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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE YAJVAPALAS OF NARWAR The characters belong to the Nāgari alphabet ; and from the point of view of the palaeography, it may be noted that the letter bh is antique in form, e.g., in bhaṭṭāraka, l. 2 ; that r is sometimes denoted by a vertical with a horizontal stroke attached to its middle, on the left, as in rājya, l. 4 ; and that the sign of the final consonant in saṁvat, l. 12, almost resembles the sign of the medial u. The language is Sanskrit, with is corrupt and often also grammatically incorrect ; and the entire record is in prose. The orthography does not call for any special notice, except that vertical strokes, which are decorated with top-strokes, are often used to separate words as the commas of the modern times, for which see ll. 1, 2 and 4. Beginning with auspicious words, the inscription mentions the name of the illustrious Gōpāldēva with the epithets including Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara, stating at the same time that he was a great devotee of Mahēśvara (Śiva). From the provenance of the record and also from the year mentioned in it, this king is no doubt the homonymous ruler of Narwar, whose rule extended from c. 1279 to c. 1289 A.C. Following this, is introduced the illustrious Jaitujamhadēva a slave of the devotees of Brāhmaṇas, who was then governing the region. The relation that this person bore to Gōpāladēva is not specified in the record ; but as rightly remarked by Dr. Sircar, on the basis of taking him identical with the Mahākumāra or Kumāra Jaitravarman called Jaitavrahmadēva, Jayatavrahmadēva and Jeyatav(b)rahmadēva of the Baṅglā inscriptions,[1] that he was undoubtedly a subordinate ruler under the Yajvapāla monarch and probably also enjoyed the status of a crown-prince (yuvarāja).[2]
The object of the inscription, as given in 11. 5 ff., is to record the death of Rā, i.e., Rāüta Malayadēva in a battle fought in connection with a case of cattle-lifting at the street (pratōlī) in the village of Śēsai (where the inscribed pillar was found), probably along with both the wives who too were killed by the cattle-lifters, as suggested by the language of the record. The elder wife was Māhiṇīdēvī and the younger one was Nāvuladēvī (ll. 8-9). The pillar was erected by their sons who were the Rā (Rāüta) Himāṇa and the Rā (rāüta) Haṁsarāja (ll. 10-11), who (thus) brought fame to the family. The inscription ends with the date viz., the (Vikrama) year 1341 (expressed in numerical figures only), the first tithi of the dark fortnight of Pausha when it was Monday. Working out the details of the date, Dr. Sircar observed that “they (the details) are irregular, but may refer to the 25th of December, 1284 A.D.” This view may be accepted.[3] Sesai-grāma, mentioned in l. 6 of the inscription, is, no doubt the village of the same name where the pillar has been found.
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