Indian Epigraphy c16.s8: 8. Miscellaneous Terms

Indian Epigraphy c16.s8

Language: English

8. Miscellaneous Terms

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Besides the categories discussed above, techinical expressions of various other kinds are often noticed in Sanskrit inscriptions. We have referred in the course of our discussion to words like utkoṭa, umbara, setikā, paṅga, etc. These are not recognised in Sanskrit lexicons. But the first three are found in Prakrit in the forms ukkoḍa, ummara and seiā or seigā, while the last is apparently borrowed from the Dravidian language. There are numerous other cases of these types. Besides there are many expressions of the Deśī class, the meanings of which are uncertain, to some of which reference has been made above. Again, we have sometimes expressions which are Sanskrit, though the meanings in which they are used in the inscriptions are not recognised in the Sanskrit lexicons. Only a few items of the various categories can be mentioned here.

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Among words which can be traced in Prakrit but which are not recognised in Sanskrit lexicons, we may further refer to varṇikā and chimpaka used in Viṣṇuṣeṇa’s charter.² They are respectively the same as Prakrit vaṇṇiā meaning ‘a sample’

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² Ibid., Vol. XXX, pp. 177-78.

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and *chimpaya* meaning ‘a dyer of clothes’. Sometimes Prakrit words were wrongly Sanskritised. Reference may be made in this connection to *utkṛṣṭi* derived from Prakrit *ukkuṭṭhi* (*Sanskrit utkrośa*) meaning ‘wailing’.¹ Similar is the case with *dheṅku-kaḍḍhaka* and *nīla-ḍumphaka* which appear to have been imperfectly Sanskritised.²

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¹ Ibid., p. 171.

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² Ibid., p. 172. Cf. *āvedana* (tax) from Oḍiyā *āvadānā* (Vol. XXXIII, p. 292).

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There are many words of Dravidian origin used in the Sanskrit inscriptions. An interesting word of this category is *pukkoli*, *pukkūli* or *pukkolli* found in certain Sanskrit inscriptions from the Kannaḍa-speaking area in expressions like *pukkoli-kṣetra* or *pukkoli-khajjana*. The word *khajjana*, also spelt *khajjaṇa*, *khajjāna*, *khajjaṇaka*, etc., is the same as Marāṭhī *khājaṇ*. It is a Sanskritised Deśī word meaning ‘the area [near the sea-shore], on which a thin layer of sand accumulates after the ebb-tide coming through inlets’ and ‘a rice field created out of such an area near a hillock by erecting embankments on the three other sides’, or ‘a field created by reclamation of the river-bed’.³ We were formerly inclined to regard the word *pukkoli*, *pukkūli* or *pukkolli* as derived from *poṅkalu* found in records of the Telugu-speaking area in the sense of Telugu *pokalu* meaning arecanuts⁴ and *pukkoli-kṣetra* as a piece of land having an arecanut plantation on it.⁵ It would then be the same as *guvāka-vāstu-bhū* or *kalana*, a Bengali word not found in Bengali lexicons, but mentioned in the Vaṅgīya Sāhitya Pariṣad plate⁶ of Viśvarūpasena of Bengal. A recently published inscription however suggests that *pukkoli* and its variants mean ‘land inundated by floods [of the ebb-tide]’. It would thus mean a kind of field similar to *khajjana*.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXXIII, pp. 53-54.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 238, text line 145; Vol. XII, p. 196, text line 165.

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⁵ Ibid., Vol. XXXV, p. 152.

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⁶ N. G. Majumdar, *Ins. Beng.*, Vol. III, p. 146 (text line 50), p. 147 (text lines 55 and 59).

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The number of Deśī words of uncertain meaning found in inscriptions is too many. Viṣṇuṣeṇa’s charter uses such expressions as *khovā*, *kelā*, *bharolaka*, *desya*, *allavāṭa*, *lakaṭā*, etc., the meanings of which are not definitely known.¹

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¹ Ibid., pp. 171, 175-178.

