Indian Epigraphy c16.s5.51

c16.s5.51

In the medieval copper-plate inscriptions of the Sena kings of East India, the gift land usually carried with it the following privileges : together with jhāṭa and viṭapa; together with the land and waters; together with pits and barren lands; together with betelnut and coconut palms; with the ten sins tolerated (sahya-daś-āparādha); exempt from all troubles (probably meaning forced labour); not to be entered by the Caṭṭas and Bhaṭṭas (i.e. Cāṭas and Bhaṭas of earlier epigraphs); exempt from all dues (a-kiñcit-pragrāhya); including tṛṇayūti-gocara (grass land as well as grazing fields).³ In the first item, Sanskrit viṭapa means 'a bush', while jhāṭa (Bengali jhāḍ) also means the same thing. The expression jhāṭa-viṭapa thus means all kinds of bushes. Sahya-daś-āparādha seems to suggest that the fines for the ten offences were not to be levied from the gift village. In some cases, 'together with khila (fallow land) and nāla (cultivated land)' is added to the list, and it is further stated that the donees were entitled to raise temples and excavate tanks in the gift land as well as to plant betelnut and coconut palms.⁴ The grants of the Candras of Bengal usually add 'together with mango and jack fruit trees.'⁵ The privileges of the donees in regard to the enjoyment of particular trees, indicated in these cases, were not enjoyed by ordinary tenants. There is a case in the Vaṅgīya Sāhitya Pariṣad plate of Viśvarūpasena, in which a Brāhmaṇa purchased a plot of land from certain rent-paying tenants who had no right to the betelnut plantation on it; but, when the king made the plot rent-free in favour of the purchasing Brāhmaṇa, the ownership of the plantation automatically passed to him. This is because the possession of such plants was a monopoly of the kings, Jāgīrdārs and privileged tenants.¹