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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA AJMER STONE INSCRIPTION The language of the inscription is Sanskrit and, with the exception of the passage Ōṁ namō Nārāyaṇāya ||, preceded by the symbol for Siddham at the beginning, the whole record on the stone is written in verse. There are in all 37 stanzas, all of which, with the solitary exception of the last verse, are consecutively numbered. Considering the want of space at the end of the last verse and the fact that the poem was probably continued on other slabs, it seems that the number of the last verse (i.e., 37) was put at the beginning of the first line of another slab. As is the case with numerous other epigraphic records, a short space at the end of some lines in our inscription (cf. lines, 2, 4, 6, 13, 15-17, 19-26) has often been covered by an unnecessary single or double daṇḍa usually endowed with a mark of cancellation. Out of the 37 verses, which form the text of our record, the first 32 stanzas eulogise the god Vishṇu Ten out of these (viz., verses 12-21) refer to the ten incarnations of the god, viz., (1) Kūrma, (2) Mīna, (3) Kōla (Varāha), (4) Nṛisiṁha, (5) Vāmana, (6) Jāmadagnya (Paraśurāma), (7) Daśāsyāntakṛit (Dāśarathi Rāma), (8) Kṛishṇa, (9) Buddha and (10) Kalkin. Verse 33 of the record introduces the Sun-god as the right eye of lord Vishṇu and as the progenitor of the solar dynasty which is itself introduced in the following stanza (verse 34). The next two stanzas (verses 35-36) speak of the glories of the solar dynasty and mention certain ancient rulers of the Sūrya-vaṁśa such as Ikshvāku and Rāma. The concluding stanza (verse 37) introduces king Chāhamāna, mythical progenitor of the Chāhamāna or Chauhān clan of the Rājputs, as a scion of the solar dynasty. The nature of the inscription supports the conjecture that it formed part of the introduction of a kāvya, the theme of which may have been certain achievements of a Chāhamāna king. The principal one of these exploits described in the kāvya may have been the construction of a temple in honour of the god Vishṇu.
The inscription is not of exceptional importance from the historical point of view ; but it has considerable interest as a literary composition of a Chāhamāna court poet of the twelfth century. The author’s style, although it is not free from defects, is not poor. He has often shown his skill in employing ślēsha or double entendre.[1] In composing the 37 stanzas, he has employed no less than 14 metres, of which Śārdūlavikrīḍita (13 verses) and Vasantatilakā (8 verses) are used in more than half of the cases. The metres Mālinī, Śikhariṇī, Anushṭubh and Upajāti have each been used in 2 stanzas, while one stanza has been allotted to each of Pṛithvī, Sragdharā, Vaṁśasthavila, Svāgatā, Hariṇī, Mandākrāntā, Indravajrā and Upēndravajrā. As regards the eponymous Chāhamāna being represented as a scion of the solar dynasty, it may be pointed out that this is in partial agreement with the tradition recorded in the Pṛithivīrājavijaya of Jayānaka (12th century) and Hammīra-mahākāvya of Nayachandra (13th-14th century), according to which Chāhamāna sprang from the Sūrya-maṇḍala ; but it can hardly be reconciled with the other imaginary accounts regarding the origin of the Chāhamānas, such as the creation of Chāhamāna himself or the Chāhamāna family by the sage Vatsa or Vasishṭha or by the god Indra.[2] The well known story of the creation of the progenitors of the Paramāra, Chāhamāna, Pratihāra and Chaulukya dynasties by the sage Vasishṭha on Mount Abu was unknown to the Chāhamāna court poets as late as the fourteenth century. The reference to Kṛishṇa as the eighth of the ten avatāras of Vishṇu is interesting. It is well known that the doctrine of the avatāras underwent several stages of development[3] and that their number, originally unsettled, gradually came to be recognised as ten. It should, however, be noticed that, even as late as the twelfth century, the same list of ten avatāras was not definitely fixed for the whole of India. Thus the author of the record under discussion, who was a twelfth _________________________________________________
[1] Cf. Verse 5, 8-9, 11, 22-23, 25-26, 35. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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