صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

AJAYA SINGH DEVA, VIJAYA SINGH, as heir apparent, by order of his mother GA'SALA makes the grant to the Brahmin SITHA Sarma, in the year Sambut 932, or a. D. 876. It is more ancient by 87 years than the Rajgarh inscription communicated by Captain BURT.

This grant does not give us any important information. We obtain from it however for eight generations a line of Rajas who ruled in those parts, and it will be observed that a remote ancestor of the grantor married a Hun. Unless this be a poetic fiction, it may imply that Hindu princes in remote times assumed some latitude in the selection of wives, more perhaps than is allowed by the strict law. We presume that the Huns were not true Hindus. We have also the designation of the highest officers of Church and State. The high priest,—the chief Confessor-the Prime Minister-the Chief Councillor-the Principal Secretary for foreign affairs-the Chief Justice-the incorruptible Superintendent of Police-and the Chamberlain. The titles given to the ruling prince are most elaborate. Amongst his dependent chieftains are enumerated the Gaja-pati, Aswa-pati, and Nara-pati-titles peculiar probably to particular chieftains. The grant, for redundancy, might be envied by an English conveyancer. The quaintness of some of the old Hindu names may be also observed from this grant. Several of the names are quite obsolete.

The initial verses of the grant are not devoid of merit, but are not so elaborate as the poem on the Rajgarh slab.* The perorations of grants of this class have always many verses in common, of which some seem to be puranik quotations. These deprecatory and imprecatory verses occur with various readings. We have copied, with alterations suitable to our text, Mr. Colebrooke's versions of a few; one,-the forty second verse-is of peculiar beauty and dignity, and in the translation the classical pen of that distinguished orientalist may be recognized. The imprecations against the resumer are terrific: perhaps they were prophetic. "That rascal who by delusion of avarice, &c."

The inscription was composed by BATSA RAJA Dasa-Mulika, or Dasa-MULI, the chief Justice who witnessed the gift. We have been much puzzled by this unusual term. It seems to be a title denoting the capacity of the dignitary for business. There are a few orthographical errors in the plate, which we have noticed. They seem due to the ignorance of the engraver, the "smith LEMA."

See our March No. Art. I.

It may be observed that in this and other grants the grantor gives the property in the soil, and says nothing of holding tax-free. May it be inferred from this, that the Raja was under the old Hindu system considered as the owner of all the lands in his dominions, and that where he granted in proprietory right, the tax-free tenure or exemption from rent to the state, was implied as a matter of course?

TRANSLATION.

Oм glory to BRAHMA.

1. That deity (1) whose navel is a lotus prevails; and so does the lotus his navel. Excellent too is the lotus-born god (2) produced therefrom; excellent is his offspring, that ATRI; and after them excels that luminary beloved by the ocean, who received his birth in the cavity of his eye.

2. That luminary which glides in the ærial expanse, like as it were a swan on a lake, begat as his son, BODHANA (3), the first prince, a sonin-law domiciled in the mansion of the lotus-loved luminary (4).

3. The son of the god, who rules the waters, obtained as his son PURURAVAS,—him whose concubine was URVASI (5), endowed with numerous incomparable qualities and whose wife was URVARA'.

4. In that race was born BHARATA (6). He was enamoured of the earth (Viswambhara), lovely by her ornament, the ocean, encircling her as a girdle, and whose pure glory rivetted as it were on the pillars of more than a hundred Aswamedhas is proclaimed by the YAMUNA.

5. In his race, excellent is that KARTTA-VIRYYA, that warrior wielding without effort every weapon, as if by second nature. Then he supplied the name of Raja (7) to the Hare-spotted luminary, the progenitor of

his race.

6. That monarch, the lord of kings (firm as the snowy mount), begat the Kulachuri race, distinguished by sovereigns spotless in their conduct like pure pearls.

7. In his line was the king Yuva-Raja-Deva, foremost of the virtuous, who had purified his capital like the city of Purandara (8),—a youthful lion in quelling of kings the pride, which resembles some vast elephant blind with rage.

