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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI also presented the stone to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which subsequently transferred it to the Indian Museum, Calcutta The inscription was also edited, without any lithograph, by Dr. F. Kielhorn in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I (1888), pp. 195 ff. The stone has since then become untraceable, and as an estampage of the inscription is also now not forthcoming, I give below the transcript of it, made by Kielhorn, with minor changes so as to suit to the system adopted here, and also adding my notes to it . “The inscription, so far as I can judge form the impression, consists of 29 lines. The writing covers a space about 4’0½” (1∙37 metres) broad by 3’1” (1∙4 metres) high, and a considerable portion of it is greatly damaged. Thus, the last line is almost completely effaced, and portions of about half the number of lines are “either gone altogether or have become illegible.” This damage is of course due to the weather to which the stone remained exposed for long, but probable more due to the fact, as noted by Lt. Price himself, that “the natives were accustomed to sharpen their knives and talwars upon it .”1 The letters, which are of the size of 2∙2 cms., were noted to be similar in style to those of the inscriptions from Ajaygaḍh and Mahōbā, of which photo-lithographs are published in Cunningham’s A.S.I.R., Vol. XXI, Pls. xv and xxi-xxiii.2 The present inscription also shares the peculiarity that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the letters g, n and m.3
The language is Sanskrit, and the existing portion of the record is in verse throughout. It contains 49 verses in different metres, including also the rare Svāgata and still more rare the Aupachchhandasika. The verses are not numbered. The style is classical, often reminding us of thes poets of old and using figures of speech also. With reference toorthography, we may note that (1) b is denoted by the sign of v except in a few instances occurring in ll. 3, 4, 18, 21 and 25 ; (2) the consonant following r is not unoften doubled, e.g., in darppa, l.3 ; (3) the sign of avagraha is used to show the elision of a in the preceding ē or ō, and occasionally also in dīrgha-sandhi. e.g., in sūnṛitā-ananta, l. 16 ; and finally, (4) the dental n is used instead of the sigh of anusvāra in śubhrānśu, l. 10, vanśa, ll. 11 and 23, mīmānsaka, l.11, and vajñānśa, ujjvala appears with a single j in ll.13 and 15 but not in l. 16. The inscription refers itself to the reign of Madanavarman, (who belonged to the Chandēlla dynasty of Mahōbā). The proper object of it is to record the construction of a temple of Vishṇu, the building of a tank and the execution of some other works of piety, by one of his Ministers, who appears to have been Gadādhara. The date and the names of the poet and the engraver, which may have been given in the concluding lines, appear to be lost. The inscription is a praśasti, and, as customary, may be divided into two parts. The first part, which consists of vv.1-16, gives an account of the ancestors of Madanavarman, during whose reign the record was incised and put up, and the rest of the record, consisting of verses 17 ff., describes the genealogy of the minister and the object in hand. After two maṅgala-ślōkas in praise of Vishṇu, the poet proceeds to state the pedigree of the ruling king Madanavarman, from Dhaṅga, who is stated to have defeated the king of Kānyakubja (v.3). Dhaṅga’s son was Gaṇḍadēva (v. 4), his grandson, Vidyādhara (v. 5) and his great-grandson was Vijayapāla (v. 6). whose son, again, was Kīrttivaman, who is stated to have vanquished his enemies (v. 8). The names of the enemies are not mentioned here, but this statement probably refers to his defeat of the Kalachuri Karṇa, as seen above.4 Dēvavarman, who was the elder brother of Kīrttivarman, is not mentioned in the present inscription, as he was a collateral. Kīrttivarman’s son was Sallakshaṇavarman(vv.9-10), and the latter’s son was Jayavarman (v.11), who was succeeded by his younger brother Pṛithvīvarman. The last names king was again succeeded by his son, Madanavarman, who, as stated in the present inscription, defeated the kings of Chedi and Mālavā. and “through dread of whom the king of Kāśī passed his time in friendly behaviour.” The Chēdi or Kalachuri king, referred to as defeated by Madanaverman, appears to be no other than his contemporary Gayākarṇa who was ruling from circa1123 to 1153 A.C. A hoard
of Madanavarman’s silver coins found at Panwar in the Tēonthar tehsīl of the former Rewā
State and now a district of the same name5 may taken to suggest that Gayākarṇa, who had | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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