North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

Nos. 101-06 ; PLATES XCVI-XCIX
SIX DUDĀHĪ STONE INSCRIPTIONS OF DEVALABDHI
(Undated)

THE six inscriptions which are edited here were first brought to notice by Sir A. Cunningham, who published transcripts of them, accompanied by photozincographs of five, in his Archaeological Survey of India Reports, Volume X (for 1874-75 & 1876-77), pp. 94-95, and Plate xxxii, 1-2 and 4-6. Subsequently they were edited by F. Kielhorn in the Indian Antiquary, Volume XVIII (for 1889), pp. 236 ff., from rubbings taken by Cunningham and supplied to him by Fleet. But Kielhorn’s article is not illustrated. The inscriptions are edited here from inscriptions kindly supplied to me by the Chief Epigraphist, and in my readings thereof I have also taken into account the plate illustrating Cunningham’s writings.

   All these inscriptions were discovered by Cunningham, as stated above, in a shrine dedicated to Brahmā and standing on a ridge to the east of Dudāhi,^[1] a petty hamlet in the Lalitpur subdivision of the Jhānsī District of Uttar Pradesh, situated about 29 kilometres to the south of Lalitpur and about 19 kilometres south-east of Dēogaḍh, the well-known place of antiquity. They are said to have been carved on parts of the temple, though neither Cunningham nor Kielhorn gives a clue as to their exact location. As stated above, they are six in all, and all are short, ranging from one to eleven lines. In his Report, Cunningham, while describing them, uses figures (1 to 6), whereas Kielhorn uses alphabetical figures from A to F, to denote them, and for facility’s sake, he also makes alterations in their order fixed by the former scholar. In the subjoined transcripts thereof, I have followed the order given to them by Kielhorn, and in brackets I have also given the respective numbers in which they are treated by Cunningham.

   The following table is intended to show the number of lines of the respective records, along with their dimensions.

   All the inscriptions are fairly legible and are engraved, as stated above, on parts of the temple so as to suit the space available. For example, A and B are arranged in short lines, each of which consists of about 5 or 6 letters, while C and D are in longer lines, the first of these two showing about ten and the second about twelve letters in each of the lines.

   The characters of all these records are Nāgarī of the eleventh century A.C. Attention may be drawn to the general tendency that the letters have their curves sharp and some of the
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^[1] Doodhai, N.L. 24º 26’ ; E.L. 78º 27’ (Ind, Atlas, Sheet No. 70 N.W.); Cunningham describes the anti- quilters of this place in his A. S. I. R., Vol. X. pp. 90-96. For the description of the temple, see ibid., p. 94, where he observes that the ascription of this temple to the Gonds, as stated in the Gazetteer of the N. W. Provinces (now U.P.) Dist. Lalitpur, should evidently be taken as pertaining to later times. A parallel example of an earlier temple captured later on by the Gonds is shown by the temple of Bōramdēo at Chhaprī near Kawardhā in the Chhattīsgaḍh Division of Madhya Pradesh (See C. I. I., Vol. IV, p. 581). This inscription is not noted by Cunningham; and instead of it, he gives transcript of another (his No. 3) ; but it is not illustrated by him.