Ṭhāṇā Plates of Nāgārjuna

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 was born king Kapardin I, the ornament of the Śīlāra race, who was adventurous like the illustrious Sāhasāṅka (i.e.Vikramāditya) and whose stainless foot-stool was covered with the splendour of fresh jewels on the heads of all kings.

Verse 5

From him sprang his son, Pulaśakti by name, who represented the limit of political wisdom taught by Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of gods; who, having vanquished all enemies in the forefront of the battlefield, ruled over the world, free from trouble.

Verse 6

From him again sprang his son, the younger Kaparadin (i.e., Kapardin II), the crest-jewel of kings, who was as it were a sharp goad to the elephants in the form of his enemies; the world being exceedingly whitened by his fame, neither the heavenly elephant (Airāvata) nor the moon nor the milk-ocean could be distinguished.

Verse 7

From him again sprang his son, the illustrious Vappuvanna, the worthy abode of prosperity, an ornament of royalty, who sanctified the whole circle of the earth. Having one of their tusks forcibly cut off by the creeper-like sword of him who was delighted to fight on the field of battle, all the elephants of the enemies were turned into Vināyakas i.e. they become Gajānana, who has only one tusk.

Verse 8

From him sprang his praiseworthy son, the illustrious Jhañjha, who delighted all people even as the moon does, and who destroyed all blemishes even as the sun dispels all darkness; who erected twelve temples of Śiva, named after himself, which served, as it were, as steps to pious people, ready to repair to the path of heaven.

Verse 9

Then there rose his brother, the illustrious Goggirāja, who having a mass of brilliant fame, brightened the entire circle of the earth, and who mighty among the mighty; when that king bent down in the act of drawing the string of his bow, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, the son of Pṛthā (i.e. Arjuna) and others felt surprised in their minds.

Verse 10

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 battle-field, 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 11

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 12

He was Karṇa himself in respect of liberality, Yudhiṣṭhira in that of truthfulness, the refulgent Sun in that of valour, and was the rod of the god of death to his enemies.

Verse 13

Victorious is that king, who protected even the feudatories of other kings when they sought refuge with him, and who rightly obtained the title of "the adamantine cage giving protection to those who seek it.”

Verse 14

What else can be described of him who welcomed in various ways Gomma, who resorted to him for protection, who caused to be made firm the infirm rule of Aiyapadeva, who gave protection to Bhillama, Ammaṇa and Mambuva, and who was thus veritable Rāma among title-holders.

Verse 15

From him was born the son named Vajjaḍadeva II, who was conversant with political wisdom and was a veritable crest-jewel of kings,—whose deeds all people even now praise, with their creeper-like bodies having clothes of horripilation.

Verse 16

Then there was born his brother, king Arikesarin, who had the grace of the thunderbolt in destroying the principal mountains in the form of arrogant foes; who, even when he was a boy, went with an army to Someśvara and having seen that god, came back after offering him the whole world by the order of his father.

Verse 17

Thereafter his brother’s son the illustrious Chittarāja became king, who, noble as he was, raised his Śīlāra family to great eminence, though he was then only in his boyhood.

Verse 18

The creeper of his fame rises up to the maṇḍapa of the Brāhmāṇḍa, being as it were fostered by the tears from the eyes of the wives of the enemies killed by him.

Verse 19

Then his younger brother Nāgārjuna became king—he whose wrath was the fire of destruction to his arrogant foes, and who was Nārāyaṇa in respect of good nature while dealing with courtesans. Having heard from afar about his superhuman and great might of arms, the itching of his enemies, fond of the field of battle, goes to sleep as it were.

Verse 20

The quarter-elephants, the streams of whose ichor dry up on the spread of the breezes blowing over the rut of the intoxicated scent-elephants in his unique camp, open their eyes after a long time—the eyes which had been closed through fear when the enormous smoke springing from the conflagration of his enemies’ cities spread in the quarters.

