Epigraphia Indica Vol 23

SR No.: 032577
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1935
Total Pages: 436
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 144

No. 17.] THREE COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTIONS FROM GAONRI.
country of Magadha who received as many as eight parts. It is worthy of note that the sole recipient of the second grant which is dated about five years later is the identical Sarvananda. It is therefore likely that the Brahmana settled down in the village of which he was the sole proprietor and carried with him the charter which conferred on him the title of the second village as well as that of the other grant of which he was the senior partner. It is noteworthy that the provenance of the plates is within three miles from the second village, while its distance from the first is about 40 miles.
The most important information contained in these plates is regarding the migration of Brāhmaṇas from various parts of the country to Malwa where they were recipients of donations at the hands of the Paramara prince. In several instances the donees seem to have migrated all the way from Bengal, which (contrary to the current belief that there were no Brahmaņas left in Bengal in the 12th century A.D.) appears as a country where Brahmaņas studying different Vedas were flourishing. Thus we find a Brahmana named Dōnāka, hailing from Vilvagavasa falling within the southern Radha country, who received as many as five shares. Another person is said to have migrated from Kuläñcha, which in the form of Kōlañcha and Krödañcha occurs as the original place of Brahmanas who received grants in Assam, North Bihar and Orissa. I propose to identify this with Kulanch in the Bogra District of North Bengal. Another locality mentioned in these plates is Sāvathidēša or Savathikā which is most likely the tract more or less corresponding to North Bogra and South Dinajpur in Bengal. An inscription of Indrapala, a king of Assam, refers to this Savathi (which is apparently the same as Srävasti) and mentions the presence of a place called Vaigrama in it. The identity of the latter has now been completely established by the find of a copper-plate of the Gupta period found at Baigram at the north-west corner of the Bogra District, in which the place is mentioned as Vayigrama. There can be no doubt that Savathi, Śrāvasti or the Savathidesa included the northern part of Bogra District. In the present case the two villages in this tract are Dardurika and Mitila-pataka which it is possible to identify with Dadra in Panchbibi Thana of the Bogra District and Mitail or Matialpãrã both of which are in the Bogra District. Most of the Brahmanas mentioned in the places from Bengal just referred to are stated to have belonged to the Chhandōga-sakha (of the Sama-Võda), which is significant in view of the preponderance of the adherents of this Vēda among the Brahmaņas of Bengal. Madhyadesa which is roughly equivalent to the United Provinces is the original home of at least three of the donees but the place-name Yaka or Ayaka stated to be included within the Madhyadesa cannot be identified. Uttarakuladēsa in which the village Paundarika was the home of a Brahmaņa must be some tract to the north of the Ganges. Śravanabhadra, stated to be the home of two Brahmaņas, also occurs in the plates of Bhoja found at Tilakwada' near Baroda and must be some place in northern India, near Kanauj, as the family of Suraditya in the Tilakwädä plates is stated to have come from Kanauj. It is also mentioned as Sõnabhadra in the Madhyadesa in the Sarkho3 plates of the Kalachuri Ratnadēva III, being the original home of a family of Brahmaņas also of the Vatsa lineage. Khēṭaka is undoubtedly the modern Khera in Gujarat, while Nandipura in the Lața country is certainly the modern Nandod on the Narmada. Khēḍāpälikä and Khaḍupallikā may indicate a place-name like Khedavala or Khedaulia, being perhaps the original place of the modern Khedaval Brahmanas. Other places like Kharjürikā, Sōpura, Dapura, Anōha, Aviva and Rājakiya-grāma may be found in the neighbourhood or within the province of Mälwa. The
1 Kamarupa-sasanavali, p. 137.
2 Proceedings and Transactions of the First Oriental Conference, Poona, pp. 324 f. Above, Vol. XXII, pp. 159 ff.
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B 2