi 13 likhitam idaṁ triphalī-tām{v}ra-śāsana⟨ṁ⟩ mahāsāndhivigra-
⁴⁷hī-rāṇaka-malladatta^👤-prati¡v!⟨b⟩addha-kāyastha-śrī-māhūkena^👤 priyaṅkarā-
⁴⁸ditya^👤-suteneti|

Utkirnita mādhavena^👤 vāsu^👤¿ṣū?⟨su⟩teneti|

Apparatus

⁹ sarvvopari{ka}karādāna-sahitaś ◇ sarvvoparikakarādāna-sahitaś S

Translation

^1-7Hail! From his glorious and victorious camp situated at Ārāma, the divine king, the prosperous (kuśalī) lord (śrī) Paramabhaṭṭāraka and Mahārājādhirāja Mahābhavagupta, lord of Trikaliṅga (tr̥kaliṅgādhipati), the forehead ornament of the Soma dynasty (or lunar race), the great lord (parameśvara), a devout worshipper of Maheśvara (paramamāheśvara), blessed by the lord (śrī) Paramabhaṭṭāraka and Mahārājādhirāja Śivaguptadeva, worshipped the Brāhmaṇas in the village Raṇḍā situated in the part of Povā, as well as in the village Alāṇḍalā, (both) in the Kosala region (deśa) and informed all the householders dwelling there [and] seated in due time upon this division beginning with the samāhartr̥ (tax collector), the saṁnidhātr̥ (the receiver of stolen goods), the niyuktaka (subordinate officers), the adhikārika (superintendents), the dāṇḍapāśika (the policemen), the valorous soldiers (cāṭa-bhaṭṭa), the informer (piśuna-vetrika)m the inmates of the royal harem, the subordinates, sons and favorites of the king (rāṇaka-rājaputra-rājavallabhā) as follows:

^7-11Be it known by you that this village by us has been given (pratipādita, line 15) with its treasures (nidhi) and its deposits (upanidhi), with the power to punish and realise fines for the ten offences (sa-daśāparādha), without any restrictions (sarvabādhāvivarjita), with the seizing of all the minor taxes (sarvvoparikarādāna), with its four boundary-marks (catuḥ-sīmāparyanta), with mango and madhuka trees (sāmra-madhuka), with its pits and barren lands (sagartoṣara), together with land and waters (sa-jala-sthala), preserved from the entrance of soldiers (cāṭa-bhaṭṭa),

^11-16to the learned lord (bhaṭṭaśrī), the great Sādhāraṇā, after having immigrating from Ṭakārī, residing in Turvunā in Kosala, who belonged to the Bharadvāja gotra with the pravaras of Bārhaspatya and Āṅgirasa, student of the Vājasaneyi śākhā, learned son (bhaṭṭaputra) of Lord Śobhana, after pouring water, [as permanent endowment] to be enjoyed in perpetuity as long as the moon, the sun and the stars [will last], in order to increase the merit and the fame of our two parents as well as our own ones, after having edicted this by a copperplate.

^16-18After having considered this (iti), thanks to our acquisition, the enjoyments, the parts, the taxes, the gold etc… should easily remain appropriate and the future kings must protect this gift of Us out of the respect of Dharma and out of Our consideration as it was their own gift.

^19-34Thus it is said in the Dharmaśāstra:

Land has been given by several kings beginning with Sagara. Whoever holds land at a given time, to him does the fruit belong.

Have no doubt about the fruit of what is given by another, o sons of Pr̥thu, the fruit is eternal both for him who gives in person and for him who protects what is given by another.^↓1

The giver of land enjoys sixty thousand years in heaven; the one who challenges [a donation] as well as the one who approves [this act] will reside as many [years] in hell.

Gold is Agni’s first born son, Earth Viṣṇu’s wife and cows Sun’s daughters; the one who gives gold, cows and land, the worlds belongs to him by these three kinds of gifts.

The Fathers are applauding and the Grand-Fathers are hopping up and down [when they can say] ‘A giver of land is born within our lineage, sure, he will deliver us!’

The one who receives a land and the one who offers a land, both of them are men with meritorious deeds who are surely going to heaven. 

The excellent gift of a cow, the one of hundreds of sacrificial foods and beverages or of thousand tanks can not purify the one who has stolen a land.

The foolish man who seizes ou makes [a land] seized, will be covered by obscurity and bound by Varuṇa’s noose and be born again in an animal womb.

The one who steals a single cow, one piece of gold or a half aṅgula of land will stay in hells up to the dissolution of the created things.

The one who would steal land given by himself or another becomes a worm in excrement and is cooked with his ancestors.

Āditya, Varuṇa, Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Soma, Hutāśana, Śulpāṇis and the Lord rejoice the land-giver.

“This bridge of Dharma which is common to all the kings, you always must protect it!" Rāmabhadra begs repeatedly to all these future kings:

Having considered that fortune and human life were as transient as a drop of water on a lotus petal, and having thought that the entire world is an illustration, let the glorious acts made by others not be destroyed by men. 

^34-36His pair of lotus-feet adorned by the rays (emanating from) the jewels set in the garland adorning the crowns of all the kings and the circle of the earth is decorated by the pearls falling from the maddened elephants of his enemies, who are struck by his mighty arms.

The crown-jewel of the kings on earth, after having assigned the entire scripture to the crest-jewel of minister named Sādhāraṇa and the office of minister to the best brahmin in the kingdom, possessing an ocean of knowledge and an intense brilliance, he experienced constantly happiness by the satisfaction constantly growing from the taste of the nectar of the extensive stories of honor;

He is known in the three worlds by the name of Dharmakandarpadeva, who has a kingdom that is well-governed according to the rule of the best brahmins by Sādhāraṇa whose intellect was purified by the study of all the worth-knowing Arthaśāstra and Smṛti texts, who is a the teacher of the gods clearly knowing the Vedas, the Vedaṅgas, the acquisition of knowledge, the Kalpas and the Itihāsas by He is the one who has attained the highest position, and who has attained the highest position.

^42-48On the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight of the month Mārgaśīrṣa of the thirty-first year of the increasingly victorious reign of the Lord (śrī) Paramabhaṭṭāraka and Mahārājādhirāja Mahābhavagupta, lord of Trikaliṅga (tr̥kaliṅgādhipati), the forehead ornament of the Soma dynasty (or lunar race), the great lord (parameśvara), a devout worshipper of Maheśvara (paramamāheśvara), i.e. Saṁvat 31 month Mārgaśīrṣa day 13, this charter co; prising three plates of copper was written by the clerk (kāyastha) Māhūka, son of Priyaṅkarāditya, who is attached to the mahāsāndhivigraha Rāṇaka Malladatta.

Having informed the mahattama, Puṇḍarīkākṣa accepted the royal edict promulgated by the king of Kosala and written in copper.

⁴⁹Written by Mādhava, son of Vāsu.

Commentary

Orthographical peculiarities: the use of v for b; the use of the velar nasal ṅ instead of the anusvāra.

Object: grant of two villages to a Brahmin by the reigning king.

Bibliography

It was edited for the first time in 1876, in the Indian Antiquary, by Babu Rangalala Banerjea (see Beames and Banerjea 1876). It was reedited then by Fleet 1894–1895: s.v. B, pages 347–351. The actual place of preservation is unknown

Primary

Secondary

Notes

↑1. This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 85 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar (see Sircar 1965: appendix II, pages 170–200).