North Indian Inscriptions

SUPPLEMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS

The inscription is on the lower part of the slab bearing another above, with which we are not concerned. The writing measures 48.5 cms. in breadth by 28.5 cms. in height, and consists of 14 lines, the last of which is about half of the length of the others. It is well preserved, excepting three aksharas in l. 13, as to be seen below. The technical execution is, on the whole, fair ; and the signs of the mātrās above show a graceful curve. The letters are all distinct and vary in size from 1 to 2.5 cms., including the flourishes.

The script is Nāgarī of the 12th century A.C. The akshara ṇ as a subscript resembles l, as in Vishṇō-, l. 1 ; chh and th in their subscript form have the same sign, for which see -chchhāya-, l. 5, and sthāna, l. 9 ; and the slightly varying forms of bh are to be noticed in bhāsa-, l. 1, and bhakti- in l. 10, and those of r in purandara and ratna, both in l. 2.

The language is Sanskrit, which is generally correct ; and with the exception of the customary obeisance to Nārāyaṇa in the beginning and the formal part in ll. 11-14, the record is all in verse, consisting of seven verses, which are all numbered. The orthographical peculiarities are as usual, viz., (1) the use of the sign of anusvāra to denote the class-nasal even at the end of a verse or its stich, (2) of v to denote b as well ; (3) of the pṛishṭha-mātrā, occasionally, e.g., in tējasvinau, l. 4, and vidadhē, l. 8 ; and (4) the reduplication of a class-consonant following r. The name of the village is spelt as Griviḍa in l. 8 but as Gṛiviḍa in l. 9.

The object of the inscription is to record that the temple in which the stone is set up was repaired by one Śrī Satyātmā, after taking permission from the Griviḍa (Girvaḍ) Brāhmaṇas who too made some donations to the deity, in Samvat 1181, Jyēshṭha vadi 12 v(b)udha-dinē. The date is given only in numbers ; and, for the Chaitrādi expired ; it regularly corresponds to 11th June, 1124, when it was a Wednesday and the month, amānta. The names of the writer and the engraver of the inscription are not mentioned.

Beginning with a sentence in prose paying customary obeisance to Nārāyaṇa, as seen above, the epigraph has three stanzas to record homage, respectively to Vishṇu, Murāri and Paṭṭa-Nārāyaṇa, who are all the same. The last of these deities (now enshrined in the temple) is here described as “possessing boundless greatness (amēya-vibhava), and excelling all the other forms of lustre.” From the next two stanzas we learn that the great sage Vasishṭha had established the god near a kuṇḍa called Paṭṭa-hrada, and that this temple was repaired by Satyātmā, after taking permission of the Brāhmaṇas residing there, as already stated above. The portion that follows records the donation of the villages of Pāṭīkshētra and Rudrāvantī to the god by the people of Girvaḍ. The other donations mentioned in the inscription consist of a drama for clothing those who observed fast for a month (māsōpavāsika), twenty palas of thread for pavitraka, naivēdya (details not mentioned), two karshas of oil for smearing the body (of the deity), and some others, all mentioned in the local language which I cannot make out.

Nothing about Satyātmā who repaired the temple is known either from the present record or from any other source. Nor is the name of the king mentioned here. However, the findspot of the record goes to suggest that the repairs of the temple referred to above were made during the reign of the Ābū Paramāra ruler Vikramasiṁha or his elder brother Rāmadēva, respectively the uncle and father of Yaśōdhavala, whose earliest known date is V. 1202.^[1] The absence of material to throw light on the history of this period prevents us from saying anything definitely on this point. It is, however, interesting to see that the Brāhmaṇas could jointly make a donation, as stated above.

Of the two localities mentioned in the inscription, viz., Pāṭī-kshetra and Rudrāvantī, neither can be satisfactorily identified for want of names of places fully corresponding with them, around Girvaḍ. To make some suggestions in this respect, however, I am tempted to identify the first of these names either with Paṇḍoorī, lying about 14 kms. north-east of Girvaḍ, or with Padrūkhēḍā, situated about 25 kms. in the same direction. Both these places are now included in the adjoining tehsīl of Rēodhar. The other place, viz., Rudrāvantī, may possibly have been the modern village of Reḍvā, situated about 6 kms. south-east of Girvaḍ.

The name of the reigning king is not mentioned in the inscription and the reason of it is not far to seek. In the history of this house we have seen that Dantivarman was succeeded by his son Kṛishṇarāja, by ousting his nephew Yōgarāja who was the legitimate heir to the throne ; and it is possible that Yōgarāja and his son Rāmadēva may have been striving hard to oust
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^[1] See the Ajahari stone inscription, above, No. 64.