Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/63

 WALAB III PLATES.

FEB. 2, 1872.]

ON TWO COPPERPLATES FROM VALAB III, BY PROF. RAMKRISHNA GOPAL BHANDARKAR, M.A.

THE following are translations of the second halves of two copperplate grants sent to the Editor from Bhaunagar. The second and small

er one, 12 inches by 8}, is greatly damaged; and the letters are indistinct in many places.

The

other is 12#, inches by 10% and is in a better state of preservation—the right hand edge only being broken off. The grantor in No. I. is Dh a r a sena IV., the same as in the one translated at page 14. -

The date is also the same, viz. 326, the month

being Māgha instead of Ashādha.

The first

side by side with Brähmanism, and the worship of images formed part of the religion. The genealogy of the Valabhi dynasty has been given at p. 17. The dates gathered from the copper-plate grants I know of are given below. I believe, for reasons elsewhere given, that the aera used in these grants is that of the Shaka King. Dharasena II................272 Sh. or 350 A.D.

Shiláditya I................286 Sh. , 364 A.D. Dharasena IV. (2 grants) 326 Sh. , 404 A.D. Shiláditya II. (2 grants) 356 Sh. , 434 A.D.

nine lines and a half have not been translated, as PLATE I.

the description of the kings in them is in almost every respect the same as in the corresponding portion of the last and other Valabhi grants. The grantor in No. II. is Shiládity a I., the son and successor of Dhar as en a II., the king

in Mr.Wathen's first plate. The figured date is—

rpool; The first figure, having only one side stroke, represents 200. The value of the second we know from Dr. Burn's Chālukya and Gurjara plates to be 80, and the last stands for 6 ; so that the whole is 286.

But the date usually

assigned to the father of S h il 4 dity a from Mr. Wathen's plate is 332. I have shown” that this date has been misread and misinter

preted. The first figure in it stands for 200, and the value I have assigned to the second from the evidence available is 70.

The date there

fore is 272.

These two plates, broken and mutilated as they are, are very interesting. Those hitherto discovered record grants of land to Bráhmans ; but both these record grants of land to Buddhist monasteries or vihārds. In the larger plate the village of Yo dh á v a ka is assigned to a Vihárá constructed by the minister Sk a n d a b h at a, who appears to have been a pious Buddhist.

We see from these, that the Valabhi

Shri D h a r a se n a, the great M & he sh v ar a, the great lord, the king of kings, the great ruler, the universal sovereign, who meditates on his grand-father's feet, enjoying good health, commands all whom it may concern :—Be it known to you that for the increase of the religious merit of my mother and father I have [assigned] to the assembly of the reverend mendicant priests of the M. a hå y á n a (school) coming from the four quarters to the monastery constructed by Di v i r a-p a ti Sk and a b h a ta in the village of Yo d h a v a ka in He st a v a p r a h fi r a in Surāshtra, the four divisions of the same village of Yo dh á v aka —

viz., three for the purpose of [providing] clothing, food, f [means of] sleeping and sitting. . . . and medicine; for the purpose of [providing] the means of worshipping and washing the glorious Buddhas, viz., fragrant ointment, incense, flowers, and oil for lamps, and for executing repairs to the monastery (lit. for putting aright the broken parts); and the fourth part of the same village for the further digging, clearing or repairing of the tank dug at the same place by D i v i r a pati Sk and a b h at a, and thus for providing water just at the door, (lit. at the root of the feet). In this manner, by pour ing water, the village is assigned as a charity grant to the monastery, and the tank along with its appurtenances, and whatever is on it, with the creatures living therein, the revenue in grain or gold, the defects” in its condition, and whatever may grow in it spontaneously. The grant is ex clusive of whatever may have been given to gods or Brahmans before ; is not to be interfered with

kings patronized the Buddhists as well as the

by the officers of the king ; and is to last on the

Brähmans:

principle of a hole” in the earth, as long as the moon,

Buddhism flourished at the time


 * In a paper recently read at a meeting of the Bombay

ball of rice in the Bhikshu's bowl.

B. R. As. Society. Wide inf.

+ Pinda-pâta, is explained as āfāſāf fºſſa Hi-T Iſrāzſa. Pinda is a ball, i.e. of rice in this case, and páta is dropping; hence it means the dropping in of a

accurately known, given by Prof. Dowson, I might add
 * To the list of expressions the senses of which are not

Hääiſqºſh H which occurs in several plates. however translated it as in the text.

I have