Rajbhita Stone Inscription of the Time of Mahīpāla I, Year 33 tfbBengalCharters00060 Varendra Research Museum 2002.23 (8640)

A slab of gray schist: 66 31 7 .

Six lines of inscription, engraved on the upper half of the surface. Of them, the three lines from the third and fourth run across a fleuron and a image of camel, and the last stops short before the same image. Gauḍī/Proto-Bengali datable to the eleventh century. Neatly engraved in clear lines. High relief in the lower part, which depicts three animals facing to the right: a donkey copulating with a sow and a camel behind them. A fleuron above the head of camel. Āśvina day (Autumn Equinox), the 33rd year of the reign of Mahīpāla I. On the other circumstantial evidence, assignable to the first half of the eleventh century.

Mound Rajbhita in Hatpada mauza (village) of Jabarhat union, Pirganj upazila, Thakurgaon district in Rangpur subdivision, Bangladesh.

22 July 2009
śrīmanmahīpāladevapādīyapravarddhamānavijayarājye samvat· 33 Āśvinadine| śrīdeśihaṭṭa| śrījayahaṭṭa| śrīgauḍahaṭṭīyasamastavaṇiggrāmeṇa| śrīsonnakādevīmādhavaśāsana Āgaccakāvacchuinnagrāma| dhātrīpura| saptakhātaka| khanitrapallī| lakkhunnagrāmeṣu| ye ke’pi|| svasyāṁ svasyāṁ| vāṭikāyāṁ| vājyabhūmau ca| guvākanālikeravṛkṣān·| ĀArjayanti| teṣāṁ vāg dattā| yathāphalan nālikeravṛkṣam prati paṇa trayam·| phalavadguvākavṛkṣam prati paṇa Ekaḥ| image śrīsonnakāmādhavasya pūjārtham| pratisamvatsaran tair ddātavyam·| yatra| prati nālikeravṛkṣaṁ hiraṇya paṇa 3 prati guvākavṛkṣaṁ hiraṇya paṇa 1 Etan niyamitārthāt·| image yaḥ kaś cid anyathā kurute| tasya dṛṣṭena| śrīmaddevapādāḥ| Antarādattāḥ| garddabhaḥ pitā| garttaṣūkarī mātā| Uṣṭraḥ pitṛvyo bhavet·| ṣśapatha Iti|
rājye rājñe rāje haṭṭīya haṭṭa yai samasta samasū grāmeṇa grāmena dhāmeṇa āvacchunna āvacchanna ye ke’pi sekyepi se ke'pi vājyabhūmau vājñasumau yājña [bhī]mau ārjayanti ājayanti phalan phālan paṇa yaṇa pana phalavad phālavad [phī]lavad paṇa yaṇa pana sonnakā sannakā samvatsaran tair ddātavyam· samvase rantairddātapyam saṁvatsaran tair dolata vyaṁ pa 3 yaṇṭa pa[na] Both Hok and Kuddus and Ray failed to recognise the second sign as a numeral. prati guvāka priti guvāka hi pa 1 di pata hi yatra Both Hok and Kuddus and Ray failed to recognise the third sign as a numeral. etan niyamitāthāt· etam niyamitāthāt etan niyamita|–[t] tasya taṣya Antarādattāḥ antarā dattā gartta gastta Uṣṭraḥ Ustraḥ pitṛvyo pitṛvye bhavet· bhavetrū

Success! On the day of Āśvina in the year 33 of the prosperous and victorious reign of his majesty the illustrious Mahīpāla (I), the (following) word was given [i.e. an agreement was made] by the association of all the merchants (samastavaṇiggrāma) belonging to illustrious Deśihaṭṭa, illustrious Jayahaṭṭa and illustrious Gauḍahaṭṭa, about all those who cause to grow areca nut and coconut trees at each small garden and vājyabhūmi of their own in Dhātrīpura, Saptakhātaka, Khanitrapallī and Lakkhunnagrāma, which are the villages coming to [i.e. belonging to] and demarcated in the donated tract (śāsana) of illustrious Sonnakādevīmādhava (ll. 1–3): “three paṇas per coconut tree according to the (growth of) fruit (and) one paṇa per fruit-bearing areca nut tree should be given by them every year for the worship of illustrious Sonnakāmādhava (ll. 3–4). In this regard, it is thus determined according to the cause: for each coconut tree hi(raṇya) pa(ṇa) 3, for each areca nut tree hi(raṇya) pa(ṇa) 1 (ll. 4–5). In full view of the one who does anything otherwise, his majesty the illustrious deity [i.e. Sonnakāmādhava] will be withdrawn; his father will be a donkey, his mother a sow of the ditch and his paternal uncle a camel. (This is) the curse.” (ll. 5–6)

The inscription records an agreement made by the association of all the merchants belonging to the three markets, in relation to those members who grow areca nut and coconut trees in their own small gardens and vājyabhūmis in the four villages belonging to the donated tract of a deity called Sonnnakādevīmādhava. It is agreed that they would annually pay in cash (hiraṇya) three paṇas per coconut tree and one paṇa per areca nut tree for worship of the deity. This transaction implies that some merchants of the association leased plots in the revenue-free tracts of the deity and cultivated fruit-bearing trees on them. The recorded agreement set the terms of the lease at the annual payment of a fixed amount in cash for worship of the deity, presumably through the association. It presupposes the sale of fruits by the merchants, and any money remaining after payment of prescribed dues seems to have belonged to them.

bibliography of previous editions, discussion, etc.