Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c14.s8.36

c14.s8.36

Lines 10–11: “those who were Brahmans by birth only”: For *viprā . . . kevalajātayo*, which Fleet renders as “those who were (only) once-born, (*becoming as it were*) Brāhmaṇs.” This seems unlikely, as it would hardly be to Kṛṣṇarāja’s credit that Brahmanical rites were performed by non-Brahmans under his auspices; while the restoration of fallen Brahmans to their former status was considered a highly virtuous act. Here, as occasionally elsewhere, Prinsep’s (actually Chakravarti’s) translation is more accurate: “those who were only nominally Bráhmanas.”