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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI on a full-bloomed lotus and holds a lotus-bud in each of the upper hands which are raised. The whole design is included in an oval figure of beaded borders, 8 cms. in height and 10 cms. in breadth, and divides the first six lines of the writing into equal halves.1 Under the seat of the goddess is inscribed the sign-manual Śrīmad-Dēvavarmmadēvaḥ sva-hastaḥ, in two lines. The average height of the letters is about one cm., except for those of the second line of the sign-manual which are slightly smaller. The impression shows the plate to be in a perfect state of preservation. The characters are Nāgarī. They share the characteristics of the script of those of the preceding charter which was issued only a year back ; but they are somewhat irregularly formed and slovenly incised, evincing that some of the letters and signs of the original draft were misunderstood both by the writer and the engraver. The record also abounds in grammatical and other mistakes, as will be known from the notes appended to the text that follows. Despite this, the points that call for notice regarding the palaeography of the letters employed in the present inscription are as follows. The initial ē which resembles a triangle with its vertical point below, in ēka-, l. 5, appears as pa in ,i>ēvaṁ, l. 13; Kh shows its older form in vyākhyāna, l. 17, but its advanced form in –sākhinē, l. 16 and likhitaṁ, l. 23 ; the conjunct consonant gg sometimes appears as gg as in mārgga-, l. 4 but as ,i>gn, in some other cases as in vinirggata-, l. 16; ṅ has not developed its dot ; cf. .–anaṅga, and –aṅganā, both in l. 7; the letters ch, dh, v and occasionally r also are often confounded ; e.g., ch appears as v in suchira-, l. 11, and cha, l. 15, and reverse is the case in gatvā, l. 21; r is cut as ch in ,i>–rātma, l. 15 ; dh is endowed with the top-stroke in bandhu, l. 7, but is devoid of it in dhārā, l. 5, where the verticals of dhā are also joined, as is often the case, with a horizontal stroke ; d occasionally appears as the modern r, e.g., in paṇḍita, l. 16 ; and finally, s in sataṁ, ll, 11 and 12, and –sākhāya, l. 11, shows that this akshara had then begun assuming the modern form.
The language is Sanskrit, often barbarous and incorrect ; and in some places the case-terminations are altogether omitted, whereas in others we have wrong cases, incorrect verbal derivations, false genders, incorrect numbers, and moreover, often, putting the visarga sign unnecessarily. The record is in prose, with the exception of a verse in ll. 11-13 and six imprecatory verses in ll. 18-23 in the end, which are not numbered. In the composition the writer has evinced his fondness for similes and we also find some portions of the composition reading as parts of verses, e.g., in anushṭubh, mandākrāntā, and mālinī, respectively in ll. 4, 7 and 8. With reference to orthography, we may note (1) the general use of the sign for v to denote b also, as in vudvuda-, l. 10 ; (2) the doubling of a class-consonant following r, e.g., in vargga, l. 6 ; (3) putting the dental for the palatal sibilant in some cases, cf. sāsana, l. 5 and asāsvata, l. 13 ; (4) the wrong use of an anusvāra at the end of a stich ; see ll. 12 and 18 ; (5) the use of a dental nasal for the lingual ; cf. visnu, l. 6, hiranya, l. 18, -gṛihnāti, l. 19 and punya, l. 20; and finally, wrong spellings, e.g., of tri as truḥ, l. 16, jē as yē in v. 6 (l. 22) but not in v. 5, and jala in l. 10 spelt as yala, some of which evince the effects of the locality. The spelling Kāliñjara (in ll. 3 and 5) and not Kālañjara, as it often appears, may also be noted with interest. In some cases the mātrās are detached from the letters to which they belong so as to make them appear as a daṇḍa, e.g., in paurṇṇimā, l. 14. It is royal charter referring itself to the reign of the king Dēvavarman who belonged to the Chandēlla dynasty ruling at Kālañjara. The object of it is to record the grant of the village Bhūtapallikā, situated on the bank of the Yamunā river in the vishaya of Navarāshṭramaṇḍala, by the king Dēvavarman. The donee was a Brāhmaṇa-Paṇḍita named Kikkana.2 the son of Paṇḍita Śōmēśvara and grandson of PaṇḍitaJayasvāmin, whose ancestors had come from a bhaṭagrāma known as Kumbhaṭī. He belonged to the Kṛishṇātrēya gōtra with the pravaras Ātrēya, Ārchanānasa and Śyāvaśva and to the Bahvṛicha śākhā, and expounded the Vēdas, the Vēdāṅgas, Itihāsa, the Purāṇas and Mimāṁsā, and was devoted to the six-fold duties (shaṭ-karm-ābhirata) obviously enjoined on the Brāhmaṇas.3 __________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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