Arga Plates
Arga Plates of Bhoja Kapali-varman.
As we are aware that Goa was ruled by several dynasties over last few centuries, we must know that the port city Gopakapattana, gave the modern state Goa, its name. The name Gopakapattana had first
appeared in the Panjim copper plates of Kadamba King Jayakeshi 1 (1050 to
1080 CE), dating to 1059 CE. Gopakapattana is located at the
Southernmost tip of North Goa, where
the Zuari River meets the Arabian Sea,
which is where we cross over from
North to South Goa.
Kapali-varman is the name of a king from the Bhoja dynasty, as mentioned in this inscription i.e Inscription number 23 of Kapali-varman.
Kapali-varman, while he was residing at Pamasakheṭaka, registered a gift of land in the village of Sivapuraka of the former who in turn donated it to a Brahmaṇa named Bhavarya of the Kauṇḍinya-gotra, so that merit might accrue to him. The Bhoja king Kapali-varman bears the epithet Dharmamaharaja like the Kadamba kings.
These plates (mentioning Kapali-varman) were under worship in a temple at Arga, situated 4 miles to the south of Karwar. It registers a gift of land in the village of Śivapuraka donated to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhavarya of the Kauṇḍinya-gotra.
Inscription number 23. Arga Plates of Bhoja Kapali-varman.
Provenance: Arga, about 6 km, south of Karwar.
Script: Brahmi of the Southern Class of about the 6th century A.D. What are intended to be box-heads of letters mostly appear as thick solid lines rather than boxes or rectangles.
In some cases, they appear as nail-heads.
Language: Sanskrit.
References: A.M. Annigeri, Ep.Ind., XXXI, pp.232-34.
First plate.
1. Bhoja family ruling over the coastal region around Goa, came to light from the Siroda plates of Devaraja. (EP.Ind., XXIV. pp.143ff.Infra III, App no: 80) whose capital is given as
Chandraura, identified with the modern chandaorgoa.
C.R. Krishnamacharlu’s reading of the family name as Gamin
(Ibid.) was corrected by N.L. Rao (Ib.. XXVI, pp.337ff)
2. From the facsimile in Ep.Ind., XXXI, facing pp.232.
Footnote-1.
1. Sivapuraka-grama was obviously the headquarter of the sivapura vishaya. An early copper-plate grant from Goa
mentions a Mahavihara at sivapura, which therefore, was located in the vicinity of Goa. It may be identied with sivapur in the Halyal taluk of the
Karwar district.
2. Halsi/Kapoli plates of Bhoja Asankitavarman (Infra, III, , 24, Ep.Ind XXXI, 234- 36) have the reading,
भोगिकायुकतक – स्थाययादयो.
3. The lower (i.e. second) k in पुक्कोलि
is carelessly engraved.
4. Identification by Annigiri of Svamikaraja with Svamiraja (of the chalukya house oE Badami)whom Early
Chalukya Mangalesa, claims in his Nerur plates to have
defeated (Ind.Antt. VII, pp. 16), is not plausible.
Second plate.
Footnote-2.
Talavara was a high-ranking Officer in South Indian states in ancient times. The Nagarjunikonda inscriptions
of 3rd century AD. (Ep.Ind., XX, pp-45ff, supra,I, 178 ii). mentions it.
A Western chalukya inscription (B.K. No.115, of 1929-30) refers to a Rashtrakuta officer named
Horeyamma and styled as samantagrani and Talara.
The designation is represented by modem Kannada and
Telugu surnames Talavara and Talari, and perhaps also by the Panjabi Arora sub caste Talwar.
English Translation of the inscription.
Success! From the victorious (camp) at the hamlet (khetaka) of Pamasa, at the command of the pious king
(Dharma-maharaja). the illustrious Kapali-varman of the Bhoja family,
the present and future Bhojakas, Ayuktakas, Sthayins and
other (officers) in the district (vishaya) of sivapura be told,
On being petitioned (for land-grant) for a religious purpose by svamiraja, we were pleased to grant him the piece
of cultivable rice-land (khajjana) known as the Aditya-sreshthi-pukkoli situated in the upper region within the boundary of the village of sivapuraka. Svamikaraja, in his turn, gave it
over to Bhavarya of the Kaundinya gotra, with libation of water
or the increase of his own religious merit. Knowing this,
nobody should cheat him out (of this land). Whosoever, whether
of our family or an outsider, causes (his) expulsion shall incur
all the sins. On the other hand, the protector shall very well meet happiness.
The executor of this (charter) is the Talavara Nandaka.
Written by the Bhoyaka Krishna.
Footnote-1
The term khajjana seems to denote a piece of cultivable land. It is used with slight variations in later inscriptions of south-western India, particularly those of the later Kadambas (11th-13th century AD.) of Goa. cf. khajjana, in the Panjim plates of Kadamba Jayakesin 1, (last quarter of eleventh century
AD.) (see Kadamba-kula, p,397) and hoddakhajjanaka in the grant of Kadamba Tribhuvanamalla (first
quarter of the 13th century A.D. ) (Ep.Ind.. pl.77).
Marathi word Khajan means,a rice-field created out of the nullak of a sea-shore by putting embankments, after the ebb-tide. Annigeri translates the phrase,
“Adityasreshthi-pukkoli-khajjanam” as the land named Pukkoli-khajjana, belonging to Aditya-sreshthin. But
evidently it must have been government land. The
king could not have granted land belonging to another person without forst acquiring it through some legal process and without recording the fact in the charter.
