North Indian Inscriptions

SUPPLEMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS

form as in paṁcha, l. 2 ; dh is in a transitional stage, occasionally showing a horn on its left limb, as in dadhā-, l. 1 ; and the slightly differing forms of ś are to be noticed in Śiva, and Śūghya, both in l. 1.

The orthography points out the usual peculiarities of the inscriptions of the time, for example, the use of v to denote b as well, as in vibhrad, l. 2 ; the occasionally doubling of a consonant following r, e.g., in –arkka but not in –archita, both in l.6; the use of a nasal and anusvāra, both of which are placed side by side, as in danta and kaṇṭha, both in l. 1 and in paṁcha l. 2. Anusvāra is generally employed for m at the end of a stich ; and the dipthongs are indicated both by the mātrā before and above. There are a number of orthographical and other mistakes, e.g., in pankaja, l. 6, sansāra, l. 7, punsāṁ, l. 42, sansakta, l. 45, kinchit, l. 39, trudaśa, l. 22, niḥkrāntā,- l. 26, kṛipiṇa, l. 40, tritīya, l. 48 and triḥkāla, l. 52. J is employed for y in saṁjama, l. 51, and the reverse is the case of –yushāṁ for –jushāṁ in l. 42.

The epigraph does not refer to any reigning king or the dynasty to which he belonged, but the main interest of it lies in the colophon containing the date. It is given in the last line as the 13th day of the dark half of Kārttika, and the year is mentioned, in numerical figures, as (v.) 1120. In his reading of the year, Dr. Chakravarti expressed his doubt about that of the second digit and held that it may have been 2 as well, and accordingly, the year may be taken as 1220. But from my personal examination of the stone I am sure about my reading which is also confirmed by the impressions before me and taken about seven years before Chakravarti copied the record.¹ The date cannot be verified, but taking the year as Chaitrādi (expired) and the month pūrṇimānta, the corresponding date in the Christian era would be Wednesday, the 22nd October 1063 A.C.

As stated above, the main theme of the stōtra is to praise Śiva. It was composed by the poet Halāyudha, whose identity we shall consider after giving the gist of the record. Opening with the auspicious symbol and a short sentence paying obeisance to the deity, it invokes the blessings of Gaṇapati, Viśākha (Kārtikēya), Śiva and Mahākāla, respectively, devoting one verse to each of them. In verses 5-6 the poet, with all due modesty, proposes to describe the majesty of Śiva, stating in v. 7 that His aspects are manifold. Verse 8 again expresses The poet’s modesty ; and the next verse enumerates the well-known eight forms of Śiva . The tenth verse is again general, and the following verse identifies Him with Arhat and Sugata. The next five verses state that it is Śiva who directs the works of the Sun, the day and night, and the seasons, and also describes some of His forms, invoking blessings in favour of His devotees. Verse 16-30 again glorifies The god’s majesty, and the next eight verses speak highly of His various aspects, His āyudhas and His abodes. In verses 39-57 He is said to reside in Vārāṇasī and Śrīgiri, and finally, verses 58-63 invoke the blessings of the deity.

The stotra ends with verse 64, which states that it was composed by a Brāhmaṇa named Halāyudha, who had hailed from Navagrāma in the Southern Rāḍha. Immediately after the Stōtra actually finishes, we have the writer’s own composition, which is a sort of another hymn. Giving the twelve principal names of Śiva, in ll. 48-50, it enumerates in a verse the five jyōtirliṅgas, viz., Avimukta (at Vārāṇasī) and Kēdāra, besides Oṁkāra, Amara and Mahākāla (at Ujjain). In this verse, as Chakravarti has already noted, though the name of Oṁkāra and Amara have been given separately, the eight other liṅgas have been omitted in the list.^[2]

Lines 51-53 give the names of a few Śaivite teachers, recording that in the city of Bhōja, living in the Sōmēśvaradēva monastery and hailing from Nandiyaḍa was the Pāśupata teacher, Bhaṭṭāraka, the illustrious Bhavavālmīka, whose disciple was Bhaṭṭāraka, the illustrious Bhāvasamudra. Line 53 mentions Paṇḍita Bhāvaviriñchi ; and apparently, he, with the last-mentioned

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^[1] In A.R., on Ind. Ep., 1963-64. appx. C-1983, the year is correctly read as 1120, as also mentioned by D. R. Bhandarkar in I.N.I., No. 138, which, for the Chaitrādi Vikrama year, expired, would correspond
to Wednesday, 22nd October (for the purṇimānta month), and, to Friday, 21st November, when the 13th tithi was combined with the 14th (for amānta), both of 1063 A.C. For the Kārthikādi V. Year, it would be equivalent to Monday. 11th October (for pūrṇmānta), and to Tuesday, 9th November (for amānta) both of 1064 A.C. But we have no means to verify it.
^[2] Taking Māndhātā and Oṁkāra as two, we have here 13 jyōtirliṅgas, and not 12, as we find in the list in the from Purāṇa, beginning with Saurāshṭrē Sōmanāthaṁ cha.