History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c27.18

v1.c27.18

A set of plates recently discovered in the Puri district were brought to me in 1925 by a student of the Calcutta University, named Mr. Nirmal Kumar Basu, M. SC. These plates were six in number and only the first plate is inscribed on one side. There is no ring and the plates were brought to me loose. Mr. Basu informed me that the plates were brought to the *Mahant* of the Emar *Maṭha*, a rich and powerful religious establishment in the town of Puri, by another *Mahant* of a village *Maṭha*. These plates are peculiar. The first five plates, beginning with the second side of the first plate and ending with that of the fifth plate are in verse. They give the complete genealogy of the Eastern Gaṅga kings of Orissa from the Moon to Bhānudeva II. In these five plates there are altogether 191 lines of writing and the draft is a close copy of the Kenduapatna plates of Narasimha II. Up to Narasimha II the genealogy occupies 174 lines. Eighteen lines are devoted to the praise of his son, Bhānudeva II, but the whole of 1. 191 is not completely taken up by the last verse and a little space has been left empty at the end. So it is quite possible that this genealogy of the king was kept ready to be used as occasion demanded and the sixth plate had no connection with it. But, on the other hand, the sixth plate is of the same size as the preceding five and it also bears writing of the same size and type. The second side of the first plate bears 24 lines of writing like that on the fifth plate. So it is also quite possible that the inscription on the two sides of the last plate are a continuation of the metrical portion on the first five plates. But the first line of the first side of the sixth plate begins with a fresh invocation: *Oṃ svasti subham-astu*. Then comes the date in words—the Śaka year 1234=1312 A. D. The usual royal titles are omitted and we find the phrase *Praśasti-stoma-virājamāna* before the name of a new king named Purushottamadeva. The date precludes the possibility of this king being the emperor Purushottama of the Sūryavaṃśa dynasty, who ruled from 1470 to 1497. The date is continued after the name of the king—the seventh Aṅka of the victorious reign (the fifth year) the month of Dhanuḥ (Agrahāyaṇa or Mārgaśirsha) the ninth day of the dark half, a Saturday (Saurī-vāre). Then the inscription goes on to state that in the camp or Kaṭaka of Purushottama, on the bank of the southern ocean, in the presence of Vīra-Śrī-Bhānudeva, the Sāndhivigrahika Raṅgadāsa-śarman who was of the Vātsya gotra and the Kāṇva śākhā of the Yajur-veda, received a grant of several villages; such as Padmapāga-Sugalapura in the district of Koṇṭarāvaṅga, Somanāthapadā in the district of Chavanga. Towards the end of l. 198, or 1, 7 if the inscription on the sixth plate has no connection with that on the first five, it is mentioned that at Purushottama the order for the grant was communicated in the interior of the palace to Vīra-Śrī-Bhānudeva Rāuta by the Chakravartī and Mahāpatra Narendradeva. Then follows the boundaries of the villages granted. A number of private persons are mentioned in lines, 210-15 or the last four lines of the first side and the first line of the second side of the sixth plate.