Indian Epigraphy c16.s1.15

c16.s1.15

In some cases, we have the contraction śrī-ni⁷ in which śrī seems to stand for śrī-hasta or śrī-caraṇa, both of them being honorific expressions to indicate the king.⁸ Sometimes the endorsement reads śrī-ni mahāsā-ni⁹ which suggests that both the king and the Mahāsāndhivigrahika had occasion to examine the charter. In ni anu mahākṣa-ni,¹⁰ the first ni seems to stand for śrī-ni while the endorsement means that the charter was first examined by the king and then by the Mahākṣapaṭalika. In the contraction mahā-ni,¹¹ it is difficult to determine whether mahā stands for the *Mahāsāndhivigrahika* or any other high officer whose designation begins with the word *mahā*. Sometimes we have *mahāsām-karaṇa-ni*¹ indicating that the document was examined by the *karaṇa* (*adhikaraṇa*) or office (or clerk) of the *Mahāsāndhivigrahika*.