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Among Sanskrit words with modified meaning we may refer to the following expressions in Viṣṇuṣena’s charter : *chātra* (literally ‘an umbrella-bearer’ but actually the leader of a group of Pāiks, Piādas or Peons), *karaṇa* (court), *vārika* (official), *atiyātrika* (tax for crossing the boundary), *vahitra* (wagon carrying merchandise), *viṁśopaka* (a particular coin), *avalokyā* (detection), *dhārmika* (a levy in the name of a religious festival), *prāveśya* (entry tax), *nairgamika* (exit tax), etc.² The word *vārika* is used in some records in the sense of a temple superintendent like the Paṇḍā of today.³ The Midnapur plates of the time of Śaśāṅka not only uses the word *karaṇa* in the sense of *adhikaraṇa* but also *adhi* or *ādhi* for *adhikaraṇika* or *ādhikaraṇika* in a verse.⁴ In medieval inscriptions from Orissa, the king is sometimes indicated in expressions like *śrī-hasta* and *śrī-caraṇa*.⁵ The words *kīrti*, *kīrtana* and *kīrtanā* are sometimes used to indicate a performance (e.g., a temple, an image, a grant of land, etc.) calculated to render the person responsible for it famous.⁶ The word *pūrvā* is often used with special reference to a *praśasti* (eulogy) or *tithi* (lunar day) even though essentially it means ‘the above’ i.e. the above-quoted or above-mentioned thing in the feminine gender.⁷

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² Ibid., pp. 171, 173-76. Some interesting words in the same record are : *hrasita*, *śayaniy-āsana-siddhānna*, *abhyupāgama*, *rājārghikā*, *rājakule=dhikarana*, *reṣa*, *āvedanaka*, *rāja-graha*, *prapāpūraka*, *arth-ābhiyukta*, *pratisamāsana*, *abhilekhitaka*, *grāhya*, *māna-pautava*, *peṭavika-vārika*, *vinaya*, *uttara-kulika-vārika*, *chala*, *mudrāpacāra*, *saṁvadana*, *jayika*, *bhāṣā*, *ullambana*, *karṇatroṭaṇa*, *tauṇḍika*, *caturtha*, *grahaṇaka*, *daṇḍaka*, *gañja*, *kalvapāla-vārika*, *śoṭī*, *nīla-kuṭī*, *yantra-kuṭī*, *varṣa-paryuṣita*, *bhāṇḍa-bhṛta-vahitra*, *śulk-ātiyātrika*, *mahiṣ-oṣṭra-bharaka*, *poṭṭalikā-saṁkācitaka*, *kaṇikkā*, *vara-yātrā*, *madya-vahanaka*, *khalla*, *pāda-ghaṭa*, *chimpaka*, *kolika*, *padakāra*, *paṭṭaka-dhārmika*, etc.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXXI, p. 164, note 1.

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⁴ Cf. Ind. Cult., Vol. IX, p. 121, note.

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⁵ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, p. 304. Such expressions were also used in other regions; cf. Tamil *Śrīpādakkol* meaning the measuring rod based on the length of the foot of the king (Kulottuṅgacoḷa I).

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⁶ CII, Vol. III, pp. 212-13, note; Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, p. 184; Vol. XXXIII, p. 170.

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⁷ Cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, p. 123. Sometimes the word seems to be wrongly used as a synonym of *praśasti* or *tithi*.

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We have referred above to the *Viṃśopaka* coin which is mentioned in Viṣṇuṣeṇa’s charter along with the coin called *Rūpaka*. It seems to have been a copper coin, 20 of which made one silver coin called *Rūpaka*.¹ In this connection, it may be noticed that an interesting class of words found in inscriptions represents similar other names of coins.²

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¹ In some inscriptions of the Gujarat region, the word *viṃśopaka* is also used in the sense of a land measure which was apparently the 20th part of the standard measure of land. Cf. A.K. Majumdar, *The Chaulukyas of Gujarat*, p. 244.

