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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
RAJOR INSCRIPTION OF MATHANADEVA. No. 36.─ RAJOR INSCRIPTION OF MATHANADEVA ; ......The stone which bears this inscription was found, about eighteen years ago, near the temple of Nîlakaṇṭha Mahâdêva, among the ruins of the city of Pâranagar which are to the south of the village of Râjôr or Râjôrgaḍh, on a lofty range of hills in the Râjgaḍh district of the Alwar State in Râjputâna, about 28 miles south-west of the town of Alwar ;1 and it is now preserved at Alwar itself. The inscription was first published by the late Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, in the Proceedings of the Bengal Asiatic Society, 1879, p. 157 ff., from a transcript prepared by Paṇḍit Bhavânanda and his brothers, of Alwar ; and it has again been printed in the Prâchînalêkhamâlâ of the Kâvyamâlâ, Vol. I. p. 53 ff., from another copy supplied by the same gentlemen. I now re-edit the inscription from rubbings which have been procured for me by Dr. Fleet.
......The inscription contains 23 lines of writing which covers a space of about 1’ 5” broad by 1’ 3¼” high, and is nearly throughout in a perfect state of preservation. The average size of the letters is about ½”.2 The characters are Nâgarî ; they closely resemble those of the Harsha inscription of Vigraharâja, published with a photo-lithograph in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. II. p. 116 ff. The language is Sanskṛit, and, excepting four benedictive and imprecatory verse, here ascribed to Vyâsa, in lines 18-20, and another verse in line 21, which gives the names of the composer, the writer and the engraver, the text is in prose. The inscription has been written and engraved very carefully. In respect of orthography, I need only note the employment of the letter v for both v and b, the doubling of t and d in the conjuncts tr and dr, and the occasional use of the sign of avagraha. As regards lexicography, lines 11-12 contain a number of revenue-terms, the exact import of which is not apparent, and some other words of unknown or doubtful meaning (pravaṇi, tatti, chôllikâ, etc.) occur in lines 6, 16 and 17, and 22 and 23. ......The inscription (in lines 1-3) refers itself to the reign of the Paramabhaṭṭâraka
Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara, the illustrious Vijayapâladêva, who meditated on the feet of
the Paramabhaṭṭâraka Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara, the illustrious Kshitipâladêva ; and is
dated, in words and figures, on Saturday, the 13th of the bright half Mâgha of the year
1016. On this day the Mahârâjâdhirâja Paramêśvara, the illustrious Mathanadêva, of the
Gurjarapratîhâra lineage, and a son of the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the illustrious Sâvaṭa, residing
at Râjyapura, (in lines 3-13) informs his officials, the gamâgamikas3 and others, and the
mahattaras, mahhattamas, merchants, pravaṇis4 and other inhabitants of the village of
Vyâghrapâṭaka, pertaining to the Vaṁśapôtaka bhôga which Mathadadêva held possession
of, that on the occasion of the installation (of the image, or the consecration of the temple) of
the god Lachchhukêśvara Mahâdêva (Śiva), so named after his mother Lachchhukâ, he has
granted to the god (or his temple) the village of Vyâghrapâṭaka,─ ‘up to its proper boundaries, ......1 See Sir A. Cunningham’s Archæol. Survey of India, Vol. XX. pp. 124-126. I have no doubt
that Major
Powlett rightly believed Râjôr or Râjôrgaḍh (i.e. Râjyapura) to be the old name of Pâranagar ; and it
seems to me
highly probable that ‘the holy temple of Nîlakaṇṭha Mahâdêva, which is the most famous place of
pilgrimage in
this part of the country,’ and which Sir A. Cunningham has assigned to the 10th century A.D., is the
very temple
that is referred to in the inscription here edited.
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