The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.164

c20.164

Most of the occasions on which our grants were made are those which have been regarded as particularly sacred by the Smriti and Purana literature of our age. Many of our grants have been given on the days of the monthly saṃkrāntis, the sanctity of which has been recognised by Laghu-Sātātapa Smriti.(129) Uttarāyaṇa and Dakshiṇāyana days on which some of our grants(130) were given were of course regarded as particularly sacred; some of the Raṭṭa records(131) show that even the Jains regarded these days as specially holy for such purposes. The belief in the sanctity of the days of the equinox, which is attested to by the Viddhavasishṭha Smṛti(132) is seen reflected in the Antroli-Chharoli record, which mentions a gift made on the day of the autumnal equinox.(133) The sanctity of Kapilāshashṭhī is attested to by the Mangoli inscription(134) which records numerous donations made on that rare parvan. The College at Salotgi got extensive gifts on a sarvapitṛ-amāvāsyā day(135) and the Nadwadinge grant of Kṛshṇa II(136) was made on the auspicious occasion of a siddhiyoga. The tulāpurusha gift of Dantidurga was given on the day of the rathasaptamī, which is declared to be a particularly holy day in the *Bhavishyapurāṇa* and the *Kāsī Khaṇḍa* of the *Skandapurāṇa*¹³⁷. The Torkhede grant of Govinda III¹³⁸ was given on the occasion of a *vijayā saptamī* and the charity given on this day is described in the *Bhavishya-purāṇa*¹³⁹ as hundredfold efficacious. This Purana describes *vijayā saptamī* as a name given to the 7th day of the bright half of a fortnight, if it falls on a Sunday and is presided over by a lunar mansion consisting of five stars. It is a pity that our inscription should not have specified the week day and its lunar mansion, so that we could have verified the statement of the *Bhavishyapurāṇa* about the *vijayā saptamī*. The Baroda plates of Dhruva II¹⁴⁰ record a grant made on the day of the *Mahākārtikiparvan*, which is described by the *Brahmapurāṇa* as that full moon day of Kārtika which is presided over by the lunar mansion Rohiṇī; this is described as a particularly holy day by that Purana.¹⁴¹ Kapadwanj plates of Kṛṣṇa II record a grant given on a *mahā-vaishākhi* day. *Atri-Smṛti* describes Vaishākha full moon day as particularly holy and suitable for making donations;¹⁴² I am, however, unable to find which particular full Vaishākha moon day was regarded as *Mahā-Vaishākhi* day. The Karhad plates of Kṛṣṇa III¹⁴³ were issued on the 13th day of the dark half of the month of Phalguna, which has been described as a *Vāruṇī* day; an *upapurāṇa*¹⁴⁴ states that this day is called *Vāruṇī*, if it is presided over by the lunar mansion S'atatārakā, *mahavāruṇī* if the week day is Saturday, and *mahāmahāvāruṇī* if there is also an auspicious *yoga* on that day. It may be pointed out that the week day on which the Vāruṇī day of 939 A.D. fell was not Saturday but Wednesday and our record describes the parvan as a simple Vāruṇī day, and refrains from describing it as a mahā or mahāmahāvāruṇī day. The close connection that we thus find between the epigraphical records and the Smriti, Purana and Nibandha literature would fully justify our procedure in some places in this chapter to fill the gaps in the epigraphical records by the information supplied by these works.