in the Sambalpur tract and resided principally in the Feudatory State of Sonpur. It is to be noted that Sonpur has been called a Pattana (Plate I, l. 10) in this reoord. As to the true significance of the term I refer the readers to my articleNotes on some Pāli Words—in the J. R. A. S. (Bombay branch) for 1909. Pattana' from which the term Pátnå has been derived meant originally such a port town on the confluence of some rivers, which had a royal seat. This is why the old Pātaliputra (or Påli-putta of the common parlance of the olden times) got the name Patna being situated on the confluence of the Ganges and Son. It will be found on the map that the present town of Sonpur stands exactly where it did during the days of Yayāti and his father, namely, on the confluence of the Tel (Tela of this record) and the Māhanadi-(Plate I, II. 2 and 3). It was, therefore, a fit place to be called a Pattana for fulfilling the physical conditions it had a residence of Rājādhirājā Yayāti. As neither the old capital of the Feudatory State of Patna nor any portion of that State is on the confluence of rivers, I strongly suspect that Sonpur was the capital of the portion of territories of the Gupta Rājās we are dealing with, which may be identified with the whole of the Sambalpur traci including the State of Patna, and that when a Rājā subsequently lost the Sonpur area and had to be satisfied with the possession with the area covered by the Patna State, the name Pattana attached to the town of Sonpur was given to the capital of the limited area. Dr. Fleet places the rulers of the charters under consideration in the 11th century A.D. It is therefore very interesting that the spot on which the royal pavilion of King Yayāti stood when this charter was issued, bears even to-day the unmistakable sign that there was once a Vihärärama (Plate I, I. 4) or a park there. The groves of trees now existing may not be very old, but this spot at the east end of the town has never been the homestead land of the people of the town. There are also many temples there, though it cannot be said with certainty that they are the very temples named in the fourth line of the first plate ; there is even now on the spot the temple of the goddess Bhagavati but she is not called to-day Panchambari Bhadrambika.

VI.-It has been recited in this charter (Plate 2, page 1, 11. 6 and 8 ; and Plate 2, page 2, ll. 1-3) that the two villages Miranja and Murā which were granted to the Brāhman donee Yasakara, were situate within the Sautobarda section or khanda of Sambarabādi circle or Mandala (of which Vrihat Bhusai-Grāma was the chief place), and within the Visaya or Parganā or Ilākā of Bhranda in the Rosala country. Though there are many villages in the Sambalpur traot which bear the very place names with slightly altered pronunciation, no identification could be made of the villages which are really meant in the recital of the gift ; we may meet with a village Marà but we do not get a Máranja close by and cannot find a village called Bad-Bhusãi either near Murā or near Māranja. It was snggested to me by a friend that the district of Sambalpur was meant by Sambarabādi Mandala, but I could not persuade myself to accept the suggestion, though I admit that the words Sambara and Sambala are really the same. It has been stated that the donee Yasakara who was the son of Sauti. kara and the grandson of Nārāyana came to be settled in the Sonpur State after having migrated from the village Hasti in the Madhyadesa. No doubt, Kananj was once called Madhyadesa and the Brāhmans of Bengal and Orissă claim to have migrated from there, but I think that the tract covered by the northern portion of the district of Balāsore and the subdivision of Contai is meant here. My reasons for this supposition are, (1) that the Oriya Brāhmans and Mahāntis who live in the Contai subdivision call themselves the inhabitants of the Madhyadesa, that is, the tract lying between Bengal and Orissă ; (2) that the other charters of the Trikalinga Guptas disclose the fact that the Brāhmans who were given lands in the Kosala country and who bore the family name Kara were brought from the Odra-desa ; and (3) that it was not likely that Brāh. manas came direct from Kanauj to be settled in Kosala to be associated with the Oriya-speaking Brahmans there. The donce

4

family has been described to be of the Parasarasa götra having the Atreya pravara and to belong to the Kanva branch of the Yajurveda.

VII.-It is clear on the face of it that the names of Karnāta, Lāta, Gurjara and Kanchi were inserted by the sycophants without really meaning anything. Yayāti, I should say, did not even dream that he should proceed to those far off countries to conquer them. It is also doubtful if Yayāti was the conqueror of Rādba and Gauda, for we find him always granting lands and enjoying supremacy in the forest tract of Sambalpur. The title Trikalingādhipati does not appear to be an empty title, since the title was invariably worn by the predecessor of Yayāti as well as by his successors, and the evidences of the influence of the family, in Orissā as well as in some portions of the Kosala country, have been obtained from various sources. One fact of this record is important with reference to the time of the grantor ; the separate mention of Kalinga, Kõngada and Utkala argues in favour of the supposition that the three countries were not then welded into one country at the time of this grant. It is notorious that previous to the discovery of some epigraphic records during the last decade in the Puri district, the name Kõngada was un intelligible even to the scholars and the mention of that name in the records of the Chinese travellers was supposed by many to be a wrong spelling of some geographical name. When towards the end of the Ilth century the Ganga Rājās sought to subvert the Utkala country, no portion of the district of Puri bore the name Kõngada.

