Dr. Priyatosh Banerjee (Indian and Central Asian Scholar)

Dr. Priyatosh Banerjee (An Exponent on Indian and Central Asian Art)

KALAHANDI PLATES OF ANANTAVARMAN VAJRAHASTA, GANGA YEAR 383

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This set of three copper plates belongs to the Maharaja of Kalahandi in Orissa. The plates ere published by Mr. Saytanarayana Rajaguru in the Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Vo.XXXV, pp.10-27. According to Mr. Rajaguru, they were originally found in a village called Chipurupalli about sixteen miles to the east of Parlakimedi in the Ganjam District, Orissa, The plates were received for examination by the Government Epigraphist for India from the Maharaja of Kalahandi in 1952-53. I edit them from a nice set of inked impressions kindly supplied to me by the Government Epigraphist for India.

The plates measure 7 1/2" X 2 5/8" each. They were strung originally on a ring with a seal; but the ring had already been cut open before the inscription reached the Government Epigraphist for India. The seal atached therreto is very much obliterated. Of the three plates, the first and third are written on their inner side only, while the second contains writing on both the sides. There are altogether 24 lines of writing in the inscription. The last line contains only three aksharas.

The characters belong to the Kalinga alphabet of about the 9th century A.D. and resemble those of the alamanda plates1 of anantavarman (Ganga year 304), Indian Museum2 plates of devendravarman (Ganga year 308), Chicacole3 plates of Satyavarman (ganga year 351), Tekkali plates4 of Anantavarman (Ganga year 358) etc. Some of the letters show varying forms; cf.k. in karinah in line 1, sakala in line 3, and kamla in line 4; m in Amara in line 1, Mahendra in line 2, Bhupendravarmma and Anantavarmma in line 11, valmika in line 17, and Mahavagrama in line 23, r in guro in line 3 vara and charna in line 7 and taruh in line 16, etc. The script is a curious admixture of norther and southern forms. The letters b and v are denoted thoughout by the same sign. The language of the inscription is corrupt Sanskrit. The whole of it has been composed in prose. As regards orthography, the anusvara and visarga have very frequently been omitted. There are mistakes such as the use of I in the place of I or ri in the place of ri, of 8 in place of sh, etc.

The object of the instcription is to record a grant of some land to a Brahamana called Narayana Jadyalkshetra, son of Narayana probably belonging to the village of Mahavangrama.5 The donor was Anatavarman Vajrahasta, son of Bhupendravarman of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. The charter is dated in the year 383 of the augmenting and victorious reign of the Ganga dynasty. There is a good deal of controversy regarding the initial year of the Ganga era. But several scholars now hold that the Ganga era started sometime between 494 and 498 A.D. If this view is accepted, the date of the present inscription would fall in the period 877-81 A.D.

 


1. The Above, Vol. III, pp. 17 ff.

2. Ibid., Vol. XXIII, pp. 73 ff.

3. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, pp. 10 ff.

4. Above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 174 ff.

5. [See below, p. 322, note 2. --Ed.]


No other inscription of anantavarman Vajrahasta, the donor of the preset grant has come to light as yet, nor is his name mentioned in any other grants known so far. Regarding ancestry nothing more is known from the present record beyond that he was a son of Bhupendravarman. Fortunately, however, the name of Bhupendravarman is found in a few other inscriptions, e.g., the Chidivalasa plates1 and Napitavataka grant.2 The first of these records is dated in the Ganga year 397 and the second, though undated, has been assigned to the same age.3 These two grants were issued by Devendravarman, son of Bhupendravarman who is apparently identical with his namesake of the present record. The identification is supported by the dates of the records as well as the close similarity in the phraseology of their introductory portions. Thus Bhupendravarman appears to have had two sons, viz. Anantavarman Vajrahasta and Devendra-varman. The latter, as the date of the chidivalasa plates would show, was the youger brother and successor of anantavarman Vajrahasta of the present charter.