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Some inscriptions of the time of the Śaka ruler Nahapāna (c. 119-24 A.D.) mention *Kārṣāpaṇa*, thirtyfive of which are stated to have been equal to the *Suvarṇa*. According to early Indian authorities, *Kārṣāpaṇa*, otherwise called *Purāṇa* or *Dharaṇa*, was a silver coin weighing 32 *Ratis* (58.56 grains) while *Suvarṇa* was a gold coin weighing 80 *Ratis* (146.4 grains), although the coins mentioned in the said inscriptions apparently refer respectively to the silver coins issued by Nahapāna and the gold coins of the Kuṣāṇa emperors.³ The weight of the former was that of the Graeco-Persian *hemi-drachma* (43.² grains) and of the latter that of the Roman *aurei* (124 grains).⁴ A coin called *Dināri-māṣaka* is known from the records of the Ikṣvākus of the 3rd and 4th centuries.⁵ The word *dināri* is derived from the name of the Roman silver coins called *Denarius* (124 grains) while *māṣaka* was an Indian coin which was one-sixteenth of the standard silver money. The *Dināri-māṣaka* may have been the coins which were issued by the Ikṣvāku kings and were probably equal to one-sixteenth of the Roman *Denarius* in value at least theoretically.⁶ The gold and silver coins of the Gupta emperors are called *Dināra* or *Suvarṇa* and *Rūpaka* respectively,⁷ the weight of the former being originally that of the Roman aureus and later that of the Indian Suvarṇa, while the latter followed the weight standard of the silver coins of the Śakas of Western India.

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² Very often the designation of the standard coins also indicates ‘money’.

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³ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 158-59, 162.

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⁴ E. J. Rapson, *Indian Coins*, pp. 17, 21.

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⁵ *Select Inscriptions*, p. 222. Cf. *dinnāra* (cowrie-shell) in the *Rājatarangiṇī*.

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⁶ *Suc. Sāt. L. Dec.*, p. 27, note. Roman coins were in circulation in the Ikṣvāku kingdom and the neighbouring regions.

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⁷ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 273, 284, 286, 325, 330, 338-39, 344, etc.; *CII*, Vol. III, p. 265, etc. The Sanskrit part of an early Pāṇḍya inscription (*A. R. Ep.*, 1908, No. 136) records the gift of ten *Dināras* for a perpetual lamp, its Tamil counterpart using the word *Kāśu* for *Dināra*.

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Sometimes coins were named after their issuer and remained in circulation for centuries after their actual issue. Thus the Anjaneri plates¹ (709 A. D.) of Sendraka Bhogaśakti refer to the currency of the coins called Kṛṣṇarāja-rūpaka in Western India. The Kṛṣṇarāja-rūpaka was the silver coin issued by the Kalacuri king Kṛṣṇarāja who ruled in the second half of the 6th century A.D.² Similar is the case with the Ādivarāhadramma and Vigrahapāla-dramma which were respectively silver coins issued by the Partihāra king Bhoja I Ādivarāha (c. 836-85 A.D.) and bearing the legend śrīmad-Ādivarāha, and those issued by a certain Vigrahapāla.³ Similar names of coins issued by the Caulukyas of Gujarat are Bhīmapriya-dramma and Viśalapriya-viṃśopaka known from some inscriptions.⁵ The word dramma, found on certain copper coins issued by the Yaudheyas about the 3rd century A.D.,⁴ was derived from Greek drachma, its old Attic standard being 67.5 grains although the Indo-Greeks adopted the Persian siglos standard of 86.45 grains.⁶ Of the Muhammadan coin names Dirham and Dām, the first was derived from the Greek word and the second from its Indian form. Wilson’s Glossary mentions the Dirham as a silver coin weighing about 50 grains. The Akbarī Dām (old Dramma) was a copper coin, 40 of which made a silver Rūpia (Sanskrit rūpya, rūpyaka, i.e. Rupee) while 46⅓

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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXV, p. 229; The Classical Age, p. 195.

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² The word rūpaka is found as rūpa in an early medieval epigraph from Orissa. Rūpa as a coin is found in Telugu.

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³ V.A. Smith, Catalogue, pp. 239, 241, etc. The Siyadoni inscriptions mention Pañciyaka-dramma along with Ādivarāha-dramma, the former probably being a copper coin one-fourth of the latter in value (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 178, text lines 37-38; Vol. XXX, pp. 212-13). Whether Pañciyaka was from Pañca (Pañcāyat) cannot be determined. The Vigrahapāla-dramma, probably also called Vigrahatuṅga-dramma, is mentioned in the Siyadoni inscriptions (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. I, pp. 167, 169).

