the oval-shaped seal of the grantor. This seal bears the figure of a goddess in relief, squatting on a lotus, flanked on each side by an elephant with uplifted trunk. The goddess, therefore, is undoubtedly the representation of Kamala or Kamlātmikā of the group of the Dasa-Maha-Vidyas and as such she should not be confounded with the goddess Kamalā or Laksmi [1]. Unlike the seals attached to the charters of the father of the grantor, this seal does not contain any legend. The first plate is slightly thinner than the second one; but both of them measure almost equally in their breadth and height. The average breadth of the plates is 8" and the average height 4". Of the three plates of this charter the first and the last are written on the inner sides only. The third plate is very thin and was found broken in the middle, as well as at the corners, at the time of the discovery of the charter; but fortunately enough, this damage has not interfered with the legibility of the record. The letters wanting in the third plate, because of the top-corner to the left and a portion to the right side at the ends of lines 1-5 being broken have been put within square brackets. As the letters are missing in those familiar slokas invariably engraved on all charters of this class, there was no difficulty in filling up the gaps.

III. The remarks I made regarding the orthography of the Trikalinga Gupta records in my paper previously referred to (Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XI, page 93) apply fully to the orthography of this record; consequently, I do not deal with it here. Such wrong spellings as ddotita (Plate 1, l. 7) for dyotita, Yajati (Plate 2, page 1, 7. 6) for Yava'i, and mb for m in simbra and tambra are important as they show the then real pronunciation of them in the right Oriya fashion as is even now in vogue. I do not note such misprints as sasthin for sasthi as

[1] In the Brihat-Kali-Tantra, wherein all the goddesses of the group of the Dasa-Maha Vidyas have been accurately described in their Dhyanas, Kamalā or Kamalātmikā has been described exactly as she is found represented here. The elephants with uplitel trunks are constantly bathing the goddess with water, when she is seated on a lotus of many petals. (Vide— my paper on the Tantras in the magazine," Sahitya", of the Bengali year 1312, pages 131-138)

they will not interfere with the correct reading or with the interpretation of the text. I have suggested some emendations in the foot-notes to the text with a view to obtain an intelligible meaning. I have put those letters in small brackets which were dropped inadvertently by the engraver. I have mentioned it already that some missing letters have been put within square brackets.

IV. The imprecatory verses as well as the verses and the prose lines, which are word for word the same in all copper-plate charters of the Trikalinga Guptas, have not been translated here, as they have been translated several times by myself as well as by such learned scholars as Dr. J. F. Fleet and others in the Epigraphia Indica (e.g., Vol. III, pages 323-359 and Vol. XI, pages 93ff.). I may also mention that the importance of those verses is being discussed in the J. R. A. S. by Mr. F. E. Pargiter, I.c.s., retired. I give now a literal translation of the portion of the text which is new and original in this record. However, the words and phrases of historical importance as occur in the portion of the text not fully translated are set out in the next succeeding paragraphs with some comments, under the heading "Historical Notes."

Historical Notes.

V. It is very noteworthy that all the epigraphic records of the Trikalinga Guptas hitherto discovered and published, relate to the geographical area which may now be described as the Sambalpur tract. That this tract was a part of Kosala country of which Ratanpur in the district of Bilaspur was once the noted capital and did not politically form any part of Orissa from the earliest times to October, 1905, has been discussed by me in the Epigraphia Indica (Vol XI, pages 101-4) and in my work entitled Sonpur. This charter also discloses the fact that the villages Māranja and Murā granted by Yayati when residing at Sonpur were within the Kosala country (Plate II, page 1, paragraphs 6 and 7). When we take into consideration the dates of all the charters issued by Yayati and his father Jana mejaya, we find that both these rulers were constantly present

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 record. 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 Pātnā 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 Pataliputra (or Pali-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 Yayati and his father, namely, on the confluence of the Tel (Tela of this record) and the Mahanadi-(Plate I, l. 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 tract 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 Yayati stood when this charter was issued, bears even to-day the unmistakable sign that there was once a Vihārārama (Plate I, 7. 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, 1. 6 and 8; and Plate 2, page 2, l. 1-3) that the two villages Maranja and Mura which were granted to the Brahman donee Yasakara, were situate within the Sautobarda section or khanda of Sam barabadi circle or Mandala (of which Vrihat Bhusai-Grāma was the chief place), and within the Visaya or Pargana or Ilākā of Bhranda in the Kosala country. Though there are many villages in the Sambalpur tract 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 Murā but we do not get a Māranja close by and cannot find a village called Bad-Bhusai either near Mură or near Māranja. It was suggested to me by a friend that the district of Sambalpur was meant by Sambarabadi 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 Sautikara 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, Kanauj was once called Madhyadesa and the Brahmans of Bengal and Orissa claim to have migrated from there, but I think that the tract covered by the northern portion of the district of Balasore and the subdivision of Contai is meant here. My reasons for this supposition are, (1) that the Oriya Brahmans and Mahantis who live in the Contai subdivision call themselves the inhabitants of the Madhyadesa, that is, the tract lying between Bengal and Orissä ; (2) that the other charters of the Trikalinga Guptas disclose the fact that the Brahmans 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 Brāhmanas 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 gōtra 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 Radha and Gauda, for we find him always granting lands and enjoying supremacy in the forest tract of Sambalpur. The title Trikalingadhipati does not appear to be an empty title, since the title was invariably worn by the predecessor of Yayati as well as by his successors, and the evidences of the influence of the family, in Orissa 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, Kōngada 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 Kōngada 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 11th century the Ganga Rājās sought to subvert the Utkala country, no portion of the district of Puri bore the name Kōngada.

VIII. The statement in the charter that king Yayāti raised a storm in Gauda and Radha by leading an assault against those countries, while he was the bright full moon in the purest sky of Bengal need be carefully considered. Yayati like his father Janamejaya calls himself the lord of the Kosala country and paramount ruler of Trikalinga—which consisted of Utkala, Kōngada 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