North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE YAJVAPALAS OF NARWAR

inscription which was engraved only a couple of years before. Attention may be draws to the form of the initial i, the loop with the tail of which is separated from the rest (e.g., in iti), l. 12) ; to that of the initial u incised as nu (see udāra-, l. 9) ; to that of ṇ with its middle vertical stroke ending in a loop (see purāṇa, l. 13) ; to that of p engraved as y (cf. kalpa-, l. 1) ; and lastly, to the mark of a final consonant resembling the mātrā of long ū, as in samyak, l. 5. The limbs of the letters are formed angular.

The writing is correct but involves a few mistakes as tammāt for tasmāt and nimmala for nirmmala, both in l. 9. The language is Sanskrit, which is generally correct ; and except for the opening word siddhiḥ, the record is metrically composed. The verses, which are all numbered, total 19. The poet who had a deep knowledge of the Harshacharita on which the initial portion of the record is based, has some slackness in his composition ; e.g., the use of the word sa-vidvān and the redundant tē and tu, all in v. 9.

As regards orthography, we note that (1) v. is written throughout for b ; cf. vudha-, l. 2 ; (2) the dental s is put for the palatal ś in a few instances like Sarvva for Śarvva in the same line ; (3) anusvāra is wrongly used in a few cases at the end of a stich, e.g., at the end of the first half of v. 1, but not so at the end of it ; and lastly, (4) a consonant after r is generally doubled excepting in a few instances ; see sarvva-, l. 1 but not in –arjita-, l. 13.

The object of the inscription is to record the excavation of a stepped well (vāpī), evidently the same in which the stone was found, by a person whose name was Iśvara. The record does not refer to any ruling prince by name nor to any dynasty which was then holding its sway in the region ; but as the date is mentioned to be the fifth of the bright half Kārttīka, Wednesday of the Vikrama year 1341, which regularly corresponds to Wednesday, 3rd Octomber, 1285 A.C.^[1], it may be ascribed to the period of the Yajvapāla Gōpāladēva who was holding sway in that region from 1279 to 1289 A.C.

Opening with the auspicious word Siddhiḥ, the record has one verse to invoke the blessings of Śiva under the name Śarva. It then mentions the origin of the Śarasvata Brāhmaṇas, stating that the river Sarasvatī married the sage Dadhīchi who was performing penances on her bank and had from him a son of the name of Sārasvata (born of Sarasvatī). He pleased Indra by his penances at the time of a drought and obtained rains from him (vv. 2-3). In his generation which flourished at Sarasvatī-pattana, there were several learned persons who were all devoted to performing sacrifices and worshipped Śiva (v. 4). The next verse states that in his lineage was born Bhadrēśvara, the crest-jewel of the Dīkshitas, who worshipped Vishṇu (yajñapurusha) by sacrifices. His son was Āśādhara, the foremost among those who knew the supreme Spirit and the good conduct personified (v. 6). From him was born Hṛishīkēśa, whose heart was pure and who was compassionate, generous, of good conduct and a member of a society (sabhāstāra).^[3] His wife was Lahuvaḍā, the daughter of Rālha, who knew two of the Vēdas (v. 8) She gave birth to three sons, viz., Sāmadhara, Nāyaka and Ghuḍaddēva (v. 9). Sāmadhara was proficient in the three Vēdas, the Purāṇas and grammar (v. 10). His wife was Dēvasirī (Dēvaśrī), the daughter of Bharahapāla (v. 11), who is otherwise unknown. Her sons were Ratnākara, Sōma, who was a poet, Īśvara, Sīlaṇa and Rudra (v. 12). The next verse states that the well, evidently the same where the stone was discovered, was excavated by Īśvara. Nothing more about this person is known.

Verse 14 is devoted to describing the well in a poetic way ; and the next verse states that the praśasti was composed by Sōmamiśra, the son of Sāmadhara and thus a brother of Īśvara himself, who excavated the well, as known from v. 12, above. Verse 19, the last of the verses of the record, states that it was written by Gāṅgadēva, the son of the Brāhmaṇa Manē who belonged to the Gauḍa lineage. It was engraved by Ratana (Ratna), whose name appears on the lower border of the stone, as seen above, along with the date in figure.

The inscription is void of any historical interest.

The only geographical name appearing in the inscription is Sarasvatī-pattana (v. 4), which is the modern village Surwāyā, near which the stone was found. For the ending –wāyā, we may compare the name Padmāvati changed to Pawāyā, which is in the same region.
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^[1] See I. N. I., No. 607. The year is expressed in word-numerals, excepting the first one.
^[2] For the meaning of this word, see n. under verse 7 in the text, below.