Line 35-53

Now, while the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious king Nāgārjuna—who, by his spiritual merit, has obtained the five mahāśabdas, and who is adorned with all royal titles such as mahāsāmantādhipati, ‘the lord of the city of Tagara,’ ‘an illustrious king of the Śīlāra family’, ‘a scion of the family of Jīmūtavāhana,’ ‘he who has the ensigh of the golden Garuḍa’, ‘he who is a born Vidyādhara’, ‘he who is the veritable king Sahasrārjuna by his bow’, ‘he who is veritable Nāgārjuna among kings (poison-curers)’, ‘he who is world-renowned in liberality’ and ‘who is an admantine cage for the protection of those who seek refuge with him’—is ruling over the entire Koṅkaṇa country comprising fourteen hundred villages headed by Purī, together with many other maṇḍalas acquired by the power of his arm, and while the mahāmātya, the illustrious Daddhapaiya and the mahāsāndhivigrahika, the illustrious Soḍhalaiya are bearing the burden of the cares of his government,—the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Nāgārjunadeva addresses, with salutation, honour and respect, all assembled princes, counsellers, the family priest, the amātyas, the principal and subordinate officers as well as the heads of rāṣṭras, viṣayas, towns and villages, royal servants, whether formally appointed or not, and the village-people, as also the artisans, guilds and the three classes of citizens and so forth 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.’ 

Line 54-69

Having thought over these sayings of old sages adept in discriminating between dharma and adharma and having bathed at an excellent tīrtha on the holy occasion of a solar eclipse which occurred on Wednesday, the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight of Śrāvaṇa in the cyclic year Pramāthin, when nine hundred years increased by sixty-one had expired by the era of the Śaka king—in figures, the year 961, the month Śrāvaṇa, the dark fortnight and the tithi 15—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 lutusplant, and having worshipped the divine Śiva, the lord of the three worlds and the guru of all gods and demons, —I have given, for the spiritual welfare of my mother and father and of myself, as a gift free from all taxes with great devotion and with the pouring out of water to the great Brāhmaṇa Mādhava Paṇḍita, son of Gokarṇa Paṇḍita, of the Pārāśara gotra and the Yajurveda śākhā, who has emigrated from Hasti-grāma situated in the Madhyadeśa, for the performance of the six religious duties such as sacrificing for himself and for others, and studying and teaching of the sacred texts, for the performance of such rites as bali, caru, vaiśvadeva, agnihotra and so forth, and for the maintenance of this family, the village Muñjavalī included in the territorial division Koriyala-12—the boundaries of which are as follows:- on the east the junction with the boundary of the village Doṇā, a Madhūka tree, a highway and voḍaṇa, and also an Udumbara tree and a jhoti; on the south, near the junction of the village Vaiṇgaṇī the trees Vanive, Pipparī, Badarī, and Varalī; on the west, near the junction of the village Dhavalā, an Udumbara tree and a Madhūka tree; on the north, near the junction of the boundary of the village Kuḍisavarā, the river and a khaḍaka-viraikā—the village, with its boundaries thus determined, extending to its limits, together with clusters of trees, together with grass, wood and water, to be enjoyed as long as the mountains and the earth would endure, exclusive of gifts previously made to gods and Brāhmaṇas and together with low and fallow lands in accordance with the previous custom, which is not to be entered by cāṭas and bhaṭas, not to be assigned and not to be attached, and which carries with it three hundred drammas being the cost of the crop produced therein.

Line 70

Therefore, none should cause any obstruction while he together with his relatives is enjoying or allowing others to enjoy it, while he is cultivating it himself or is allowing others to cultivate it.

For it has already been said by ancient sages:-

            (Here follow seven benedictory and imprecatory verses.)

Line 84-88

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 Nāgārjunadeva, the son of the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, the illustrious Vajjaḍadevarāja.”

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

Whatever is written here in deficient or redundant letters—all that is authoritative.

May there be happiness! May there be prosperity!