|
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
dam as completed by the masons on Sunday, the fifth day (smara-tithi) in the dark half of the
month of Āshāḍha in the year 1726 A.D., after eight years, five months and six days from the
commencement of its construction.
In that very year, the water that came afresh in the lake was removed by the masons for
excavating the chatushkīs. Numerous squares were excavated in the lake by expert masons hailing
from distant lands. The heaps of earth that were dug out in connection with these excavations
were removed by thousands of labourers and utilised in building up the dam.
In the year 1727, on the occasion of his birth-day anniversary, king Rājasiṁha gave the
great gift of Hēmahastiratha,[1] composed of 1,020 tolas of gold.
In the year 1727, the day for launching boats[2] in the lake was fixed, which was the 4th day of
the dark fortnight in the month of Āshāḍha. However, till the 3rd day there was not enough
water in the lake, and that caused much anxiety in the minds of the people, especially because in
the next year Bṛihaspati was going to enter Siṁha and there was to be no other auspicious day for
the ceremony of launching boats in the lake. Rāṇāvata Rāmasiṁha proposed that more water
should be brought in from elsewhere into the Chōk-ḍīnas[3] So that the launching ceremony should
come off on the appointed day. However, the priest, Garibadāsa, arranged for a recitation of
Varuṇa hymns replying that thereby the god Indra would surely send rain and remove the
obstacle. And it did happen so : in the afternoon of the 3rd day it rained heavily with the result
that the lake had enough water and king Rājasiṁha performed the launching ceremony sitting in
a boat, bedecked with silver and tastefully decorated.
In the year 1728, on the fullmoon day of the month of Jyēshṭha, the masons stopped the supply-mains (nala-vimudraṇa) at the command of the king.
In the year 1729, in the month of Māgha, on the occasion of a lunar eclipse (Monday, 12th
January, 1674 ?), the king performed the following mahādānas : Kalpalatā,[4] composed of 250 palas
of gold, Pañchalāṅgala,[4] consisting of five halas, composed of 180 tolas of gold along with the
village of Bhāvali. The two charities comprised 1,028 tolas of gold.
In the year 1829, on the eleventh day of the dark fortnight of the month of Phālguna, the king
performed the inauguration ceremony of the saṁgī-kārya of the principal dam.
In the year 1729, in the month of Jyēshṭha, on the 7th day of the bright fortnight, king
Rājasiṁha caused to be constructed four stone pratōlīs each with a surrounding wall in the tank,
called Indrasaras, near the temple of Ēkaliṅga,─ the tank which had steps and whose dam was in
a ruined condition. This cast him 18,000 rupees.
At the end the poet says that he composed the praśasti at the command of the Rāṇā who
having listened to it ordered it to be engraved on stone slabs.
Slab XII ; Canto XI
Canto XI, after obeisance to Gaṇēśa, gives the measurements of the principal dam, steps,
pavilions and so forth, which are only of architectural interest. The details given can be fully
understood if verified on comparison with the actual constructions. The standard of measurement of length employed is gaja, Urdu gaz, i.e., ‘ yard ’. The measurement of the principal dam
is given as follows : length as the base 515 gaja and at the top 518 gaja and the width at bottom 55
gaja. The following architectural terms are noteworthy, though the meaning of some of them is
___________________________________________________
[1] For these mahādānas see Hēmādri, Chaturvarga-chintāmaṇi, Dānakhaṇḍa (ed. A.S.B.), pp. 342, 279 and 287.
[2] For the ceremony of launching boats in connection with excavation and conservation of a lake, see Hēmādri, loc. cit.
[3] For the meaning of Chōkaḍīna, see above, p. 39, n. 2.
[4] For these two mahādānas see Hēmādri, op, cit., Dānakhaṇḍa, pp. 331 and 281.
|