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⁴ A. K. Majundar, The Chaulukyas of Gujarat, pp. 269, 271. Caulukya inscriptions also mention the Rūpaka and Kārṣāpaṇa coins (ibid., p. 171).

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⁵ The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 167; Smith, Catalogue, p. 182.

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⁶ Rapson, op. cit., pp. 3, 6.

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Alamgīrī Dāms made a Rupee. The proportionate rates varied in later times and were liable to great fluctuation. Another late medieval coin named Dāmṛī, sometimes regarded as equal to 3½ or 3¼ Dāms or from 8 to 12 cowries, appears to have originated from the same source.¹ The Dramma is mentioned in medieval Tamil inscriptions as Diramam.² In the epigraphs of the Kannaḍa-speaking area, there are references to various kinds of Drammas such as Gara-dramma, Dāya-dramma and Beḷḷiya-dramma.³ The expression beḷḷiya-dramma means ‘silver Dramma’.

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¹ Cf. Wilson's Glossary, s. v. Dām and Dāmṛī.

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² SII, Vol. IV, No. 813; Vol. VIII, No. 40.

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³ See A.R. Ep., 1933-34, B. K. No. 30; etc. Bhāskarācārya's Līlāvatī (I. 2), apparently referring to the Kannaḍa-Marāṭhī region of the 13th century, speaks of 20 Cowrie-shells=1 Kākiṇī, 4 Kākiṇīs=1 Paṇa, 16 Paṇas=1 Dramma [of silver], and 16 Drammas=1 Niṣka [of gold].

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The medieval inscriptions of the Orissa region speak of a coin called Māḍha (sometimes called Māḍhā) which was of both gold and silver. Oḍiyā lexicons recognise the word in the sense of the weight of half a Karṣa or Tolā, i.e. 40 Ratis, although it is believed to have been regarded in later times to have been half this weight. The same name occurs in Telugu records as Māḍa which is explained in the lexicons as an old gold coin weighing about 25 grains.⁴ Various kinds of Māḍhas or Māḍas are known from inscriptions, e.g. Malla-māḍa, Malla-nandi-māḍa, Surabhi-māḍa, Gaṇḍa-māḍa, Kulottuṅga-māḍa, Gandhavāraṇa-māḍa or Gandhahasti-māḍa, Cāmara-māḍa, Uttama-gaṇḍa-māḍa, Padmanidhi-malla-māḍa, Rājarāja-māḍa, Rājendra-coḷa-māḍa, etc.⁵ The Gaṇḍa-māḍa is sometimes also called Kārṣāpaṇa, Niṣka and Gaṇḍa-niṣka, although originally the weight of a silver and gold Kārṣāpaṇa was respectively 32 and 80 Ratis (i.e. 58.56 and 146.4 grains) and that of a gold Niṣka 4 Suvarṇas or 320 Ratis (585.6 grains). The epithet ‘small’ applied to the Gaṇḍa-māḍa in some records suggests that all the Māḍas did not follow the same weight standard. The Cāmara-māḍa reminds us of the Cāmara coin of medieval Orissa, which weighed 4 Ratis and was probably also called Ciṇā, ten of which were regarded as equal to a *Māḍa*. The *Rāja-rāja-māḍa* was probably issued by Cālukya Rājarāja I of Veṅgī and *Kulottuṅga-māḍa* or *Rājendra-coḻa-māḍa* by the Coḻa-Cālukya king Rājendra Kulottuṅga I. Considering the meanings of the words in the names of the coins such as *malla* (a wrestler), *nandin* (Śiva’s bull), *surabhi* (a mythical cow), *gaṇḍa* (a rhinoceros), *gandha-vāraṇa* or *°hastin* (an elephant in rut) and *cāmara* (a chowrie), it appears that these referred to particular representations on the coins. The word *padmanidhi* is sometimes used in inscriptions in the sense of a sacred deposit made in the temple treasury and the *Padmanidhi-malla-māḍa* may have been a coin issued by the temples.

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⁴ JNSI, Vol. XV, p. 139. The name is derived from Tamil māḍa or māḍai (Sanskrit māṣa or its modification māṣā).

