230 



PeJiewa Itiscripiion of Maja Bhoja*. 



[No. 8, 



seeming mystery is simple enough. There are two distinct inscrip- 

 tions at Pehoa, which have been taken by Eajendra Lai as forming 

 only one record. The first inscription of twenty-one lines which 

 contains the names of Mahendra Pala, Vajrata, Gogga, &c, is given 

 hy Eajendra quite complete ; but of the second inscription he has 

 given only eight lines out of sixteen and a quarter lines. It is this 

 second inscription which contains the names of Raja Eamabhadra 

 Deva, and Eaja Bhoja Deva, together with the date, which is writ- 

 ten at full length in words, as well as in figures — thus : 



samvatsare satadwaye shadsaptatyadike (?) 



Vaisakhaniasa suJcla paksha saptasydm. 



Samvat 276 VaisdWia sudi 7. 



all of which may be read in Eajendra' s own facsimile. 



The date of the inscription being thus conclusively settled, it now 

 remains to ascertain the era to which the date refers. This I believe 

 to be the era of Sri Harsha of Kanoj, beginning in A. D. 607, which 

 would make the date of the inscription A. D. 882. Now at this very 

 time we know that a Eaja Bhoja Deva was paramount sovereign of 

 Gwalior, as his inscription, carved on the rock itself, is dated in Sam- 

 vat 983, or A. D 876. From the Eaja Tarangini also we learn that 

 a Eaja Bhoja contended with Sankara Yarmma of Kashmir, who 

 reigned between the years 883 — 901 A. D, I am quite satisfied that 

 all these records refer to the same Prince, Bhoja Deva r who was Eaja 

 of Kanoj during the last quarter of the 9th century, or from about 

 A. D. 875 to 900. 



To prove this last statement it will be sufficient to show that Bhoja 

 Deva, son of Eamabhadra Deva, was Eaja of Kanoj about the date 

 specified. Now the genealogy of this family, consisting of eight 

 names, is given in the Benares copper-plate (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 

 XVII, 71) in which Eamabhadra Deva and Bhoja Deva are the 4th 

 and 5th names. The 2 .date of the inscription which is recorded in the 

 reign of Bhoja's great grandson, is 65, which must refer to some 

 recent era, and is not therefore of any assistance in fixing the actual 

 date of this copper-plate. But the name of Bhoja's great grand- 

 father, Vatsa Raja, is found in another copper-plate which is dated in 

 730 of the Sake Salivalidna or A. D. 808. In this record it is stated 

 that Paura Eaja, the father of the inscriber, had conquered Vatsa 



