910 Ancient Inscriptions. [Oct. 



grace, by bringing angry women to love him through the force of his 

 bowing and sweet words," &c. &c, " announces to all possessors of estates 

 in their own right, and to all managers of the royal lands, and to the vil- 

 lage proprietors — Be it known to all of you," (a conveyancer of the pre- 

 sent day would write " Now know ye,") that we (the said raja Prasanga 

 Raja Datta) in the full moon of Kartik, out of respect for those who 

 are versed in the four Vedas, and consecrated with (holy) water, 

 have presented to A. B. (the names are not legible) inhabitants of 

 Girisha pudraka in the district of Angkureswara, and to B. C. the 

 village named Sirisha padrakanlash, for worship of the five Jagnas, 

 Bali, Cham, Baiswadeva, and Agnihotra, and for increase of the virtue 

 and fame of our father, our mother, and ourself ; that the said village with 

 all the rich produce it affords, may be enjoyed by the said grantees, 

 their sons, grandsons and posterity, as long as the sun, and moon, and 

 the ocean, and the earth shall endure. 



" After this, let future rajas of our race, or of any other race, that 

 may desire to secure to themselves the eternal fame, beautiful as the 

 moon-beam, which attaches to donors of lands, reflect that life and wealth 

 are fickle as waves of the sea urged by a strong wind ; while fame, earned 

 by good deeds is durable without limit ; and so let them respect this 

 grant, and confirm the grantees in possession. He only, whose mind is 

 blackened by the darkness of ignorance, will resume it, or be pleased at 

 seeing others molest its possessors — reckless of the guilt of the five 

 deadly sins, and of other heinous crimes, as described at length in the 

 Veda Byasa. 



" He who grants lands, lives 60,000 years in heaven ; but he who 

 confiscates or resumes, or allows others to do so, is doomed to hell for 

 a like period. 



" The resumers of grants become as black serpents that dwell in holes 

 in the Vindhya forest. The earth has been enjoyed by many kings, as 

 the Sagara raja and others, and each in his turn has ruled as a despot 

 lord of all. But what generous man will take again the grants made by 

 rajas who have gone before him, and whose gifts are like wreaths of 

 flowers once used, spreading the fragrance of a good name, and of the 

 reputation for wealth and virtue*. 



" By the order of the raja's own mouth this grant has been written 

 by Rewa, a servant well tried in peace and in war, in the full moon of 

 Kartika of the Sambat year (of Vikramaditya) 380." 



* The correspondence of the terms in which this grant closes, with the latter 

 part of the grant obtained by Mr. R. Jenkins in Chattisgarh, as given in 

 vol. XV. of the Asiatic Researches, will not fail to strike the reader. The cha- 

 racter of that grant seems to be of higher antiquity than was then assigned to it 

 by Dr. Wilson. 