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⁵ Ibid., Vol. XVI, pp. 42-43.

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In Tamil inscriptions, the coins called *Kāśu* and *Māḍai* (the same as *Māḍa* of the Telugu epigraphs) are very often mentioned, sometimes in association with various names as in *Sambirānippalaṅ-gāśu*, *Rājarājaṅ-māḍai*, *Bhujabala-māḍai*, *Madhurāntakaṅ-māḍai*, etc.¹ An inscription² of 1030 A.D. equates one *Rājarājaṅ-māḍai* (i.e. *Māḍai* issued by the Coḻa king Rājendra I, 985-1014 A.D.) with 1 1/8 *Kaḻañju* of gold, while another epigraph³ speaks of one unspecified *Māḍai* as equal to 1 3/4 *Kaḻañjus*. Similarly two other inscriptions⁴ of the 11th century equate one *Kaḻañju* of gold respectively with two *Kāśus* and one and six-twentieth *Kāśus*. The basis of the Tamil weight system was the *Mañjāḍi* which was regarded by medieval authors as 1/20th of a *Kaḻañju* and equal to two *Ratis* of the North and has been equated with 4 grains in Wilson’s *Glossary*.⁵ The equation of the *Māḍai* and *Kāśu* with the *Kaḻañju* weight of gold in the above epigraphs shows that they were gold coins though there was difference either in the weight or in the metalic purity amongst different varieties of both the coins.⁶ About the beginning of the 19th century, *Kāśu* (spelt Cash in English) was a small copper coin, 80 of which were taken as equal to a small silver coin called Paṇam (spelt Fanam in English), a name derived from Sanskrit Paṇa which was originally a copper coin weighing 80 Ratis (146.4 grains).¹ In the medieval period, Paṇam was the name of a small gold coin about 6 grains in weignt,² and was regarded sometimes as 1/16 of a Hūn or Varāha, called Pagoda or Star Pagoda in English and weighing about 50 grains.³ Ceylonese coins were called Iḷa-kkāśu in Tamil records and Chinese gold currency as Cīna-kkanakam.⁴ The standard coin of the Koṅgu country in the north-western part of the Tamil-speaking area and in Kerala was called Accu which is supposed to have been a gold coin, one Kaḻañju in weight. In an inscription⁵ of 1156 A.D., one Accu is equated with 9 1/4 Kāśus, Kāśu probably indicating a silver coin in this case. Inscriptions of the Koṅgu country mention various kinds of Accus such as Ānai-accu, Nall-ānai-accu, Paḻamudal-accu, Paḻañjalāgai-accu, Paduccalāgai-accu, Amudan-accu, Uṇḍi-accu, etc., with reference, in some cases, to the deviation from the standard fineness of their gold content. The word ānai suggests that the coins in question originally bore the representation of an elephant.⁶

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¹ SII, Vol. V, Nos. 572, 520, 1361; *A. R. Ep.* 1915, No. 157.

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² Ibid., No. 520.

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³ Ibid., No. 788.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. VIII, No. 737; Vol. V, No. 1356.

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⁵ *JNSI*, Vol. XIII, p. 191.

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⁶ Cf. ibid., Vol. XX, pp. 11-12. In recording the gift of gold coins to temples, Tamil inscriptions often specifically mention that they were not wanting in purity and weight and that the marks or impressions on them were in tact. Cf. ibid., p. 9; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXX, p. 109.

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¹ Cf. Wilson's Glossary, s. v. Kāśu, Pan.

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² Hobson-Jobson, s. v. Fanam.

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³ The word pagoda is now generally regarded as a corruption of Bhagavatī, i.e. the goddess Durgā. The coins often bore the representation of a deity or temple.

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⁴ JNSI, Vol. XX, pp. 12-13.

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⁵ A. R. Ep., 1936-37, No. 68.

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⁶ JNSI, Vol. XX, p. 14.

