Jatanpal
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Jatanpal (जटनपाल) is a village in Jagdalpur tahsil of Bastar district in Chhattisgarh. It is 40 miles from Dantewara.
Origin
Jat Gotras Namesake
Jatanpal Stone Inscription of Saka Year 1140 (A.D. 1218)
Source - Epigraphia Indica Vol. X (1909-10): A S I, Edited by Sten Konow, Ph.D.,p.40
Jatanpal (जटनपाल) is a village 40 miles from Dantewara in the Bastar State. The inscription records the grant of land by one Kama Nayaka, a subordinate of a chief named Somaraju, under Maharaja Narasimhadeva, in the Saka year 1140, or A. D. 1218. In this year there was an eclipse of the sun and the month of Jyeshtha was intercalary. So it was doubly meritorious to make a gift in that year. Narasirhhadeva of this inscription must certainly be the same as that of Dantewara pillar inscription.
Jatanpal is situated to the north of the Indravati and is inscribed in the Nagari character on a slab measuring 4' x 1' 4-1/2" almost the whole of which is covered with big letters averaging 2". There are altogether 18 lines. Between lines 16 and 17 the imprecatory figures of a pig followed by an ass are inserted. On the top of the inscription there are the figures of the sun and the moon together with small circles in a row apparently representing the remaining 7 planets. The meaning of these is clear. The top figures denote that the grant is to last as long as the navagrahas or the 9 planets endure, while the bottom figures represent a curse on the transgressor of the gift declaring his father an ass and the mother a pig. The language is corrupt Sanskrit prose. The object is to record a grant of land made by one Kama Nayaka to one Bāhilā Pande. Kama Nayaka appears to be a subordinate of a chief named Somaraja under Maharaja Narasimhadeva. The mention of the mother Gangadevi after the king's name is not clear. The date given is the Saka year 1140 without specifying any other details. It corresponds to 1218 A.D. In this year there was an eclipse of the sun and the month, of Jyeshtha was intercalary. So it was doubly meritorious to make a gift in that year.
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| Jatanpal Stone Inscription of Saka Year 1140 (A.D. 1218)[1] |
Narasimhadeva apparently belonged to the Nagavansa dynasty. Some other longer inscriptions of this king have also been found in the Bastar State. Before these are published it will be premature to make any remarks about him.
English translation of Jatanpal Stone Inscription of Saka Year 1140
LL 1-10: Hail ! (while) the illustrious Maharaja-Narasimhadeva-Rao (is ruling) (and) Gangadevi (i.) the mother (and) somaraja (is) the Mandalika, Kama Nayaka gave land, the recipients being Bahila Pande, Medani Pande, Deva-Nayaka, Jamu Sahu, Ghika Sethi and Somai - thee (are) the protectors (of this grant).
LL. 11-15. The killing of a Brahmana, [the killing] of a cow, parricide, the killing of children these are the sins of which [one] who resumes his land shall be guilty. He who resumes the grant given by himself or another is born a worm in hell and (grovels there) for sixty thousand years.
L. 16. The Saka (year) 1140 in figures.
LL. 17-18. He who despoils the land has an ass for (his) father (and) a pig for (his) mother.
No.9. Two Inscription of the time of the Nagavamsi King Narasimhadeva
Source - Epigraphia Indica & Record of the Archaeological Survey of India, Vol.X, 1909-10, pp.40-43
[p.40]: When I visited the shrine of Dantesvari at Dantewara in the Bastar State in 1897, I saw a smail stone pillar covered with Telugu writing (on all sides, viz. the four faces and the top) fixed at the place where goats were sacrificed. It was then being used as a yūpa2 and the priests of the temple did not know what was written on it. My friend Rai Bahadur Baijnath sent me impressions from which the text was deciphered and a brief notice appeared in Vol. IX (p.163) of this Journal. Fresh impressions were subsequently taken by Mr. Venkoba Rao, and I am indebted to Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya for kindly revising the test after comparing it with the fresh impressions. The slab on which it is inscribed is 2' 6" high, the breadth of each of the 4 faces being about 7-1/2" and the top is consequently 7-1/2" square. As stated above, the whole was covered with writing, but a portion has peeled off carrying away the final portions of almost all the lines of the third face and the beginnings of those of the fourth. Almost everything of the record on these 2 faces is lost. The engraving on the top is also much damaged and in the impressions almost the whole of it is illegible. It appears that there were altogether 43 lines on the 4 faces, and the top which appears to contain the end had 7 lines, making a total of 50. On the top of the first face, there are figures of the sun and the moon. Dantewara being south of the Indravati which, as I have said elsewhere, formed the boundary between the Nagari and Telugu scripts, this record is in Telugu characters. The letters are bold and well formed with an average size of 1-1/4". Ṡa, ka and ra appear in a somewhat antiquated form. The language is Telugu. The object of the inscription, was apparently to record a gift,3 which was made on the lOth day of the dark fortnight of Jyeshtha in the Saka year 1147,4 during the reign of Jagadekabhushana-Maharaja Narasimhadeva, The date corresponds to 13th June 1224 A.D.5 as calculated by Mr Gokul Prasad, Tahsildar of Dhamtari. It is not clear whether the grant was made by the King himself or by some one of his subjects, but the phrase srimana=Narasimhadeva-Maharaja-rajya etc, (LL. 6 to 11), " the reign of the illustrious Maharaja Narasimhadeva " seems to show that it was some person other than the Maharaja who made a reference in this wise.
