The Royal Quarters
Creators: name: RODRIGUES, TENSING CARLOS
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: History
subject: Anthropology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Archaeology
subject: Geography
subject: Sociology

description: Next we move to a cluster of five villages–Bhāṭī (Batim), Kuḍkā (Curca), Taḷāulī (Talaulim), Gōaḷī-Mōuḷī (Goalim-Moula) and Gāṁvśī (Gancim).The cluster lies between the two capitals : Gopakāpaṭṭan, the old Śilāhār and Kadaṃb capital and Old Goa, the new Bahamani and Portuguese capital; over time the clusterhas accommodated the suburbs of both;and the royal road,the rājbiḍi, passes through it. All are idyllic villages still; but the impact of a ‘royal’ neighbourhood seems to have left a mark on them. Let us begin with Bhāṭī. A copper plate of the Kadaṃb king Śaṣṭha-dēv II dated around 1246 CE refers to it as Sālibhāṭī. This copperplate testifies to Śaṣṭha-dēv II giving to his guru,dikṣītand rājguru ,Jyesṭh Viṣṇuśarmāa paddy field by name Kiṃjḷaṃg. The field was near the Śrī Murti Nārāyaṇ temple in the northwest part of the village Śālikṣētr, Śālibhāṭī. This village was to the north of the town Gopakapuri, which is presided by the deity Gōvēśvar. [Fleet, 1885 : Sanskrit and Old-Kanarese Inscriptions, in Indian Antiquary, vo. 14, 288] This is a rather complicated manner to describe the location of the field. What it means seems to be : The field was in a place called Sālikṣētr, in the northwest part of the village Sālibhāṭī, which is Bhāṭīor Batim. According to Pissurlencar,Śālikṣētris the location in Batim now known as Sulbhāṭ; we do not know for certain whether Sulbhāṭ denotes Sālikṣētr or Sālibhāṭī. The field was close to the temple of Śrī Murti Nārāyaṇ; this temple stood close to where the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Bhāṭī stands now. [Pissurlencar, 1938 :Inscrições Pre-Portuguêsas de Goa, in O Oriente Português, no. 22, 406]The prefix ‘śāli’ repeats in both Śālibhāṭī and Śālikṣētr; but we do not know what it indicates. Could ‘śāli’ refer to a variety of rice that was grown in the paddy field ? The Chinchani (Dahanu, Thana) copperplates of the Rashtrakuta king Indra III dated 926 CE (verse 22) mention the cultivation of the śālitype of paddy. It was called śalyannam, and was considered the best and the ﬁnest variety of rice; rather śalyannam could be a special preparation made using śāli rice. It could be something like the laterbyriani; the copper plate suggests that it was served with ghee and curries. Interestingly this reference was in connection with a free meal offered by an Arab governor of the king at Sanjan by name Muhammad. [Sircar,: Rashtrakuta Charters from Chinchani, in Epigraphia Indica, vol. 32, 52] Chakravarti finds a similar mention in the Kharepattan copper plates of South Koṁkaṇ Śilāhār king Rattaraja dated 1008; but I could not locate the word in the transcripts of the plates. [Chakravarti, 2016 :An Emergent Coastal Polity: The KonkanCoast Under The Silaharas (10th To 13th centuries AD), in Studies in People’s History, vol. 3, no. 2, 131] If this conclusion about śāli be true, could Kiṃjḷaṃg or Kiṃzaḷaēu, the name of the paddy field given by Śaṣṭha-dēv II to his guru, be referring to another variety of rice, commonly called keṃdāḷ or kiṃdaḷ ? <br>