Indian Epigraphy c16.s4.64

c16.s4.64

Monier-Williams recognises the word *bhoga* in the sense of possession, property, wealth, revenue, etc., while Wilson’s Glossary mentions two kinds of *bhoga* or possession, viz. with or without obstruction. We have also inscriptions speaking of a *vīthī* (a shop or stall) in a market-place as *bhog-ādhīnā* with reference to its lying in the possession of an individual. From the sense of ‘possession’, the word *bhoga*, as also *bhukti*, came to be used in the sense of ‘the property under one’s possession’. We have instances in which expressions like *Mahārāja-Sarvanātha-bhoga* and *Mahāsāmantādhipati-śrī-Śrīdhara-bhoga* respectively mean ‘a *Jāgīr* (*bhoga*) in the possession of Mahārāja Sarvanātha’ and ‘a *Jāgīr* in the possession of the illustrious *Mahāsāmantādhipati* Śrīdhara.’² The use of *bhoga* and *bhukti* in the sense of a territorial unit seems to be due to a further expansion of this meaning of the words.³