North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

No. 120 ; PLATE CXI-A
KĀLANJAR ROCK INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF MADANAVARMAN
[Vikrama ] Year 1192

THIS inscription was discovered in 1848, by Lieutenant Maisey, at Kālañjar in the Banda District of Uttar Pradesh.3 Maisey briefly noticed the record in the Bengal Asiatic Society Journal, Vol. XVII, p. 322, No.5. His account was generally followed by A. Cunningham, in his Archaeological Survey of India Reports, Vol. XXI, pp. 35 f., and Plate X-D. From the same plate the inscription is edited here.

Cunningham found the record incised on the upper side of a rock beside the figure of Narasiṁha near the temple of Nīlakaṇṭha in the fort. Immediately below it, there is another inscription, which has the same purport and which also has been dealt with here. The present inscription consists of four lines of equal length, the dimensions of which are not recorded. The characters are Nāgarī of the twelfth century A.C. But in formation they are more ornamental than those of the other inscriptions found at the place. What is again worth nothing is that several of the letters either show a crescent below their top-strokes or begin with a notch, as we find in the Dēogaḍh inscription of the time of Kīrttivarman.^[4]

Palaeographically we may note the formation of k, which, as the first member of a conjunct consonant, loses its loop on the left side, as in Dīkshita in l. 1 ; ṭh is formed as a vertical bar assuming the shape of a loop on the left by the sudden bend of its lowest extremity, as in Ṭhakkura, l. 1 ; th is represented by two loops placed vertically, as in Pṛithvīdhara, l. 1 ; dh has developed a horn on its limb, along with the top-stroke, as in the same example. Attention may also be drawn to the proper sign of b as distinguished from v, and to the form of bh, both in babhuva, l. 2 ; to that of s in Nṛisiṁha, l. 3, and to that of r in Ravau, l. 4.

The language of the record is Sanskrit, which is generally correct. The consonant t in Saṁvat, l. 4, is not marked ; and a kāka-pada sign appears to have been engraved at the end of line 2.^[5]

The purpose of the inscription is to record the construction of an image of Nṛisiṁha, the same deity beside which the record was found, by a Ṭhakkura whose name was also Nṛisiṁha.
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^[1] Originally sma, changed to śma.
^[2] The letters and figures cut here are only to complete the line. What may possibly be guessed here is that the akshara chha is intended to show, with a floral design on either of its sides.
^[3] For the situation and antiquities of the place, see above, No. 110.
^[4] Above, No 111.
^[5] The photograph shows a faint trace thereof.