North Indian Inscriptions

SUPPLEMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS

person, st up the record found on the slabs, From the following two lines we learn that the inscription was written by Paṇḍita Gāndhadhvaja of the Chāpala gōtra. He was a disciple of Vivēkarāśi, who was again a disciple of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, the illustrious Supujitatasi.

The last line contains the date, which we have already discovered above. Only stating that the epigraph is of inestimable value for the study of religion, we advert to Halāyudha, the poet of the stōtra, which again is important from the point of view of the study of Sanskrit literature. On certain grounds he has been identified with the poet of the same name, who was a follower of the Śaiva cult and a native of Navagrāma and who is referred to in the Dvipada Basavapurāṇa by the Telugu poet Pālkuriki Sōmanātha who lived about, 119 A.C. Pointing out that he is also the same as the author of the Kavirahasya and the Abhidhānaratnamālā, Prof. Sastri who edited the inscription held that he should have been flourished in the latter half of the tenth century A.C.,^[1]

As for the place-names mentioned in the inscription, Navagrāma in Dakshiṇa-Rāḍha (v. 64) has already been identified with the village of the same name in the Bhurshut parganā of the Hooghly District in Bengal.^[2] Bhōjanagar, where a monastery known as Sōmēśvaradēva-maṭha existed (l. 51) appears to be identical with Dhārā, but while suggesting this identification, Chakravarti rightly observed that the Paramāra capital is always referred to by its name Dhārā even at the time of Bhōja and his successors. And in view of this, we may suggest another alternative of its identification with Bhōjapur, which is near Bhopāl and contains an old shrine of Śiva with a huge liṅga installed in its sanctum. Naṁdiyaḍa the original place of the Śaiva ascetic Bhavavālmīki (l. 51), remains unidentified in the absence of details ; however, it may be observed here that the name appears much similar to that of the town of Naḍiyād near Baroda in the Gujarāt State.

TEXT^[2]
[Metres : Verse 1-16 Mandākrāntā ; vv. 62. 64-71 Anushṭubh v. 63 Śārdūlavikrīḍita ]. ].

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^[1] For details, see Ep. Ind., Vol. XXV, p. 173. Sastri has also shown that the poet must have lived prior to the 11th century and therefore he could not be identical with the famous Halāyudha who adorned the Con urt of Lakshmaṇasēna of Bengal and who was the author of several sarvasvas. 2 Ind. Cult., Vol. I, p. 503. 3 From the original stone and an inked impression. Later on, the text was compared by me from another impression supplied by the Chief Epigraphist ; it is his No. C-1983 of A. R., Ind. Ep., 1963-64. In appx., C, 1983, the date is read as (V.) 1120. 4 Expressed by symbol. For the ardha-nārī form of Gaṇapati, in inscriptions, see Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, Vol. XXI, p. 328. 5 The portion between square brackets in this and the following verses is hidden behind a new creation in the temple and it has been adopted here from Sastri who restored it from manuscripts in the Government Oriental Manuscript Library, Madras.