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We have referred above to the frequent reference to the Dramma in the medieval inscriptions of the Kannaḍa-speaking area. An equally popular coin of the same region was the Gadyāṇa or Gadyāṇaka (often contracted into Ga or Gadyā), various types of which are known from epigraphic records. Thus we have Bhairava-gadyāṇa, Lokki-gadyāṇa, Aṅka-gadyāṇa, Gāva-gadyāṇa, Komarina-gadyāṇa, Priyaśrāha-Gajamalla-gadyāṇa, Ambili-gadyāṇa, Jagadaḷam-gadyāṇa, etc.⁷ It is generally believed that the Lokki-gadyāṇa was the Gadyāṇa minted at Lokkiguṇḍi (modern Lakkundi in the Dharwar District). Komarinagadyāṇa reminds us of the tax called Kumāra-gadyāṇa mentioned in the inscriptions of the Gāhaḍavālas.¹ Gold coins were often called Pon or Hon, the word ponnu or honnu meaning ‘gold’ in Kannaḍa.² Probably the same coin was sometimes called Niṣka.³ The Gadyāṇa was also called Poṇ-Gadyāṇa or Gadyāṇa-ponnu indicating that it was a gold coin. The said coin was in some cases called Suvarṇa. An inscription⁴ of 1184 A.D. speaks of 2 Paṇas or Haṇas as the rate of annual interest on a Gadyāṇa or Pon and of 4 Pons accruing annually to 20 Gadyāṇas. One Pon or Gadyāṇa was therefore equal to 10 Paṇas. Coins called Hāga (Bhāga) and Visa and a particular variety of the latter known as Lokkiya-visa (possibly Visa minted at Lokki or Lokkiguṇḍi) are also known from inscriptions.⁵ Five Lokkiya-Visas are stated to have been the interest on one Pon (Gadyāṇa) per month.⁶ Mention is sometimes made of the ‘big’ and ‘small’ Hāga (Bhāga). The Brāhmaṇas of Salotgi (Bijapur District) were asked to pay to the local school, for the maintenance of its students, 5 Puṣpas (literally ‘flowers’) of good metal on the occasion of a marriage, half of the amount on that of an upanayana and half of the latter on that of a cūḍākarman.⁷ Although the custom of offering gold and silver flowers to deities is known,⁸ the puṣpa in the Salotgi records appears to mean a coin probably bearing the representation of a flower (cf. the padmaṭaṅka).

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⁷ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, p. 55; SII, Vol. XI, Part ii, No. 136, text line 55; A. R. Ep., 1958-59, No. B 693 (transcript); Khare, Sourc. Med. Hist.

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¹ Cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, pp. 106, 109, etc. Cf. Tamil Kumara-kaccāṇa.

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² A. R. Ep., 1933-34, B. K. No. 188.

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⁴ SII, Vol. XI, Part ii, p. 225 (No. 173, lines 55-56).

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⁵ A. R. Ep., 1933-34, B. K. No. 120.

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⁶ Ibid., No. 185.

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⁷ Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 58 and note 1.

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⁸ Ibid., Vol. XXX, p. 86.

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The inscriptions of the Senas of Bengal refer to the Dek., pp. 27, 36; B. K. No. 154 of 1933-34. Bhāskarācārya’s Līlāvatī (1.³) gives the weight of a Gadyānaka as follows : 2 Yavas=1 Guñjā or Rati; 4 Ratis=1 Valla, 8 Vallas=1 Dharaṇa, 2 Dharaṇas=1 Gadyānaka. A Gadyānaka was thus 48 Ratis in weight.

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³ Ibid., B. K. No. 153.

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revenue-income of land in *Kapardaka-purāṇas*,¹ in which *kapardaka* means ‘a cowrie-shell’ and *purāṇa* the old silver coin 32 *Ratis* in weight, also called *Kārṣāpaṇa*. The expression *kapardaka-purāṇa* apparently means a *Purāṇa* counted in *Kapardakas*. This is because the Senas and other early medieval rulers of the Bengal region did not issue any coin and the transactions were carried on mostly in cowrie-shells. In the late medieval period, 80 cowries were usually regarded as equal to one *Paṇa* and 16 *Paṇas* as equal to one *Kāhaṇa* (Sanskrit *Kārṣāpaṇa*).

Linked texts (3)

Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit
Līlāvaī — Kouhala, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
Anjanēri plates (second set) of Bhōgaśakti — Sanskrit