The other inscription was found at Jatanpal, 40 miles from Dantewara. It is situated to the north of the Indravati and is inscribed in the Nagati character on a slab measuring 4'x 1'4-1/2",
1.This probably refers to the last incanaation of the god Viahnu,
2. I.e. a sacrificial post.
3. Line 46 speaks of i dharmaran - 'this charity' and line 23 has devi, while in line 35 we have a portion āchandrārakka suggesting that either a village or some land was given till the sun and moon endured to the temple of devi.
4. I originally read the date as 1140 (above Vol.IX, p.163, the last figure of the year is partially broken and in that impression it looked like zero, but in the fresh one it appears to be 7
5. If the year 1147 is an expired one, the date would correspond to 2nd June 1225 AD
[p.41]: almost the whole of which is covered with big letters averaging 2". There are altogether 18 lines. Between lines 16 and 17 the imprecatory figures of a pig followed by an ass are inserted.
On the top of the inscription there are the figures of the sun and the moon together with 7 small circles in a row apparently representing the remaining 7 planets. The meaning of these is clear. The top figures denote that the grant is to last as long as the navagrahas or the 9 planets endure, while the bottom figures represent a curse on the transgressor of the gift declaring his father an ass and the mother a pig. The language is corrupt Sanskrit prose. The object is to record a grant of land made by one Kāmā Nayaka to one Rāhila Pānde. Kama Nayaka appears to be a subordinate of a chief named Somaraja under Maharaja Narasimhadeva. The mention of the mother Gangadevi after the king's name is not clear. The date given is the Saka year 1140 without specifying any other details. It corresponds to 1218 A.D. In this year there was an eclipse of the sun and the month of Jyeshtha was intercalary. So it was doubly meritorious to make a gift in that year.
Narasimhadeva apparently belonged to the Nagavamsa dynasty. Some other longer inscriptions of this king have also been found in the Bastar State. Before these are published it will be premature to mate any remarks about him.
[p.42]: (L. 1-19.) Hail! In the reign of the illustrious Jagadekabhushana Maharaja alias the prosperous Narasimhadeva, possessing all pre-eminences, which is augmenting and prosperous (and stable) as long as the sun and moon endure in the Saka year 1147, in the month of Jyeshtha, on the 10th of the dark fortnight.
LL. 1-10.) Hail! (while) the illustrious Maharaja Narasimhadeva-rava (is ruling) (and) Gangadevi (i) the mother (and) Somaraja (is) the mandalika, Kama Nayaka gave land, the recipient being Rahil Pande, Madani Pande, Deva Nayaka, Jamu Sahu, Ghika Sethi (and) Somal - three are the protectors13 (of this grant).
[p.43]: LL. 11-15. The killing of a Brahmana, [the killing] of a cow, parricide, the killing of children these are the sins of which [one] who resumes his land shall be guilty. He who resumes the grant given by himself or another is born a worm in hell and (grovels there) for sixty thousand years.
L. 16. The Saka (year) 1140 in figures.
LL. 17-18. He 1 who despoils the land has an ass for (his) father (and) a pig for (his) mother.
See also
Notable person
External links
- Hira Lal:Descriptive lists of inscriptions in the Central provinces and Berar, p.151
- Official website of Bastar district
References
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