History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c22.10

Language: English

v1.c22.10.1

The second inscription of this king was issued in the year six and was discovered in the State of Patna. It was issued from the Royal camp of Murasīmā, probably the same as Mursingā, about thirteen miles south of Bolangir, the present capital of the Patna State. The same couple of generations are mentioned and both Śivagupta and his son are given full Imperial titles. Mahābhavagupta is called a "devout worshipper of Śiva" in addition to the usual three titles. The object of the charter was to record the grant of the village of Vakaveḍḍā in the district of Oṅgātaṭa to a number of Brāhmaṇas: (1) Dāmaka, an inhabitant of Leiśṛṅgā, an emigrant from Pampāsaras, (2) son of Narapagaṇḍa, an inhabitant of Khaṇḍakshetra who had emigrated from Odayaśṛṅga, (3) Vasudeva, an inhabitant of Lipatuṅgā, who had emigrated from Koṅkaleḍḍā, (4) Koṇḍaveda, an inhabitant of Pampāsaras, who had emigrated from Kaliṅga. The grant was issued on the eighth tithi of the bright half of the month of Āshāḍha. As in the preceding grant, the king is called Janamejaya¹ at the close of the inscription. Vakaveḍḍā is identified with Bakṭi, fifteen miles North of Bolaṅgir. Oṅgātaṭa is the district on the river Oṅ, which still exists and separates the State of Sonpur from Patna. Leiśṛṅgā is Loysiṅgā, eleven miles from Bolaṅgir.

v1.c22.10.2

Khaṇḍakshetra has been wrongly identified with the State of Khandapara near the Cuttack district, because the term simply means a field, and has been used in many inscriptions discovered in different parts of Orissa. Lipatuṅgā is probably Lepta, six miles south-east of Bolangir. Odayaśṛṅga is probably Udayagiri Hill in the Cuttack district. Koṅkaleḍḍā is very probably Koknara in the Bora Sambar Zamindari of the Sambalpur district.² The third grant of this king was issued from the same place, Murasīmā, only a few months later in the same year. It was issued on the 13th day of the bright half of Kārtika in the year six of the reign of the king. The charter records the gift of the village of Pāsitala in the district (Vishaya) of Potā to two Brāhmaṇas named Śrīkeśava and Śrī-apya who were inhabitants of Leiśṛṅgā and emigrants from Kommāpīra. The grant was written by the Mahāsāndhivigrahika Koi-ghosha, son of Valla-ghosha, who is also the writer of the first and the second charters,¹ under the supervision of the Mahāsāndhivigrahi Malladatta, son of Dharadatta. The fourth inscription of this king is to be found on a set of plates now preserved in the Nagpur Museum, but their findspot is unknown. This charter also was issued from Murasīmā, spelt Murasīman. The first part is in verse and mentions the king as Janamejaya. The names of the king and his father with Imperial titles are given in the prose portion immediately following.

v1.c22.10.3

The inscription records the grant of the village of Satallamā in the district of Kaśaloḍā to a Brāhmaṇa named Santhakara who was an inhabitant of Murujuṅga, an emigrant from the village of Purushamaṇḍapa in the Oḍra country and belonged to the Gautama gotra and the Mādhyandina sākhā. The king is once more mentioned as Janamejaya in the concluding portion of the inscription along with all of his titles. The charter was issued on the twelfth day of the bright half of the month of Kārtika of the eighth year of the king's reign. The order was written by the Rānaka and Mahāsāndhivigrahi Malladatta, son of Dharadatta and incised by the *Kāyastha* Allava.¹ The village of Śatallamā still exists as Satlama in the Sambalpur district and the district of Kaśaloḍa has been identified with Kusarda, fifteen miles south-west of Bargarh and ten miles north-east of Satlama.² Three connected charters of this king were issued in the 31st year of his reign by which three villages were granted to one and the same person, a *Brāhmaṇa* named Sādhāraṇa. The first of these charters was brought to notice by the late Raṅgalāla Banerjea in 1875. In this record, issued from a garden or *Arāma*, the king is called *Kośalendra*, in the last but one line and the donee, Sādhāraṇa, a minister in l. 37. The *biruda* Janamejaya is not used at all. The grant was issued on the 13th day of the bright half of Mārgaśīrsha of the year 31 of the king's reign.

v1.c22.10.4

The villages granted, Raṇḍā and Aḷaṇḍalā, were situated in the Povā district of the Kośala country. The next grant of this series of three was seen by Fleet in 1883. This charter records the grant of the village of Arkigrāma in the Tulumva *Khaṇḍa* in the Kośala country. The third grant of this set was noticed for the first time by Rājendra Lāla Mitra in 1882 and it records the grant of the village of Tuleṇḍā in the district of Sandānā in the Kośala country. The donee, Sādhāraṇa, was an inhabitant of Turvvunā in Kośala, but had emigrated from Ṭakārī in Northern India.³ He belonged to the Bhāradvāja *gotra* and the Vājasaneyi *śākhā*. In addition to being a minister, he was a *Mahattama*. The grants were written by the same Malladatta, who had written the grant of the 8th year.¹ The village of Raṇḍā had been identified with Reṇḍa, six miles east of Bolangir, Alāṇḍalā three miles east of the same place and the Povā district with Pow in the Sonpur State, nineteen miles south of Binka. Tulumva Khaṇḍa has been identified with Turum on the Mahānadī, twenty-sevn miles south of Sambalpur. The village of Tuleṇḍā has been identified with Tulendi, six miles north of Bolangir in the Patna State.²