North Indian Inscriptions

KOLHAPUR INSCRIPTION OF VIJAYADITYA.

of the Principality of Kolhapoor, p. 358. I now edit the inscription from an excellent impression, supplied to me by Dr. Fleet.

......The inscription contains 31 lines of writing which covers a space of about 2’ 3” broad by 2’ 1” high, and is in a perfect state of preservation. Above the writing are some sculptures : in the centre, a seated Jaina figures facing full front, on its proper right a cow with a calf, and on the left a crooked sword or dagger ; and above these, on the right the moon, and on the left the sun.― The average size of the letters is about ½”.― The characters are Old-Kanarese ― The language, up to the middle of l. 28, is Sanskṛit ; the remaining lines consist of a verse in Old-Kanarese. The Sanskṛit portion is in prose, excepting that lines 1-3 contain two verses in the Anushṭubh metre. In respect of orthography, I need only state that the rules of saṁdhi have been frequently disregarded, and that the sign of the upadhmânîya (which does not differ from the sign for r) has been employed in arhatah=Purudêvasya, at the commencement of l. 3. As regards the language of the Sanskṛit part, l. 18 contains the word haḍapavaḷa (denoting perhaps a dependent) which is not Sanskṛit, and a few other terms which are not Sanskṛit occur in the list of birudas in lines 10-12.

......The inscription records a grant of land by the Mahâmaṇḍalêśvara Vijayâdityadêva of the Śiḷâhâra family.¹ Opening with two verses² which glorify the Jaina faith, it gives in lines 3-15 the following genealogy and description of the donor :― In the Śiḷâhâra Kshatriya lineage was a prince Jatiga, who had four sons, Goṅkala, Gûvala, Kîrtirâja, and Chandrâditya. Of these, the prince Goṅkala had a son named Mârasiṁha. His sons were Gûvala, Gaṅgadêva, Ballâḷadêva, Bhôjadêva, and Gaṇḍarâdityadêva. And Gaṇḍarâdityadêva’s son was the Mahâmaṇḍalêśvara, who had attained the five mahâśabdas, the illustrious Vijayâdityadêva, distinguished by such titles as ‘the supreme lord of the excellent city of Tagara, the illustrious Śiḷâhâra prince, surpassing by his innate charms the lord of the gods, begotten in the lineage of Jîmûtavâhana, famous for his heroism, having a golden Garuḍa in his ensign, a god of love to maidens, the breaker of the pride of hostile rulers of districts, maruvaṅka-sarpa,³ ayyana-siṅga, prominent in all excellent qualities, terrific to hostile rulers of districts, to those whom he hates what the lion is to elephants, iḍuvarâditya, a Vikramâditya of the Kali age, in beauty of form Nârâyaṇa, by his policy surpassing Chârâyaṇa,⁴ a conqueror of mountain fortresses, a vituperator of his adversaries, śanivâra-siddhi,⁵ whose mind is given solely to what is right, who has obtained the favour of a boon from the goddess Mahâlakshmî, and who by nature owns the fragrancy of musk.’

......According to lines 15-26, this Vijayâdityadêva, ruling in comfort at his residence of Vaḷavâḍa,─ on the occasion of a lunar eclipse on Monday, the full-moon tithi of the month Mâgha of the Dundubhi year, when 1065 Śaka years had elapsed,─ granted a field, which by the measure of the Kûṇḍi⁶ country measured one quarter of a nivartana, and a dwelling-house measuring 12 hastas, both belonging to the village of Hâvina-Hêrilage in the
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......¹ See Dr. Fleet’s Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 98 ff.; Dr. Bhandarkar’s Early History of the Dekkan, p. 92 ff. ; and Dr. Bhagvanlal Indraji in Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XIII. p. 15.
......² The first of these verses occurs frequently at the commencement of Jaina inscriptions ; the second speaks of the Jaina doctrine as the doctrine of the Arhat Purudêva, a name which I have not met with elsewhere.
......³ According to Dr. Fleet, either ‘as venomous as a snake in its place of shelter,’ or ‘as venomous as a snake to any one who intrudes on its place of shelter ;’ see Archæological Survey of Western India, Cave-Temple Inscriptions, p. 103, note.
......⁴ I do not know of any Chârâyaṇa who was famous for his politic conduct. The name has been used here simply because it rhymes best with Nârâyaṇa. An inscription in which the same arrangement of the birudas has been carried to excess, will be found in Mr. Rice’s Inscriptions at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, pp. 36-37 (No. 53).
......⁵ This has been translated by ‘he whose desires (or whishes) are accomplished on Saturdays ; see Ind. Ant. Vol. II. p. 303 ; Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XIII. p. 6 ; Mr. Rice, loc. cit. p. 91. A deity called Śanivârasiddhidêva is mentioned several times in a fragmentary inscription at Kôlhâpur of Śaka-Saṁvat 1161.
......⁶ See Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 16, l. 4 ; Vol. XVI. p. 20 ; Vol. XIX. p. 244.