Inscription number 62.
Lodhia Plates of Maha-Sivagupta – (Regnal) year 57.
Lodhia, a small village is located, 25 kms, east of the town of Sarangarh.
Several ancient ruined temples and carved pillars, were discovered from Sarangarh by Archeological Survey of India.
Provenance: Village Lodhia in Saria Pargna, Sarangarh Sub division, Raigarh district, Madhya Pradesh.
Script: Box headed variety of central Indian Brahmi.
Language: Sanskrit.
References: P. Pandeya, Ep.Ind. XVI,
pp. 319-25.
Footnote 1.
1. Maha-Sivagupta, son of Harshagupta, is described as
Balarjuna in the Lakshmana temple inscription (Ep.Ind, XI, pp-184 ff) of his mother Vasata, who was the
daughter of Suryavarman of Magadha. This Suryavarman was the son of the Maukhari king Isanavarman. According
to his Mallar plates(ibid. XXIII, pp-113ff)
Maha Sivagupta-raja-deva, had donated the village of Kailasapura to Bhikshu-samgha of Taradamsaka Viharika Haraha stone inscription (ibid XIV, pp.115, Supra II, 82) lists
Maukhari genealogy and gives 611 (Malava smvat) = 555 AD, for suryavarman. Thus his maternal
grandson Maha Sivagupta may have commenced his reign in the last decade of the 6th century A D. The temple, which his mother constructed during his reign at sirpur, still stands.
2. Archaeological remains of temples, a fort, a palace, tanks and walls, within or near Loda are an evidence, of its being an important town in ancient times.
Footnote-2.
1. From the facsimile in Ep.Ind between pp.324 and 325.
2. Expressed by the spiral symbol.
3. Vaidyapadraka is identified with the existing village of Baidpali in the Gaisilat Police station, in Bargarh tehsil Sambalpur district, Orissa. Only,
the sub-division cannot be located.
Second plate first side.
Footnote-3.
1. The medial vowels are not visible after this word in the line are restored as required.
2. The Patttana Khadirapadra, named Khadiropadra in the Sonepur plates of Maha-Bhavagupta (II) Janamejaya Ep.Ind, XXIII, pp.249-51) has been identified with the present village of Khairpalli, about 3 km from the Ang
or Ong river and about 16 km rom Baidpali in Sambalpur district.
3. The Isanesvara temple was presumably consecrated by an
ancestor of Maha sivagupta, namely Isanadeva of the Kharod stone inscription (Hiralal, Inscriptions in the
C.P. and Berar 2nd edition, pp.125).
4. Dwaita-vana, which got its name from Dvaita lake, Situated within it, is well-known from the Mahabharata,
according to which, it was located close to a desert and was not far from the Himalayas. The Sarasvati flowed
through it. It lay between Tangana on the north-east and Kurukshetra and Hastinapura on the south-east. The
area now coincides with the present day Chandigarh- Panchkula -Naraingarh region.
English Translation of the inscription.
Text of this inscription upto the end of 127 and seal is identical in content, and virtually so in language, with the text of the Bardula plates of Maha-sivagupta
(Supra p) except that the donee, the donated village and the occasion on which the donation was made are naturally different in the present charter .Through it King Maha-
Sivagupta donated the village Vaidyapadraka in the bhoga or sub-division of Oni, at the request of a saiva ascetic, Sulapani Bhagavatpada a pupil of Lord Sri Pramathacharya Chapalagocharin, who hailed from Panchayajna tapovan on hermitage in the Dvaitavana forest, to the temple of siva, named Isanesvara, located in the port city (Pattana) Khadirapadra-tala. The donation was made for various offerings, such as bali (food for all creatures), charu (food for the manes and naivedya ( food for the deity),
for meeting the expenses of sacrificial sessions and the accompanying dance and music, and also for the repairs of the temple. (The translation of lines 28 to 32 is as under)
At our request and for the glory of religion, this gift of ours should always be nursed by (future) kings as
their own. Considering that the royal fortune and human life are as transitory as the drops of water on a lotus-leaf,
and reflecting on all, that has been quoted here, men should not destroy (objects of) other people’s glory. On the full moon day of Karttika in the fifty seventh year of the increasingly
victorious reign. The date in numbers: year 57, 30th day of Karttika.