North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

No. 115 ; PLATES CVII
KĀLAÑJAR PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF MADANAVARMAN
[Vikrama ] Year 1186

THIS inscription was found on a pillar in the temple of Nīlakaṇṭha inside the fort of Kālañjara, in the Bāndā District of Uttar Pradesh.^[11] It was noticed by General Alexander Cunningham who transcribed and translated it in his Archaeological Survey Reports, Vol. XXI (for 1883-84 & 1884-85), p. 34 and Plate x-A. It is edited here from an inked impression which I owe to the kindness of the Chief Epigraphist, Archaeological Survey of India.

The record, which consists of five lines, is incised on a shaft, rounded at the top, and below another record separated from it by a space of about 2 cms.^[12] It covers a space 28 cms.

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^[1] Kielhorn read the first akshara of this word as but the mātrā is marked as a horn above.
^[2] Above tē, and also above the preceding ra, the sign for the medial ē was first cut and then struck off as unnecessary.
^[3] Kielhorn doubtfully read the third akshara as nī and remarked that it might also be read as nā or tā. But I see a curve representing the medial ī which appears to have been either struck off in the original or brushed.
^[4] The thousand-figure, though damaged, is quite clear.
^[5] The sign for ē (not i) before ha was originally marked and later on struck off as unnecessary. Kielhorn also remarked the same after studying it from two of the impressions with him. The akshara ha which was quite distinct in his time can now be recognised only in traces.
^[6] Read . The akshara so far as I can make out, had a sign ā attached at its top, but it has dis- appeared now, leaving only traces above. The following akshara, as many others in this inscription, has n for its consonant.
^[7] Kielhorn read this akshara as and corrected it to . But the loop at the top shows it definitely as taken here, and the tail is
   mixed with the horizontal stroke.─ The vertical stroke that follows is redundant.
^[8] For metris causa. To suit the metre it may be restored to .
^[9] The second akshara of this word is engraved as with a small curve representing the superscript of the following letter.
^[10] From : up to the end the letters are slightly bigger in form.
^[11] For the situation and archaeological importance of Kālañjara, see No. 110, above.
^[12] The inscription above consists of two and a quarter of lines and ends with the usual expression paying obeisance to Nīlakaṇṭha
   (nityam praṇamati). The letters in it are smaller and the palaeography shows them to belong to a slightly earlier time. The technical
   execution too is crude. For all these reasons I hesitate to agree with Cunningham who took both the records as one.