(3) Alias BUDHA, the regent of Merury, or the Mercury is said to be domiciled in the mansion of his approach to that luminary in parts of its orbit. (6) BHARAT is the king, by whose name INDIA is (7) Shining. (8) INDRA.

(1) BRAHMA. (2) VISHNU. Planet itself. (4) The Sun. father-in-law the Sun, from his (5) The celestial courtezan. yet designated, Bhárata Varsha.

8. Of that lord of the world, the principal ministers placed on the throne his son KOKALLA, whose expanded armies (consisting of four arms (9)) were stopt by conflict with the four seas ;

9. Of whom going forth afar, the glory shewed like a forsaken woman, far surpassing white sandal wood; it reproved the lustre of the moon, and eclipsed a string of pearls.

10. Whose son was GANGEYA-DEVA, the lord of the fortune of the bold,-a falling thunder-bolt on the heads of his enemies,-by his arm, surpassing the length of a city bar. He whose face was decked with smiles, and whose broad chest shewed like an emerald tablet.

11. To whom was dear the abode at the root of the holy fig tree at Prayag. When he had obtained emancipation in a better world with his hundred wives, his son KAMA-DEVA reverenced the various quarters by pearls extracted from the frontal orbs of elephants, rent by his sword.

12. By whom was created a pillar in honor of BRAHMA, called Kurnavati, as if the mansion of that divinity in this nether world,—the foremost abode of the virtuous,-the root as it were of the twining plant of theology, and the diadem of the stream flowing from heaven.

13. By that lord of the Kuluchuri race, on his wife AVALLA Devi, another LAXMI produced from the ocean of the race of Huna, was begot YASASKARMA DEVA, adorned with glory co-extensive with the billows of the ocean, swelling as they did in the doubt of the rise of the luminary who cherishes the hare. (10)

14. Of whose enemies, for an instant, the condition was as if they had repaired to the banks of some lake in the cavity of some great hill, and there perceiving their images in the water like a confronting enemy, they hear the echo of the words "he is come," interchanged in their terWhat beyond this?

ror.

15. His son was GAYA-KARNA, of great renown; whose mistress was the earth stained(11) as if replete with the blood, from the throats of his powerful enemies wounded in war.

16. Eager to expand the canopy of his glory in all quarters, adorned with virtue and robed in majesty,-by whom planted, the thorn of grief rankles in the hearts of the beloved of his enemies.

17. On his Rani, ARHANA DEVI, he begat a son, NARA SINGHA, lord of men ;-as if a sentient effort on volition.

(9) The four angas or arms of an army are elephants' cavalry, cars, and infantry. (10) The play on the words is lost in the translation. The damsel separated from her lover in Hindu Poetry reproaches the moon. This is a strong hyperbole. (11) A pun is lost.

18. By largesses of gold (hiranya) and clothes (kasipa) did he shew great love to the learned (vibudha (12)) and robbed of his pride the god of love, by eclipsing his beauty.

19. Who in the hands of Brahmins placed five or six gifts, in the form of drops of water-and they with these, quenching their thirst, abashed the ocean which abounds in gems. (13)

20. That sagacious king, who extended his popularity, gratified suppliants with presents commensurable with his weight and other gifts. 21. Who not less than PARAS RAM (14) produces envy,-making the world the dominion of Brahmins by destruction of the Kshatrayas.

22. His younger brother was the king JAYA SINGH DEVA, served by valiant kings; by whose liberality its glory eclipsed,-RAJA BALI, an other heavenly tree, withered beneath the surface of the earth. (15)

23. On hearing of the coronation of JAYA SINGH DEVA, the king of Gúrjara deserted his weak kingdom, so also the TURUSIKA; while the chieftain of Kuntala neglected amorous dalliance; other kings too daffing the world aside, fled beyond the ocean.

24. Of the moon, of whose glory by the light the atmosphere being rendered brilliant, the descending flocks of birds hardly appeared white.

25. Excellent is his son, the king VIJAYA SINGH, a lion amidst his defeated enemies-a ray reposing on the firmament- -a sun on earth, adorned by wide extending glories, the abode of amiable qualities, and the shrine of auspiciousness.

