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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
BAHAL INSCRIPTION OF SINGHANA. ......The inscription, after the words ‘Ôṁ, ôṁ, adoration to the goddess Dvârajâ,’ opens with a verse glorifying Bhavânî, who is here named Dvârajâ ; and its proper object is, to record (in verse 17) the foundation of a temple of that goddess by Anatadêva, the chief astrologer of the Yâdava king Siṁha (or Siṅghaṇa). It clearly divides itself into two parts : verses 2-7 give an account of Anantadêva and his ancestors, which is interesting from a literary point of view, while verses 8-15 glorify the king Siṁha and his father and grandfather. ......Anantadêva belong to a family which its origin to the sage Śâṇḍilya (v. 2). In that family there was born, as a son a certain Manôratha, the learned Mahêśvara (v. 3), who (in v. 4) is stated to have composed a Karaṇa of the planets, entitled Śêkhara, a work called Pratishṭhâvidhi-dîpaka, another work described as Phala-grantha, and a brief commentary on the Laghujâtaka. His son was Śrîpati (v. 5) ; and his son, again, Gaṇapati (v. 6). And Gaṇapati’s son was the founder of the temple, Anatadêva (v. 7), a scholar versed in the three branches of the Jyôtisha-śâstra, who expounded the 20th Adhyâya, called Chhandaśchityuttar-âdhyâya,1 of Brahmagupta’s Brâhma-Sphuṭasiddhânta, and also the great Hôrâ (i.e. the Bṛihajjâtaka) of Varâhamihira.― The family here treated of was already known to us from the Pâṭṇâ inscription of Siṅghaṇa,2 which also mentions Manôratha and his son Mahêśvara, the father of the astronomer Bhâskara, who must have been a brother of the Śrîpati of this inscription. Of the literary works enumerated above, the published catalogues of Indian libraries actually mention, as still existing, Mahêśvara’s Laghujâtaka-ṭîkâ, and probably also his Pratishṭhâvidhi-dîpaka.3
......The description of the king Simha (Siṅghaṇa) and of his father and grandfather, Jaitrapâla and Bhillama, in verses 8-15 of our inscription, is in general purely conventional, and the only historical facts recorded of them are, that Jaitrapâla, ‘an ocean of compassion, made Gaṇapati, whose life had been preserved in battle,4 lord of the Andhra country’ (v. 12), and that Siṁha defeated the powerful Arjuna (v. 14). Both events are mentioned, partly in the same words, also in the Paiṭhaṇ copper-plates of Râmachandra5 of Śaka-Saṁvat 1193, from which we learn that Jaitugi (Jaitrapâla), ‘an ocean of compassion,’ led Gaṇapati out of prison and made him lord of the land, meaning, apparently, the land of Trikaliṅga. The prince Arjuna, spoken of in connection with Siṁha, Dr. Bhandarkar6 would identify with Arjuna[Varmadêva] of Mâlava, whose published copper-plate grants are dated in the Vikrama years 1267, 1270 and 1242.7 ......Verses 16-18 state that, during the reign of Siṁha, Anantadêva, who had obtained the post of chief astrologer of the king, founded the temple, at or near which this inscription was afterwards put up ; and that he received pecuniary assistance in this work from his younger brother Mahêśvara, who composed this Praśasti. Verses 19 contains the usual prayer for the preservation of the temple, and the poem closes (in v. 20) with the date,― the first day of Chaitra of the expired Śaka year 1144, the year Chitrabhânu. A line in prose adds that the inscription was written by the Nâgara Brâhmaṇa Gaṅgâdhara, and that the Sûtradhâra or architect (probably of the whole temple) was Thâlû. ......The date does not admit of exact verification ; but the expired Śaka year 1144
(= A.D. 1222-23), by the southern luni-solar system, was the Jovian year Chitrabhânu, as stated
in the inscription. ......1 See Weber’s Catalogue of the MSS. of the Berlin Library, Vol. II. p. 296.
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