VIII.-The statement in the charter that king Yayāti raised a storm in Gauda and Rādha by leading an assault against those countries, while he was the bright full moon in the purest sky of Bengal need be carefully considered. Yayāti like his father Janamejaya calls himself the lord of the Kosala country and paramount ruler of Trikalinga—which consisted of Utkala, Kõngada and Kalinga or a portion of the Ganjam district. He does not lay openly any claim to Bengal, and yet his stay in Bengal has been described to be peaceful and it has been said that he shines

in that country as the bright full moon. In what manner he was related to Bengal is not very clear, but that he and his father had Bengali Kayasthas as clerks and court-officials was shown by me in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XI, pages 101–4. The present record clearly names Bengal in the sixth line of the last plate. I do not know how the meaning of the sentence running over the sixth and the seventh lines would have been changed or modified if the three letters, after the letter fa at the commencement of the seventh line, could be clearly deciphered. The sentence, without those illegible letters after the name of Yayāti, means distinctly as follows :—Whoever will become King in futare in our Bengal line (Asmad-Vangānvaye), the dust of his feet am I-Yayāti. That the different branches of the Kosala Guptas reigned independently at different places was shown by me in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XI, pages 101-4. It appears that a branch of the Kosala Guptas became supreme in Bengal and Yayāti or more properly his father Janamejaya, who was a scion of that family, conquered the Trikalinga countries and became the supreme lord of the Sambalpur tract which was an outlying portion of the Kosala-desa. Perhaps Yayāti did not cease to acknowledge the supremacy of those who were ruling a portion of Bengal, and for that reason called himself the dust of the feet of the Bengal King who might be expected in future to interfere with the grant. This explains clearly why we get the Bengali Kayasthas in the service of the Kosala Guptas.

IX.-This charter was issued in the third year of the Vijaya Rajya of King Yayāti (last plate, l. 9) on the fifth day from the new moon in the month of the Vaisā ka and the writer of the charter, Ránaka Rudra Datta, was the grandson of Harsha Datta, and the son of the brother of Simba Datta. It is also to be noted that Rudra Datta, who was a Bengali Kayastha, calls hiniself a Ránaka, which indicates a Ksatriya origin (last plate, 1. 11).

First Plate (Inner side). 1. (Symbol of Om) वस्त्यपगत वहल कलि कलुष धम्मामृत विमल

शिशिर किरणावलि परिघटित चन्द्रवि 2. म्बोदय स्यन्दित पेन कुसुम सन्दर्भित तरबतर तरङ्गमाला विरचित

तिला महा 3. नदो सङ्गम विमल जल पवित्रोक्त धमधम्माभिनिवेशित सकल

जनकारिताने 4. क विविध देव कुलायतन 1

विहाराराम मडपोद्यान विचित्र कसमविटायतणो (१) 5. मञ्जरौ विकम्पित स्तवक सरभि कुसम रजो धूसरितवपुमनोहर पिदग्ध

भुजङ्ग 6. जनानोसनमाधिकृत (१) मद मुदित जन्म विभूम स्फुरित कमलवदन 7. समुल्लसित भू भङ्ग विक्षेपस्फटित कुवलयोहोतित वर कामिनी 8. सरत करण यापारानेक पतत्रोगण ससत्कण्ठितसरे [2] (?) धि [3] निर्गत

मयूर रूत

9. तूर्यनिर्घोष विरचितावसर भवनादवतीर्य सकललोकाभिल सित वरदाना 10. नुग्रह काम्यया भगवत्या श्रीपञ्चाम्बरि भद्राम्बिकयाधिष्ठिता पत्तन सुवर्णपु 11. रावामित श्रोमदिजयकटकादतिशयोजित प्रताप भारावनत समस्त

नृपति कुरुम्व 12. चूड़ामणि परिचम्वित पादपीठः। प्रथितानेक नल नहुध मान्धार

दिलीप भरत भाग

[%] I suggest fazutaa
1"] Read रो for रे
[8] Read fa for fy