26. May she be honored, the illustrious GA'SALA DEVI, of whom,-the sight is as a shower of nectar,—proximity a pure treasure,-and the voice like the rare gem Chintamani (16)

Prose.

The chief object of homage-the INDRA of the world-the divinity of dependent kings-foremost of the devout in the contemplation of the feet of VA'MA-DEVA (17)-a god amongst principal and inferior kingsthe chief of the devotees of SIVA-lord of Trikalinga-lord of the three principalities of the Gaja-pati, Aswa-pati, and Nara-pati-of the victorious VIJAYA SINGH DEVA, the heir apparent prince AJAYA

(12) A double sense pervading this is lost. (13) A preliminary rite preceding gift is pouring some drops of water on the palms of the donee. (14) VISHNU assumed the form of PARUS-RAM to quell the pride of the XATRIYAS. (15) RAJA BALI is celebrated for his liberality. VISHNU, as the dwarf, asked him for three feet of soil which were granted. But the god's expanded feet embraced the whole world. Unable to keep his promise, the king was condemned to hell. (16) Chintamani is a fabulous gem, supposed to yield its possessor whatever may be required—(WILSON). (17) SIVA.

SINGH DEVA, son of the great Rani convened the following persons,——— SAIVA ACHA'RJYA BHATTARAKA, the great minister,-VIDYA Daiva, the Raj-Guru-the Pandit YAJNADHARA the chief Porohit,—the lord SRIKIKI, the great councillor, pre-eminent in faith,-the Lord DASA MULIKA, BATSA-RAJA, the chief judge (18) and reporter of state affairs (19), the lord PURUSHOTTAMA, the principal secretary for foreign affairs (20),—the great chamberlain (21),—the incorruptible superintendent of the police (22), -the treasurer (23),—the master of the horse and elephants, also other persons resident of the village about to be given. After this, as becometh, he addresses, explains, and orders thus: "Be it known

to you, Sumbut 932, on the anniversary of the age, at Srimantipuri "with my assent, by my mother GA'SALA DEVI, who had according to "ordinance bathed in the Narmada, and worshipped MAHADEVA for the "sake of augmenting the merit and glory of her parents and self, to the "Brahman SITHA SARMA (the son of CHHITU Pandit, grandson of "SULHANA Pandit, and great-grandson of JANARDANA Pandit, follower “of the metrical veda(24) of the Săvarna Gotra, and devoted to the five "Pravaras(25)—BHARGAVA CHYAVANA APNAVAN AURVA JAMA DAGN) was given, under a grant, the village Choralaga, in the "Patala of Sambala, limited by four boundaries, but exclusive of such "four limits,-together with pasture for kine, water and land, mango "trees and honey, salt-mines, salt-pits,-with right of ingress and egress, "with wilds and marshes, with trees and grass, and so forth rising "spontaneously, (part obliterated,) together with woods and forests, "without any let or hindrance. This is the prayer of the giver."

[ocr errors]

27. RA'MABHADRA again and again exhorts all those future rulers of the earth this universal bridge of virtue for princes, is to be preserved by you from time to time.

28. And it is said. By many kings, SAGARA as well as others, the earth has been possessed. Whose-so-ever has been the land, his has then been the fruit.

29. He who takes a single tolah of gold, a cow, a finger even of land, abides in hell until the general annihilation.

30. The resumer of land is not expiated by one thousand pools, by a hundred sacrifices of horses, by the gift of ten million of kine.

31. He who resumes land, whether given by himself or by another, is born an insect, in ordure, and sinks with his forefathers.

(18) Maháxa patálika. (19) Maha pradhanartha lekhi. (20) Maha sandhivigrahika. (21) Maha pratihára. (22) Dushta sadhya chará dhyaxa. (23) Bhanda garika. (21) Sama Veda. (25) Each Gotra has its tutelary or Patriarchal Rishi. The Pravaras are the companions of the Rishi.

« السابقةمتابعة »