गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

100 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
son of the Amâtya$^1$ Vakra; the grandson of the Bhôgika$^2$ and Amâtya Naradatta; (and)
the son of the Bhôgika Ravidatta. The Dûtaka$^3$ (is) Bhâgraha.$^4$

No. 22; PLATE XIII.

KHOH COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF THE

MAHARAJA HASTIN.

THE YEAR 163.

THIS inscription, again, appears to have been discovered about 1852, by Colonel Ellis,
Political Agent at Nâgaudh, and was first brought to notice in 1858, in Mr. Thomas'
edition of Prinsep's Essays, Vol. I. p. 251 f., by Professor H. H. Wilson's translation
combining both this and the preceding inscription of the year 156, from Mr. Thomas
$^1$ Amâtya, lit. 'an inmate of the same house; a counsellor,' is a technical official title.
$^2$ Bhôgika, lit. 'one who enjoys or possesses,' is explained in Monier Williams' Sanskrit Diction-
ary by 'housekeeper, groom.' In the inscriptions it is a technical official title, possibly connected with
the territorial terms bhôga and bhukti.—If we may judge by the passage in line 8 of the Kâvî grant
of Jayabhata II. (Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 114), the Bhôgikas came in rank below the Sâmantas and above
the Vishayapatis.
$^3$ Dûtaka, and occasionally Dûta (e.g. in line 14 of the Nirmand grant of the Mahâsâmanta and
Mahârâja Samudrasêna, No. 80 below, Plate xliv.), lit. 'a messenger,' is the technical title of an
officer employed in connection with formal grants. The term is most commonly used in connection
with copper-charters. But there are a few instances in which it occurs in inscriptions on stone; e.g.
Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's Nêpâl inscriptions, No. 3, line 21 (Ind. Ant. Vol. IX. p. 167), No. 4, line 17-
18 (id. p. 168), No. 6, line 13 (id. p. 170), &c. And these are sufficient to shew that the Dûtaka's
office was to carry, not the actual charter itself, for delivery into the hands of the grantees, but the
king's sanction and order to the local officials, whose duty it then was to have the charter drawn up
and delivered. And, in accordance with this, there is no mention of any Dûtaka when we have such
expressions as âjñâ svayam, "the order (is) (that of the grantor's) own self," e.g. in line 19 of the
'Chicacole' grant of the Mahârâja Indravarman of the year 128 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 121); sva-
mukh-âjñâ, "the order (is) (that of the grantor's) own mouth," e.g. in line 24 of the Khôh grant of
the Mahârâja Samkshôbha, No. 25 below, Plate xvB.; âjñaptih sva-mukham, with the same meaning,
e.g. in line 34 of the Gôdâvarî grant of the Râja Prithivimûla (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XVI.
p. 118); and sva-mukh-âjñayâ utkirnam, "engraved at the order of (the grantor's) own mouth,"
e.g. in line 23 of the Ârang plates of the Râja Mahâ-Jayarâja, No. 40 below, Plate xxvi.—As pointed
out by Dr. Kielhorn (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 161, note 28), Âjñâdâpaka, lit. 'conveyer of orders,'
in line 29 of the Ujjain grant of Vâkpatirâja of Dhârâ (id. p. 160) seems to have been another regular
title of the same officer; though this is, I think, at present the only instance in which it occurs.—
And it is now plain that it is the same office which is referred to in such expressions as âjñâ
mahâmahattara-Gaurîsarmâ, "the order (is) (conveyed by) the Mahâmahattara Gaurîsarman," in
line 24 of the 'Chicacole' grant of the Mahârâja Indravarman of the year 146 (id. Vol. XIII.
p. 123); âjñaptis=Siyasarmâ, in line 28 of the 'Pedda-Maddâli' grant of Jayasimha I. (id. Vol. XIII.
p. 138); and âjñâptih Dâmakirttibhôjakah &c., in line 12-13 of the Halsî grant of the eighth year of
Mrigêśavarman (id. Vol VI. p. 24 f.).—Line 13 of the Khôh grant of the Mahârâja Śarvanâtha of the
year 197, No. 30 below, Plate xixB., mentions, in addition to the ordinary Dûtaka, another Dûtaka,
sent as a messenger to a second writer, who was ordered to insert certain additional privileges. And
this, again, is in favour of my position that the Dûtaka carried the orders for the drawing up of a
charter, not the charter itself.
$^4$ In No. 22 below, Plate xiv. line 30, this name occurs with the short vowel a in the first syl-
lable. It is impossible to decide which form is correct, as the first component may be either bhâ,
'light, splendour, lustre,' or bha, 'a star, a planet.'