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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 81, PLATE XLV 293
and nrisaṅsa, line 27; (2) the use of v for b, in vahala, line 5; and (3) the use of b for
v, in bvavasthâ, line 8; bapushi, line 9-10; abhibriddhayê, line 22; pratibastavyam,
line 25-26; byâsa, line 30; and bâ, line 34.
The inscription is one of the Râja Tîvaradêva, of the Pâṇḍuvaṁśa or lineage
of Pâṇḍu. In line 18, he has also the name of Mahâśiva-Tîvararâja; and, according to
the legend on the seal, he was the lord of the Kôsala country. The charter recorded in it
is issued from the town of Śrîpura, which is evidently the modern Śîrpur, about forty
miles east by north from Râypur. It is a non-sectarian inscription; the object of it being
simply to record the grant, by Tîvaradêva, to a Brâhman, on the twelfth lunar day, without
any specification of the fortnight, of the month Jyêshṭha (May-June), of the village of
Piṁparipadraka in the Penṭhâma bhukti.¹ The last two lines record, partly with a
numerical symbol,² and partly with a decimal figure coupled with the ordinal adjective, a
second and fuller date; viz. the seventh year of the reign, and the eighth solar day, with-
out any specification of the fortnight, of the month Kârttika (October-November). This is
evidently the date of the writing or assignment of the charter. And the 'reign' referred to,
is probably the government of Tîvaradêva.
Tîvaradêva's paramount sovereign is referred to in line 11. But his name, or line-
age, is not mentioned. Nor does the inscription contain any distinct information as to the
period to which it is to be referred. This latter point, however, appears capable of deter-
mination from other sources. Tîvaradêva was the adopted son³ of Nannadêva, who
was the son of Indrabala. Nannadêva and his father Indrabala are mentioned
again in an inscription at Śîrpur itself, discovered by Mr. Beglar, and brought to notice
by General Cunningham, in 1884, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVII. p. 25 f. and
Plate xviii A.; and from this we learn that Indrabala's father was Udayana, of the
Śavara lineage. The Sirpur inscription contains no date; but, on palæographical
grounds, it may be referred roughly to about the eighth or ninth century A.D. And it
seems extremely probable that this Śavara king or chieftain, Udayana, is the one who
was conquered, captured, and released again, by the Later Pallava king Pallavamalla-
**Nandivarman.**⁴ Mr. Foulkes⁵ has allotted Nandivarman to the century from A.D. 800 to
900; his exact date still remaining to be fixed, in accordance, to a certain extent, with the
date of the Chôḷa king Koppara-Kêsarivarman, whose name appears in a Tamil addition
to Nandivarman's grant. These points remain for further investigation. But they
indicate the period to about which the present inscription of Tîvaradêva may be referred.
And, though the archaic forms of the characters might lead us, at first sight, to allot it to
an earlier period, such a conclusion is negatived by the vernacular terminations occurring
in the last line, and by the use of a decimal figure in the record of the date. General
Cunningham, indeed,⁶ has arrived at the specific date of A.D. 425 for Tîvaradêva.
But this is based upon his identification of Nannadêva's great-grandson Śivagupta with
a certain Śivagupta of the Sômavaṁśa, a king of Kaṭak, who, according to the Orissa

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¹ bhukti, lit. 'enjoyment,' is a technical territorial term, the exact purport of which remains to
be determined.
² See page 292 above, notes 1 and 2.
³ tanaya-prâpta, line 16; lit. 'acquired as a son.'—Nannadêva's son by birth was Chandragupta,
as recorded in line 5 of the Śîrpur inscription referred to in this paragraph.
⁴ Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII. pp. 278, 282 f.; and Manual of the Salem District, Vol. II. pp. 360, 364.
⁵ Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. Vol. XVII. p. 303.
⁶ Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVII. p. 17 f.