From the Chidivalasa plates wwe learn that Bhupendravarman was called also marasimha and his father's name was vajrin. In the opinion of Mr.Somasekara Sarma, Bhupendravarman was identical with Rajendravarman of the Mandasa plates4 of the Ganga year 342 as the names Rajendra and Bhupendra are synonymous. Mr. Sarma identifies Vajrin with Vajrahasta of the Parlakimedi plates.5 He further observes that this Vajrahasta was non other than Anantavarman of the alamanda plates of the Ganga year 304 as the style and phraseology of these inscriptions would tend to show.6 Mr. Sarma proposes the following genealogy.

Rajen avarman

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Anantavarman (Alamanda plates, Ganga year 304) alias Vajrahasta or Vajrin

Devendravarman (Indian Museum plates,7 Ganga year 308; Tekkali 8 plates, Ganga year 310

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Rajendravarman9 (Ganga year 314; Mandasa plates, Ganga year 342) alias Bhupendravarman Satyavarman (Chicacole plates,10 Ganga year 351)

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Anantavarman Vajrahasta (the present record of Ganga year 383) Devendravarman (Chidivalasa plates Ganga year 397; Napitavataka grant); may be the same as his namesake of the Nirakarpur plates discussed below

Anantavarman (Tekkali plates,11 Ganga year 358).

 


1 JAHRS, Vol. II, pp.149 ff.; JAS, Letters, Calcutta, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, pp. 77 ff.

2. Bharati, Vol. XIV, part ii, pp. 67-74.

3. Loc. cit.

4. A.R.Ep., 1918, p. 137 ff.

5. Above, Vol. III, pp. 221 ff.; JAHRS, Vol. XIII, pp. 102 ff.

6. JAHRS, Vol. XIII, p. 103

7. Above, Vol. XXIII, p. 73 ff.

8. Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 312 ff.

9. A.R.Ep., 1917-1918, p. 137, App. A., No. 13; ibid., 1923-24, pp. 97-98 (See also JOR, Vol. IX, pp. 59 ff. --Ed.)

10. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, pp. 12 ff.

11. Above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 174 ff.


In the absence of any definite proof, the suggestion of Mr.Sarma can only be regarded as tentative. Though Bhupendra and Rajendra are synonymous, it cannot be held as certain on that ground that they were one and the same person. As noted above, the Chidivalsasa plates mention Marasimha as the second name of Bhupendravarman. But nowhere in the inscriptions discovered so far he has been called Rajendra. Again, though it is quite possible that Vajrin was identical with Vajrahasta of the Parlakimedi plates as suggested by Mr.Sarma, it is difficult to agree with his suggestion that he is identical also with Anantavarman of the Alamanda plates. It is equally plausible that Vajrin or Vajrahasta and his sonn Bhupendravarman reigned somewhere between the date of Anantavarman of the Tekkali plates of the Ganga year 358 and that of anatavarman Vajrahasta of the present record of the Gagna year 383. This will not go against the question of phraseological affinities between the Parlakimedi plates of Vajrahasta and those of the Tekkali plates of anantavarman (Ganga year 358) or of the present grant. Nothing definite, however, can be said until further evidence comes to our aid. It may be noted that the Nirakarpur plates1 mention one Devendravarman and his father Bhupenderavarman. The prasasti portion of the inscription shows similarity to that of the present record as well as of the Chidivalasa plates mentioned above. This would suggest that they were identical with their namesakes of the Chidivalsa plates and the Napitavataka grant.

