History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.64

v3.c43.64

The above rules about the special occasions for gifts are amply borne out by epigraphic evidence. A few examples may be cited. A very large number of grants on copper and stone relate to gifts of lands and villages at the time of solar eclipses. For example, vide Tiwarkhed plate of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Nannarāja dated *śake* 553 (653?) in E. I. vol. XI. p. 279, I. A. vol. VI, p. 73 (in *śake* 534 i. e. 613 A. D.), the grant of 30 *nivartanas* of land purchased for 30 gadyāṇakas of gold on a total eclipse of the sun in 754 A. D. in the time of Cālukya Kīrtivarman II (E. I. vol. III. p. 6), E. I. vol. III. p. 193 (of *śake* 716), E. I. vol. IX, p. 100 (in 660 A. D.). Grants on the occasion of a lunar eclipse are found in J. B. B. R. A. S. vol, 20, p. 135 (Navsari plates of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Mahāsāmanatādhipati Karkarāja issued in *śake* 738, i. e. 817 A. D.), in E. I. vol. I. p. 341 (Patna Inscription of the time of Yādava Siṅghaṇa dated *śake* 1128 i. e. 1207 A.D.), E.I. vol. 19, p. 41, E.I. vol. 20, p. 125 (in *saṁvat* 1108). Grants on *ayana* days may be seen in I. A. vol. 12, p. 193 (Haddāla plates of the Cāpa Mahāsāmantādhipati Dharaṇī-varāha issued in *śake* 836), the Sañjan grant of Amoghavarṣa dated *śake* 793 (Uttarāyaṇa-Mahāparvaṇi). Grants on Saṁkrāntis are found in E. I. vol. VIII. p. 182 (Dhulia plate of Karkarāja dated *śake* 701), E. I. vol. XII. p. 142 (in 1087 A. D.), E. I. vol. VIII. p. 159 (in *saṁvat* 1207). It may be noted that not only on the sun's passage in a rāśi, but even on Jupiter's passage in a rāśi (Taurus in this case) a grant was made as seen in Lucknow Museum plate of Kīrtipāla (E. I. vol. VII, p. 93 in *saṁvat* 1167 i. e. 1111 A. D.). A village was granted on Viṣuvasaṁkrānti to a brāhmaṇa in honour of Buddha by Mahīpāla I, a·king of Bengal (vide E. I. vol. XIV, p. 324). For grants on Akṣaya Tṛtīyā (3rd of the bright half of Vaiśākha) vide E. I. vol. 14, p. 198 (when 32 villages were granted to 500 brāhmaṇas in saṁvat 1156) and E. I. vol. VII. p. 98 (Lar plates of Govindacandra of Kanoj in *saṁvat* 1202). For a grant made on Mahākārtikī (the full moon day of Kārtika) vide E. I. vol. X, p. 75 (which is a grant to several brāhmaṇas for enabling them to offer *bali*, *caru*, *vaiśvadeva*, *agnihotra* and the five *mahāyajñas*, in Kalacuri *saṁvat* 292 i. e. about 540 A. D.).