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No. 49 )
A NOTE ON BIRODA PLATES OF (BHOJA) DEVARAJA
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No. 49.- A NOTE ON SIRODA PLATES OF (BHOJA) DEVARAJA
BY N. LAKSHMINARAYAN RAO, VOTACAMUND
The valuable inscription on these plates was edited in this journali by the late Rao Bahadur C. R. Krishnamacharlu. In 1943, when I was studying the record in connection with the early history of Western India, I examined the text of the inscription as published by the learned editor and checked the reading with the excellent facsimile accompanying the article. As a result of this scrutiny I was convinced that the name of the dynasty of Dēvarăja had not been correctly decis phered. Mr. Charlu read the word, indicating the name of the family to which Dövarāja belonged, as Gomināṁ and claimed that he had discovered a hitherto unknown dynasty on the West Coast of India, viz., that of Gömins. His reading was accepted by many scholars, one of whom has even tried to identify this Dēvarāja with the Rashtrakūta prince of the same name figuring in the Pandarangapalli plates of Avidhëya' and the Undikaväţika grant of Abhimanyu, though he has not been able to explain satisfactorily how the family name Gömin could be connected with the Råshtrakūtas.
Let us examine the disputed reading with the help of the photographic reproduction of the plates. The syllable that first roused my suspicion about the incorrectness of the reading of the dynastic name is the one that has been read as mi in the given reading Chandrapurad-Gominārs (line 1). If we compare this letter with mi in bhūmis-(line 12) and bhumidah (line 13) it becomes clear that its shape is altogether different. If it is not mi, what else can it be? The letter very closely resembles ja of vijaya- in line 17 and the superscript of the conjunot letter jya in rājya in the same line. It is well known that the medial a sign of ja is usually added to the horizontal stroke at the centre of the letter. Even in the present case it starts from the central stroke, goes up and turns to the left round the letter in a curl. Thus, it is obvious that the whole syllable should be read as jā. This led me to scrutinize the reading of the preceding letter, namely, d-Go in Chandrapurād-Gomināṁ. On a careful examination of the subscript I came to the conclusion that it answers more to bh than to g. We may compare, for instance, bha in bhavishyad=(line 2), bhu in prabhu (line 4) and bhyā in svāmībhyarn (line 6), eto. It may be noted that ga is more upright than bha which is a little slanting. With these two emendations, the word has to be read as Bhojānāṁ and not Gömināṁ. Further it appears to me that the syllable after Chandra is an initial i and not pu (of. initial u in uktafi-cha in line 10); what is seen at the bottom of the letter obviously denotes length. It is to be observed that in this record the sign of p is open at the top (cf. puny-Opachayāya in line 5). If this correction also be accepted, the whole expression would read Chandraūrād=Bhojānāń. Accordingly, the name of the family of the donor-king Dēvarāja is Bhoja and not Gomin, whil the name of the capital of the territory of this line of rulers, viz., the Bhöjas, round about Goa on the West Coast, W88 Chandraūra. The
1 Above, Vol. XXIV, pp. 143 ff. with 1 plate. * An. Bhand, Ori. Res. Inst., Vol. XXV, pp. 43 ff. • Mys. Arch. Rep. 1929, pp. 197 ff. In this record the name of Dēvarăja's family is not given. • Above, Vol. VIII, pp. 163 ff.
The termination fra is the Sanskritized form of the Dravidian word ar meaning village or town and crrog. ponds to Sanskrit pura. Such village names, ending in ura, are found in many Sanskrit inscriptions; the following are a few instances from records ranging from the 4th to the 9th century, after Christ :-Kofflina (Allaha bad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, C.I.L., Vol. III, p.-13); Kangūra (Mattepad plates of Dämodaravarman, above, Vol. XVII, p. 329), Chendalara (Chendalär plates of Pallava Kumara-Vishnu, sbovo, Vol. VIII, p. 235), Vaffira (Mahakufa pillar insoription of the Western Chalukya King Mangalóba, Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, p. 17), Cherwpira (Chipurapallo plates of the Eastern Chalukya-King Vishnuvardhans I, Ind. Ant., Vol. XX, p. 16) Kumulára (Timmäpuram plates of the same king, above, Vol. IX, p. 318), Audraka (Sürat plates of Sryákraya Städitys of the Gujarat Chaloky family referred to on p. 231, Vol. VIII, above) and Lattalira (Nilgund inscription of the Rashtrakūta king Amoghayarsha I, above, Vol. VI, p. 103).
16 DGA
