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

244 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
good; but, as usual, the interiors of the letters shew in a few places marks of the working of
the engraver's tool.—Towards the proper right end of each plate, there is a hole for a
ring to connect them. The ring is circular, about ½" thick and 3⅞" in diameter. The
ends of it were flattened off, so as to overlap, and were fastened with a pin or bolt; they
were still secured in this manner, when the grant came into my hands. The seal¹ is a
thin flat disc of copper, about 3⅛" in diameter. A bolt in the centre of it secures
it to a thin band of copper, about ⅝" broad and 3½" in circumference, by which it
slides on the ring mentioned above. Across the surface of the seal, there is the legend,
in four lines, of which the text and translation are given below.—The weight of the
five plates is about 3 lbs. 4¼ oz., and of the ring and seal, 5½ oz. ; total 3 lbs. 9¾ oz.—The
average size of the letters is about ¼"; except on the seal and on the last plate, where
they are rather larger. The characters belong to the southern class of alphabets, and
give a very perfect and beautiful illustration of the 'box-headed' variety of the Central
India alphabet, on which I have commented at page 18 f. above. They include two forms
of b; one, the customary form of this alphabet, occurs in bṛihaspati, line 1, and in other
places in this and the preceding inscription; the other, a square and more antique form,
occurs only in beṇṇā, line 17; in the lower b in āyur-bbala, line 26; and in bāpta, line
36.—The language is Sanskrit. The legend on the seal is in verse; but the inscription
itself except for the benedictive and imprecatory verses in lines 39 to 42, is in prose
throughout.—In respect of orthography, we have to notice (1) the use of the upa-
dhmānīya, once, in rājñaḥ-pravara, line c; (2) the use of the dental n, instead of the
anusvāra, before ś and s, in vaṁśa, lines 5 and 17, and ansa, line 4; (3) the doubling of
th and dh, in conjunction with a following y, in uktthya, line 1, and bhāgīratthy-amala,
line 5, and in sarvvāddhyaksha, line 24; (4) the doubling of dh, in conjunction with a
following v, in addhvaryavē, line 19-20; and (5) the doubling of v after the anusvāra
(which, however, was omitted in the actual engraving), in saṁvvatsarē, line 18.
The inscription is another record of the Mahārāja Pravarasēna II., of the
Vâkâṭaka tribe or dynasty. The place whence the charter was issued, is not recorded.
It is dated, in words, in the eighteenth year of his government, on the twelfth lunar day of the
bright fortnight of the month Phâlguna (February-March). It is a non-sectarian inscrip-
tion; the object of it being simply to record the grant to a Brâhman, by Pravarasēna II.,
of the village of Brahmapûraka, in the Beṇṇâkârpara bhâga.²
Of the villages mentioned in defining the position and boundaries of the village that
was granted, Kollapûraka is possibly the modern 'Kolapoor' of the map,³ twenty-one
miles south of Ilichpur.
¹ See Plate xxxiiiD.
² bhâga, lit. 'a part, share, division, allotment,' is a technical territorial term, of rare occur-
rence, the exact purport of which is not apparent.
³ Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 54. Lat. 20° 56' N. ; Long. 77° 34' E.—The same name, in a slightly
different form, occurs in the Kollāpura of the southern inscriptions (e.g. line 48 of the Terḍāl inscrip-
tion ; Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 18; see also id. p. 23, note 22), as the ancient name of the modern
Kôlâpur, the chief town of the Kôlâpur State in the Bombay Presidency.