Bhāṇḍup Plates of Chittarāja

Success! May there be victory and prosperity!

Verse 1

May that Gaṇanāyaka (i.e. Gaṇapati) protect you from calamity—he who destroys obstacles and who, by means of worship, receives attention in all undertakings!

Verse 2

May that Śiva always protect you—he on whose head the Gaṅgā shines like the bright crescent of the moon as it rises over the peak of Sumeru!

Verse 3

Jīmūtavāhana, the ever compassionate son of Jīmūtaketu, is well-known in the three worlds—who, valuing his own body as not better than a straw, saved, indeed, Śaṇkhacūḍa from Garuḍa.

Verse 4

In his family there arose Kapardin I, an ornament of the Śilāra race, who quelled the arrogance of his enemies. From him was born his son, Pulaśakti by name, who resembled the orb of the sun by his brilliant splendour.

Verse 5

Then was born his son, younger Kapardin (i.e. Kapardin II), through fear of whom all his enemies offered libations of water to the pleasure derived from their kingdoms.

Verse 6

From him was born his son named the illustrious Vappuvanna, a unique warrior on the earth, courageous on the field of battle. His famous son was the illustrious Jhañjha. Thereafter, his brother Goggi of handsome form became king.

Verse 7

From him sprang a son named the illustrious Vajjaḍadeva I, famed for his astounding and attractive deeds, the crest-jewel of the circle of the earth. Royal Fortune, approaching him, all of a sudden and of her own accord, on the battlefield, felt delighted while sporting on the bosom of him whose strength lay solely in his own arm, as it does on that of Murāri.

Verse 8

To him was born an illustrious and virtuous son named Aparājita as Jayanta was to Indra and as the six-faced Kārttikeya was to Śiva.

Verse 9

Who was veritable Karṇa in liberality and Yudhiṣṭhira in truthfulness, who was the brilliant sun in valour and the rod of Yama to his enemies.

Verse 10

From him was born the elder son named Vajjaḍadeva and then the illustrious brother Keśideva.

Verse 11

Next his nephew, the illustrious Chittarāja, became king; the great prince, who, though a child, raised the Śīlāra race to high eminence.

Line 16-48

Now, while the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Chittarājadeva—who, by his religious merit, has obtained the right to the five mahāśabdas and who is adorned with all royal titles such as mahāsāmantādhipati, ‘the lord of the City of Tagara,’ ‘a king of the Śīlāhāra family,’ ‘a scion of the family of Jīmūtavāhana,’ ‘he who has the ensign of the golden Garuḍa,’ ‘he who is a born Vidhyādhara,’ ‘he who has surpassed the world in liberality,’ ‘he who is the crest-jewel of (i.e. the foremost among) the māṇḍalikas,’ ‘he who is an adamantine cage to suppliants’ and so forth—is ruling over the entire Koṅkaṇa country consisting of fourteen hundred villages headed by Purī, together with several maṇḍalas conquered by his own arm, and while the five ministers such as the sarvādhikārin, the illustrious Nāgaṇaiya, the sāndhivigrahika, the illustrious Sīhapaiya, the karṇāṭa-sāndhivigrahika, the illustrious Kapardin and the Śrīkaraṇa are shouldering the burden of the cares of his government,—at this time the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Chittarājadeva addresses, with salutation, honour and respect, all the assembled princes, counsellors, the family priest, the ministers, the principal and subordinate officers, whether connected with him or not, as well as the heads of the rāṣṭras, viṣayas, towns, villages, officials and non-officials, government servants and village people as also artisans, guilds and the three classes of townsmen and others as follows:

“Be it known to you that realising that prosperity is unsteady, youth is momentary and life lies in the jaws of Death, that the body is subject to old age and death natural is this world, and that life is fickle like drops of water on a lotus leaf tossed by wind, they confirm the religious rewards of gifts. Having considered the sayings of ancient sages which are delightful owing to their distinguishing between what is righteous and what is not, such as the following of holy Vyāsa—

‘Gold was the first-born of Fire, land sprang from Viṣṇu, and the cows are the off springs of the Sun. He who gives gold, land and a cow gains the religious merit of giving the three worlds,’ and being desirous of acquiring the spiritual welfare of my parents and of myself, I—having bathed at an excellent tīrtha on Sunday, the fifteenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Kārttika of the cyclic year Kṣaya after nine hundred years increased by forty-eight by the era of the Śaka king had passed—in figures the year 948, the tithi 15 of the bright fortnight of Kārttika, on an eclipse of the Sun and having offered an arghya beautiful with flowers of various kinds to the divine Sun, the sole crest-jewel of the sky, and the lover of the lotus-plant, and having worshipped the divine Śiva, the lord of the three worlds and the guru of all gods and demons—I have given with great devotion, and as a gift free from taxes, confirming it with the pouring out of water—to the great Brāhmaṇa Āmadevaiya, the son of the Brāhmaṇa Noḍamaiya, who is always engaged in the performance of the six duties of sacrificing for himself and for others, studying the Vedas etc. and teaching them to others, and so forth, who is proficient in the performance of sacrifices, who belongs to the Parāśara gotra and the Chaṇḍoga śākhā,—for the performance of his six religious duties, viz. sacrificing for himself and for others, studying and teaching of the sacred texts and so forth, for the reception, daily and occasional, of the guests who may come in and out of season, for the performance of bali, caru, vaiśvadeva and agnihotra and so forth and for the maintenance of his family—the field of Voḍaṇibhaṭṭa extending to its own limits, together with all its produce, which is situated in the village of Noura, included in the viṣaya of Ṣaṭṣaṣṭi comprising the prosperous city of Sthānaka, the boundaries of which are as follows: on the east the boundary of Goṃvaṇi, on the south the boundary of Gorapavalī, on the west a royal road; on the north-east the boundary of Goṃvaṇi—which is not to be entered by cāṭas and bhāṭas, not to be assigned and not to be attached.”

“Therefore, none should cause any obstruction while he together with his descendants and relatives enjoys it or causes it to be enjoyed, cultivates it or causes it to be cultivated; for it has already been said by great sages:

     (Here follow two benedictory and imprecatory verses.)

Line 50

Having known these sayings of great sages, all future rulers should covet only the religious merit accruing from the protection of the grant. None should incur the disgrace and sin of confiscating it. He who, on the other hand, though thus entreated, will confiscate it or allow it to be confiscated, with his mind clouded by the darkness of ignorance as a result of greed, will incur all the five sins together with minor sins and will experience for a long time the pangs of hells such as Raurava, Mahāraurava and Andhatāmisra.

And this has been declared by Vyāsa: -

     (Here follows an imprecatory verse.)

Line 55

And as it is, the giver of the charter records his approval by the hand of the scribe: “What is written in this charter has been approved by Me, the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Chittarājadeva, the son of the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Vajjaḍadevarāja.”

And this has been written by me, the treasury officer Jogapaiya, the nephew of the treasury officer, the great poet Nāgalaiya.

Whatever is written here-in deficient or redundant syllables—all that is authoritative. May there be prosperity!