North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

No. 137 ; PLATE CXXIV

AJAYAGAḌH STONE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF PARAMARDIN

[Vikrama] Year 1243

THIS inscription, which exists on one of the jambs of the upper gate of the fort of Ajayagaḍh¹ in the Pannā District of Madhya Pradesh, was found by Alexander Cunningham, who transcribed a portion of it in Roman characters, and published it with a photozincograph in his Archaeological Survey of India Report, Vol. XXI (for 1883-1885), p. 50, and Pl. xii-C. It is edited here for the first time from a fresh inked impression which I owe to the kindness of the Chief Epigraphist of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The inscription is incised on the lower part of the jamb which also contains a record of V. S. 1227, which we have edited above.² It contains eight lines of writing of equal length, covering a space 26cms, broad by 25 cms. high. The breadth of both these inscriptions is almost the same. The record shows the same sort of carelessness on the part of the engraver. The size of the letters varies from 2.5 to 3 cms. in height. When Cunningham visited the place, the record contained probably one more line in the end, but unfortunately the whole of it is now lost.

The inscription is written in the Nāgarī alphabet of the twelfth century. From the point of view of palaeography, attention may be drawn to the form of a, which begins with a vertical stroke ending in a loop and then going up with a tail to the left ; see anēna, l. 5 ; to the conjunct consonant gg appearing as gn ; cf. durgga-, l. 2 ; to the almost similar forms of ch, dh and v ; see vudhē, l. 1 and cha, l. 7 ; to the somewhat older form of ś in śrī-, l. 3 ; and lastly, to the formation of the subscript of ksh so as resemble an initial u, for which see kshatriya, l. 4.

The language of the record is Sanskrit ; it is incorrect at some places and also contains some local words, as some of the records discovered at the place. The record is all in prose. From the point of view of orthography, nothing is worth nothing, except that –durgga- in l. 2, is written with gg, and the use of the ūrdhva-māthrās throughout.

The purpose of the inscription appears to record that a chautrā (l. 5), i.e., a platform, was constructed by a Rāüta, i.e., Rājaputra of the name of Sīhaḍa, who was a son of the Rāüta Sāntana (Śāntanu ?) of the kshatriya lineage, and was a resident of the village of Kōrṭiā, for the use of all people of Jayapura. The date of the record, as expressed in figures only, is Wednesday, the eleventh of the bright half of Jyēshṭha of the (Vikrama) Saṁvat 1243, which, according to Cunningham, corresponds to 1st June, 1186 A.C. ; and observing that the week-day should be Sunday, accordingly, the same scholar states that the letters v(b)udhē in l. 1 can also be read as ravau.³ But the sign of the medial u attached to the first of the letters showing the name of the week-day is quite district, and consequently it cannot be taken as ravau. The date was again discussed by Kielhorn, according to whom, it corresponded to 20th of May, 1187 A.C. when there was a Wednesday and the tithi of the bright half ended 4 h. 15 m. after mean sunrise⁴ The year was the Southern V. expired.

The name of the king, in whose time the construction of the platform is stated to have been made, does not figure in our record ; but from the provenance thereof, he is evidently to other than the king Paramardin of the Chandēlla house, who is known to have occupied the throne from c, 1166 to 1202 A.C.

Of the geographical names mentioned in the record, Jayapura (l. 2) is evidently Ajayagaḍh as known from several other inscriptions found at this place ; and the village of Kōrṭiā, the original place of the benefactor (ll. 4-5) I am unable to identify. This place is also men- tioned in another inscription found on the upper surface of the same pillar which contains the present inscription, as already stated.

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¹ For the situation and archaeological importance of this place, see No. 112, above.
² No, 128, above.
³ A.S.I.R., Vol. XXI, p. 50.
⁴ Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX, p. 37. No. 68.