The donor of the Nirakarpur plates was Udaykhedi, son of Ugrakhedi and grandson of Dharmakhedi of the Kadamba family of Kalinga, which owed allegiance to the Ganga rulers. Besides the Nirakarpur plates, the Kadamabas are mentioned also in several other inscriptions. The Parlakimedi plates2 of Vajrahasta mention one Ugrakhedi who is described as the ornament of Kadamba dynasty and as born in the family of Nidusanti. This Ugrakhedi was the governor of an area including a village called Hossandi3 which was given to one Rajaputra sri Kamadi4 by Daraparaja son of Chola Kamadiraja, in the reign of king Vajrahasta of Kalinga. The Parlakimedi plates are not dated. But as shown above, the Ganga king Vajrahasta mentioned therein was perhaps identical with Vajrin, father of Bhupendravarman and grand father of Anatavarman Vajrahasta and his brother Devendravarman. If this is accepted, Ugrakhedi of the Parlakimedi plates was probably identical with the Kadamba chief of the same name mentioned in the Nirakarpur plates5 of Devendravarman. Agin, the Nirakarpur plates show that Udayakhedi son of Ugrakhedi and grandson of Dharmakhedi, was a contemporary perhaps of Bhupendravarman, his son Anantavarman Vajrahasta (of thepresent grant) and the latter's brother Devendravarman.6

 


  1. JBRS, Vol. XXXV, pp. 1 ff.
  2. Above, Vol. III, pp. 221 ff.
  3. [The correct reading of the name is Hommandi which was wrongly deciphered by Kielhorn. It is given as Homandi in an endorsement on the outer side of Plate III of the grant. Cf. JAS, Letters, Vol. XVIII, p. 78, note. -- Ed.]
  4. [The correct reading of the name seems to be kamadi. Apparently the same name is given as Komandi in the endorsement, according to which he received the hamlet of Vapavada (spelt Vapavata in the main charter) attached tothe Homandi from Ranaka Udayakhedika who was the son and successor of Ugrakhedi of the main charter according to the Nirakarpur plates. --Ed.]
  5. JBRS, Vol XXXV, pp. 1. ff.
  6. It may be mentioned in this connection that one Dharmakhedi and his father Bhimakhedi are mentioned in the Santa-Bommali plates (JAHRS, Vol. III, pp. 171 ff) of the Ganga year 520 and the Mandasa plates (A.R. Ep., 1918, pp. 138 ff.; JBORS, Vol. XVII, p.184) of the Saka year 976. A Kadamba chieftain of the name of Dharamkhedi is also mentioned in the Vizagapatam plates (Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, pp. 144 ff.) of Devendravarman, dated in the Ganga year 354. The Kambakaya plates (A.R.Ep., 1927-28 App. No. 9 ; Journ. Bomb. Hist. Soc., Vol. IV, pp. 27-28; JAHRS, Vol. X, pp. 916 ff.) of Saka 1103 also refer to the Kadamba chiefs named Dharmakhedi and Udayaditya. From the widely separated dates of these inscriptions, it is reasonable to hold that, though some of these Kadamba chieftains bear the same names, they are not to be considered as identical because of the identity of their names alone but should be placed in different periods. [There is difference of opinion among scholars about the dates of the Mandasa and Kambakaya plates. --Ed.]

The writer of the charter was Sarvadeva. The name of one Sarvadeva occurs as the engraver of the Chicacole plates1 of Devendravarman (Ganga year 251) also. Mr. Rajaguru thinks that the date of the Chicacole plates should be construed as 351 and the two Sarvadevas are to be treated as one and the same person.2 But there is a difficulty in accepting this suggestion. We know that Satyavarman, son of Devendravarman of the Indian Museum and Tekkali plates dated respectively in the Ganga years 308 and 310, issued his charter in the Ganga year 351. Thus it is difficult to place Devendravarman of the Chicacole plates inthe year when Satyavarman was ruling.

The names of the localities mentioned in the inscription cannot be identified. It is interesting to note that to the names of the dance and his father are also attached the names of the localities to which they belonged. These names are given as Narayana Jadyalakshetra and Mahava-grama-gotra Narayana.3 Jadyala as the name of a village is mentioned in the text of the present inscription (line 13). The practice of affixing the name of a village or locality to its resident is even now  prevalent in different parts of India and outside.


  1.  Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 276.
  2. JBRS, Vol. XXV, pp. 10 ff.
  3.  [See below, p. 322, note 2. --Ed.]

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