North Indian Inscriptions

PATTADAKAL INSCRIPTION OF KIRTIVARMAN II.

approximate more closely to characters of the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription than to those of the Sâmângaḍ grant : for instance, the initial a is exactly like the initial â of the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription (allowing, of course, for the mark which turns a into â), whereas the initial a of the Sâmângaḍ grant is a very different letters ; the p, m, s, and y follow the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription, in not having the fully developed top line which appears in the Sâmângaḍ grant ; and the k, p, and v have the pointed forms of the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription : on the other hand,— except perhaps in âchârya, line 23,— in the conjunct letter ry, the r is formed above the line of writing, as in the Sâmângaḍ grant, and not on it, as in the Bôdh-Gayâ inscription. The peculiarities of the characters are evidently due to the Brâhmaṇ from Northern India, for whom the pillar was set up ; and the comparative results suggest that the Nâgarî alphabet which is exhibited in the Sâmângaḍ grant, was developed in Central and Southern India, more quickly than in Northern India. It should also be noted that such of the letters of the present Nâgarî record as were fully executed in what was evidently the intended style, and have been well preserved, show, wherever the form of the letter permits of it, a well-marked triangular top, in which the apex of the triangle points downwards, and the centre of it is left in relief in the middle of the three strokes by which the top is formed : this is discernible in k, ch, j, t, d, n, p, bh, m, y, r, l, v, ś, sh, s, and h ; the shapes of g, ṅ, ñ, ṭ, ṇ, and dh, do not permit of it; in th it is doubtful. It may also be mentioned that this record and the Sâmângaḍ grant, which is six months earlier in actual date, give the earliest instances, as yet obtained, of the use of Nâgarî characters in Western India. My text of the inscription is put together from the two copies. Owing to the rough treatment that the pillar has received at the hands of its worshippers, each copy of the inscription is more or less damaged : but they mostly

>

supply each other’s deficiencies ; and the whole text is decipherable, without any doubtful points, except three aksharas at the end line 14, two in line 18, two in line 19, four in line 20, and thirteen or fourteen in line 24, and practically the whole of line 25. As a matter of fact, as far as the end of line 14, the text can be read almost entirely in the version in the local characters, without the aid of the other at all ; from that point, however, the Nâgarî version, though by no means, on the whole, the better preserved of the two, becomes of more and more use in respect of the last quarter of each successive line of the version in the local characters, which is the one followed by me for the arrangement of the lines in my Text.— The language is Sanskṛit. And, except for an opening verse in praise of Śiva and Pârvatî, under the names of Hara and Gaurî, the whole record is in prose.— In respect of orthography, the only points that call for notice here are (1) a confusion, in both versions, between ṛi and ri ; thus, the Nâgarî version, though usually correct, gives, mistakenly, pṛiyaḥ, line 8, pṛiyâ, lines 10 and 12, tṛiśûla, line 21, tṛiṁśabhir, line 21, and tṛiṁśan, line 22 ; and the other version, though correct in respect of pṛithivî, line 13, and gṛihîtâni, line 22, wrongly gives prithivî, lines 6 and 9, and krita, line 19, and, on the other hand, pṛiya, line 12 ; (2) the use of v for b, in the Nâgarî version, in vâhu-pariohumvita, line 1, and velvalla, line 20, and, in both versions, in vrahma, line 21 ; (3) the absence of the ḷ in the Nâgarî version ; (4) the omission, in the Nâgarî version, to double y after r, all through ; (5) the doubling of t before r, for the most part uniformly in both versions, in puttraḥ, line 8, pauttrêṇa, line 15, puttrêṇa, line 16, attra, line 18, and ttri, lines 19 and 21, though the same does not occur in sundry other places ; and (6), in the Nâgarî version, the doubling of dh, by d, in payôddharô, line 1, and gayâddharêṇa, line 19, and in viddhṛita, line 2, where it is due to the following ṛi.

......The inscription belongs to the time of the Western Chalukya king Kîrtivarman II.¹ It mentions first his grandfather, Vijayâditya, who, it tells us, erected a great stone temple
__________________________________________________________________________________________

......¹ I take this opportunity of publishing a revised table of the dynasty of the Western Chalukyas of Bâdâmi. The numerals prefixed to certain names indicate the members of the family who actually reigned, and the order in which they succeeded each other.