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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
SUPPLEMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS
No. 186 ; PLATE CLXII THIS inscription was brought to light by Kielhorn, by publishing transcript of its first four lines, in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX, p. 84. It is edited here from the original stone which I examined in situ, in my visit to Udaipur on 9-3-1973.[1] The record is incised on the lower part of a sand-stone pillar on the right side just above the flight of steps leading to the eastern porch of the celebrated Śiva temple at Udaipur in the Bāsōdā tehsīl of the Vidishā District of Madhya Pradesh. It consists of nine lines of writing, measuring 31 cms. broad by 32 cms. high. The average height of the letters, which were cursively drawn, is about 2 cms. The engraving was done most carelessly, even without making the surface of the stone none too smooth. The letters have also suffered from weather ; and as a result of it, the last two lines have become almost illegible. A few letters are also at the end of ll. 6-9, as this part of the stone has peeled off. The alphabet is Nagari and the language is Sanskrit. The record is all in prose. The orthography does not call for any remark except that in l. 4 gha is employed for ha in the name of Jayasiṁha. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Mahārājādhirāja, the illustrious Jayasiṁhadēva who was endowed with all regnal titles ; and the object of it is to record the donation of one-eighth of the revenue from the village Hathivāhā by The Ṭhakura (?) Vidyādhara, to a Brāhmaṇa whose name is indistinct. The last line contains the name of Chandraprabha, who is mentioned as witness. The date, which is given in numerical figures only, in l. 1, was the twelfth of the dark half of Śrāvaṇa, on Friday, of the (Vikrama) Year 1366, which regularly corresponds to Friday 24th July, 1310 A.C.[2], for the Southern Vikrama, expired, and the month ending with the full moon.
The inscription says nothing about the lineage of the king mentioned in it ; but from its find-spot he appears to have been no other than a Paramāra ruler. He cannot be the same as Jayasiṁha-Jayavarman, one of whose inscriptions was found at Udaipur itself and another at Paṭhārī, about 15 kms. distant from it, and dated, respectively, in V.S. 1311 (1255 A.C.) and V.S. 1326 (1269 A.C.), since the latter of these records bears a date which is about 40 years earlier than that of the present inscription. We also know that Jayasiṁha-Jayavarman was succeeded by Arjunavarman II, and he by Bhōja II ; and that the last known ruler of the house, Malhākadēva, was killed in a battle with the Sultān Alā-ud-dīn Khaljī, in 1305 A.C.[3] The present inscription, which was dated about six years later, tends to indicate that Jayasiṁha, during whose reign it was engraved, was a successor of Malhākadēva, if a Paramāra king at all,[4] and that the was reigning as an independent king in the region around Udaipur ; or it may be that he was allowed to rule there after he had accepted subordination to the Muslim throne. And unless any corroborative evidence is available, this view should remain to be hypothetical.
The only geographical name mentioned in the inscription is the village Hativāhā (ll. 4-5),
which is obviously the modern Hatavāhā, about 24 kms. east-south-east of Udaipur.
[1] Since this article was written, the inscription been edited, with transcript and a facsimile, by
Dr. Ramsharma, of the office of the Chief Epigraphist, in the Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 34, ff.,
from impressions, A. R. Ep., 1961-62, No. C1637. The facsimile which was prepared about 10-11 years
ago, was helpful to me in reading some letters which are now wholly or partially lost on the original. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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