II.—Kumurukela Charter of Ranaka Satru Bhanja Deva. (Circa 1325 A. D.) By B. C. Mazumdar, B.L., M.R.A.S. THIS Copper-plate charter, consisting of three well incised plates, is in nice preservation. It was unearthed in April 1916 in the very village Kumurukelā which is the subject-matter of the grant. The other village Jaintamura, which was gifted along with Kumurukelā, could not be identified either in the Uttara-Tir Pargana (Uttara palli of this record) of Sonpur or anywhere in the state of Sonpur. Such a village name as Jaint or Mura is a familiar village name in the Sambalpur tract, but actually we do not get a village called Jaint except in Sambalpur, and that village is about fifty miles off from Kumurukelā. 2. This charter of a later Kimiḍi-Bhañja of Baud was given. to me by Mahārājā B. M. Sing Deo on the first of July 1916, and I took it up to edit, forgetting as it were that I am blind now. I made my amanuensis to draw the inscribed letters on the palm of my hand to enable me to decipher the text; it affords me very great delight that following this curious process I have been able to decipher the record successfully and can confidently publish an account of it. I offered this tentative suggestion in editing another Bhañja record (this journal of June 1916, page 168) that the lines beginning with Samhāra Kāla were a débris of some verses composed in the Vasanta tilaka metre, and that in the event of a discovery of a better plate the text might be reconstructed. This suggestion of mine is now proved to be wholly correct, as in this record the lines beginning with Sambara Kāla (plate I, 1. 2) and ending with nṛpasya (ibid, 1. 8) are found correctly inscribed in the Vasanta tilaka metre. I must note, however, that the subsequent portion of the text is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. 3. The seal, in the lower part of which the ends of the ring (on which the plates are suspended) are closed, contains the legend Sri Satru Bhañja Devasya in two lines, and over the name of the Raja there is a half-moon which is a Saiva symbol. In the seals of the earlier Bhañja Rājās we meet with the figure of the bull Nandin, and in the text the phrase Paramamaheśvara occurs as an appellation of the Rājās. As both these elements are wanting in this charter, and as the grantor calls himself a Raṇaka (pl. II, p. 2, 1. 3) and not a Raja proper we may safely infer that this Satrubhañja was a feudatory of the Kimiḍi Bhañjas, and was a later descendant of Rana Bhanja whose charter was published in the June number of this journal in 1916. As such I am inclined to place this Śatrubhañja some time between 1300 and 1350. It may, moreover, be noticed that this Raja who comes after the aforesaid Rana Bhañja is the son of Angati who also was a Rājā of Baud (pl. I, ll. 7 and 8). It has been distinctly mentioned that the territory governed by him fell within the Khiñjani maṇḍala (pl. II, p. 1, 1. 6). That Khinjani and Khindini are variants of the name Khimiḍi or Kimiḍi has been noted under the text. That the grantor became from the fact that the a thoroughgoing Vaisnava is evident charter begins with an Arya verse composed in the name of Visņu. The verses in the name of Śiva which follow were inserted as it was customary in the family to inscribe those verses in all their charters. 4. The grant of the villages Kumurukela and Jaintāmurā situate in the Uttarapalli visaya, was made on the day next following the Ekadasi tithi of the month Kartika which is specially sacred because of Visņu's turning over his side preparatory to his waking up. This day was considered to be the day of autumn equinox. The date Kartika Sukladvādaśi has been twice mentioned in the text, and it has been stated that the gift was made after worshipping the God Visņu; Visņu Bhaṭtārakamuddiśya is the actual phrase which occurs in the text (pl. II, p. 1, ll. 10, 11). Neither the tithi nor the regnal year fifteen (pl. III, p. 1, 1. 11) gives any clue to the date. The writer in charge was Savaradatta (called Sandhi Vigrahika) and the engraver was Devala of the goldsmith (Suvarṇatkāra) caste (pl. III, outer side 1. 1). 5. The Brahman grantee was Bhața Manoratha, son of Bhață Nārāyana, who migrated from a village called Bangakuți and was a resident at the time of the grant of the villages at Gandhaṭapāți; neither of these villages can now be identified, for they must have been situate somewhere outside the state. This Brahman belonged, I suppose, to the Kasyapa gotra and was a student of the Rgveda Charana; as to his Pravaras my remarks under the text may be referred to (see notes 14 and 15 to lines 1 and 2, pl. II, p. 2). 6. The plates measure 8" x 5", and the weight of the whole record with the ring and the seal is three seers and three chattaks corresponding to six pounds and six ounces. The second compound letter of the name of the grantor Rājā bas to be specially observed. The name occurs thrice in this record, first on the seal, secondly, in the fifth line of the second plate, first side, and thirdly, or finally, in the third line on the reverse side of the second plate. In all these cases the second compound letter of the name is identical with a Bengali letter in form; Bengali 'tra' looks like the Bengali vowel 'e', and when tru' is written, a curved stroke is added to the right in the middle, but this curved stroke faces downwards when the letter is the compound letter kra'. It will be observed that the stroke I speak of, comes downwards in this record in all the three places mentioned above. I am perfectly aware that when the stroke comes downwards more as a perpendicular line than as a curve, long ́ū’ is indicated. Considering the fact that Satru Bhañja is a pet name in the family of the early Bhañjas, I have given the name to be Śatru Bhañja accepting the long 'ū' as a bad spelling; but it is not unlikely that the name may be Sakra Bhanja and not Śatru Bhañja. The word Śakra is a name of the god Indra who wields a ' vajra' in his hand. In the first line of the second plate, first side, we read the sentence khyātah khaḍgabhrājisņu bhuja vajra Bhañja bhūpatih; and here in the mention of the word vajra' a pun on the name of the Rājā may be suspected, if only we can accept the name to be Śakra Bhānja and not Śatru Bhanja. My present condition of life is in my way, and I therefore leave it to the expert epigraphists to decide whether the letter I specially note is tru' or 'kra’. TEXT. 1. The initial letters of the lines in verse, the names of gods and the important proper names are given in Capital letters. 2. Letters inadvertently dropped by the engraver are in small brackets (), while suggested emandations are given either in square brackets [] or in the footnotes. General incorrectness of the text has been allowed to stand; only a few corrections have been suggested for evident reasons. 3. The text being rather familiar now, only a few explanatory notes on some important points have been given under the text. FIRST PLATE (INNER SIDE). 1. Om Siddhih | Anavarata (1)-vahala-pu akaṁ-11 AKSMIkuca-pidanena duritam-vah Apaha 2. ratu surabhi-parimala-susatpadam-ura[b]sthalam VISNUH || Samhara (2) kāla hutabhug-vi 3. karala ghora Sambhrānta kimkara kṛtānta nitanta bhinnam Bhinn-Andhakäsura (3) mahāgaha 4. n=atapatram Tad bhairavaṁ HARA-vapu (:) r=bhavatāh prapātu (:) | Durvvāra-vāraṇa-raṇa-Pratipaksa-pa 5. Ksah (4) [ksā] [ksa] LLAKSMI haṭhāpaharaṇocchalita pratāpāh | BHANJA narādhipatayo bahavo babhubur = ù (1) The portion from Anavarata to Vişnuh in line 2 is in Arya meter. (2) From Sambara to Nṛpasya in the 8th line, the text is in Vasant-tailakā meter. (3) The Asura or demon Andhaka whom Siva slew. (*) Pakṣat Lakṣmi; this second word paksa means an elephant,-i.e. Laksmi or Glory was snatched away from the royal elephant of the enemy king. |