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North Indian Inscriptions

 

 

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EDITION AND TEXTS

Inscriptions of the Chandellas of Jejakabhukti

An Inscription of the Dynasty of Vijayapala

Inscriptions of the Yajvapalas of Narwar

Supplementary-Inscriptions

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Tiruvarur

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Annual Reports 1935-1944

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Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 2, Part 2

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Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 1

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Early Gupta Inscriptions

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INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

No. 147 ; PLATE CXXXIV

AJAYGAḌH ROCK INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF VIRAVARMAN

[Vikrama] Year1337

THIS inscription is incised on a rock bearing the statue of Gaṇapati in relief, on the fortress of Ajaygaḍh the headquarters of tehsīl in the Pannā District in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. It was found by General Alexander Cunningham in 1883-84, and noticed by him, with a transcript of the last two lines containing the date and with a lithograph, in his Archaeological Survey of India Reports, Vol. XXI (1883-85), p. 52, and plate xiv-G. Subsequently, its contents were summarised by N. P. Chakravarti in the Annual Report of the Survey for 1935-36, p, 91 ; but it was not transcribed so far. It is edited here for the first time from my own transcript prepared from an inked impression kindly supplied by the Chief Epigraphist, and also from the lithograph published by General Cunningham.

The inscription consists of twenty-one lines of writing in a lined border on all the four sides, and covers a space 35 cms. broad by 42 cms. high. The height of the individual letters is about 1∙5 cms. The technical execution is rather crude, betraying want of skill not only on the part of the writer but also on that of the engraver ; and what is besides is that the writing has suffered considerably due to the influence of weather and peeling off some of its portions, particularly in ll. 9-17. Even in the portion that is now preserved, some of the letters can be made out only with patience and perseverance.

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The alphabet is Nāgarī of the twelfth century A.C. The antique and modern forms of the letter j are to be seen side by side in vijayaṁ jaya-, l. 7 ; m and s are often engraved alike; and it may also be noted that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the signs of ch, dh, v and r, those of g, n, m and those of t and r, some of the examples of these being afforded by nāga-, l. 2, hasita- and jaganti, both in l. 3, and Śrīdhara-,l. 6. And finally, the superscript s often appears without the tail of the left limb so as resemble m, e.g., in yasya-, l. 5.

The language is Sanskrit; and with the exception of the customary adoration to Gaṇapati in the beginning and the portion containing the date, in figures, in the end, the whole record is metrically composed. The total number of verses is 14; they are all in the anushṭubh metre, except the first one which is in Indravajrā. Grammatical mistakes are few and of the minor type.

As regards orthography, we may note that (1) b is denoted by the sign for v, except in babhūva, l.12 and -buddhi-, l.16; (2) the letter following r is generally doubled, e.g., in kīrtti-, l. 4; (3) pṛishṭha-mātrās are used throughout, with a few exceptions as in Sōmē, l. 21; (4) the word vimukha in l. 2 is spelt with sh; (5) the sign of avagraha appears only once in l. 7, though there are some other occasions for it; and, finally, (6) the word ujjvala is wrongly spelt as ujvala, in l. 10.

The immediate object of the inscription is to record the installation of a statue of Gaṇapati, Vāṇī-Vināyaka as the name occurs therein, by Vāsudēva, a son of Gaṇapati, who was the younger brother of Jagadvīra, the minister of Vīravarman (v. 12). The family name of the king is not mentioned in the record, but he was undoubtedly the Chandēlla king of that name and the son of Trailokyavarman, as can be known from the genealogy recorded therein, from Kīrtivarman down to him. The date of the record is expressed in the last verse, by word numerals, viz., Sāgara (the ocean), standing for 7, anala (fire), for 3, Vēda for 3, and Indu (the moon), for l, and thus giving the year 1337. The tithi is stated to be the 13th of the bright fortnight of Māgha and the week-day Monday The date is repeated in decimal figures in the end; and according to the calculations made by Cunningham, the corresponding Christian date is 3rd February, 1281 A.C., which fell on Monday, showing the date to be quite regular.1

Beginning with the auspicious symbol for siddham and paying obeisance to Gaṇapathi, the inscription has one verse to invite the blessings of the same deity. This verse is following by a list of the names of (the Chandēlla) kings from Kīrtivarman to Vīravarman, as already stated above, and it records the names of ministers and the other distinguished officers, under each of
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1 Also see Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, p. 25. No 16.

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