Indian Epigraphy c13.30

c13.30

While many records quote only one or a few of the stanzas, certain medieval charters quote 20 or more verses.² The most frequently quoted stanzas are the two in the Anuṣṭubh metre, viz., *Bahubhir=vasudhā bhuktā*, etc. (No. 23) and *Ṣaṣṭim varṣa-sahasrāṇi* (No. 123), though they are often quoted with the addition of one or more of the other verses. The two stanzas beginning with *Sva-dattām para-dattām vā* (Nos. 131-32) in the same metre are equally popular, though they are not generally found together in the earlier epigraphs. Most of the other verses are also in Anuṣṭubh. Among these, some are found in the records of different parts of India, while some occur occasionally in those of a particular area. Certain royal families (e. g. the Imperial Gaṅgas of Orissa) generally favoured a group of stanzas, a few of which are not usually met with elsewhere. The stanzas such as Nos. 30 (*Bhūmi-pradā*, etc.) and 99 (*Niśamya doṣam*, etc.) and others like Nos. 80-81 (*Kṣudra-paśv-aṇite*, etc.; *Hanti jātān*, etc.) are rarely quoted. Sometimes verses quoted from works other than the Dharmaśāstras are also noticed. Thus No. 88 (*Madhu-Kaiṭabha*, etc.) is quoted from Murāri's *Anargharāghava* in an inscription of 1521 A. D. There are many other stanzas of this nature, which do not appear to be quotations, but were probably composed by the court poets of the donors, who were responsible for drafting the documents.³ This seems to be supported by the fact that a few of the stanzas are sometimes found outside the usual list of imprecatory and benedictory verses.¹