South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Verse 51 gives the following genealogy : Udayasiṁha, Pratāpa, Amarasiṁha, Karṇa Jagatsiṁha, Rājasiṁha and Jayasiṁha, and also states that Jayasiṁha caused the praśasti to be engraved on stone.

Verse 52 states that the poet Raṇachhōḍabhaṭṭa completed the Rājapraśasti kāvya on the fullmoon day of the month of Māgha in the year 1732 when Rājasiṁha performed the consecration ceremony of the Rājasamudra.

The inscription on this slab closes with the names of the masons : Urajaṇa, Sukhadēva, Kēsā, etc.

Slab VII ; Canto VI

In the year 1709, on the 2nd day of the dark fortnight of the month of Phālguna, Rājasiṁha ascended the throne,^[1] performed a silver tulā-dāna, gave away his sister in marriage to Anūpasiṁha, the eldest son of Karṇa of the Bhuruṭiyā clan,^[2] and also married seventy-one girls, daughters of his relatives, to different Kshatriya chiefs.

In the year 1710, on the 11th day of the dark fortnight of the month of Pausha, a son, named Jayasiṁha, was born to Rājasiṁha from (his wife) Sadākuṁvarī, daughter of Rāva Iṁdramāna of the Paṁvāra (Paramāra) family (of Bijholiā). The other sons of Rājasiṁha were Bhīmasiṁha, Gajasiṁha, Sūrja(ryasiṁha), Iṁdrasiṁha, Bahādurasiṁha^[3] and Nārāyaṇadāsa. This last named was a natural son. Rājasiṁha built himself a pleasure garden, called Sarvartuvilāsa.^[4]

In the year 1711, in the month of Āśvina, Rājasiṁha heard of Sāhijahāṁ’s (Shāhjahān’s arrival in Ajamēru (Ajmer) and of his minister Sadullahakhāna’s^[5] arrival in Chitrakūṭa, whereupon he sent his priest Bhaṭṭa Madhusūdana, a Tēlaṅga Brahman of the Kaṭhōṁḍī family, toSādullākhāna. The Khāna addressed the Bhaṭṭa as Paṇḍita and asked why the Rāṇā had recalled Garībadāsa^[6] as well Jhālā Rāyasiṁha from Delhi ; the Bhaṭṭa replied that similar incidents had occurred even before. Śaktasiṁha, brother of Rāṇā Pratāpa, and Rāvata Mēgha^[7] originally came (to Delhi) from

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^[1] For details, see ibid., p. 63.
^[2] Another sister was married to Bhāvasiṁha, son of Śatruśāla Hāḍā of Būndi. See slab VI, above, v. 29.
^[3] For further details, see Ojha, ibid., Vol. II, p. 578, notes 2-5.
^[4]Situated in the south-east corner of the city of Udaipur. See above, Vol. XXIV, p. 63.
^[5]Sa’d-ullāh was the Chief Minister of Shāh Jahān. He was the son of Amīr Bakhsh, and was born in 1599 A.D. at Chenut, a village in the Jhang District of the Punjab. He studied Persian and Arabic under Khwājā Mullāh of Lahore. For his profound scholarship he was presented before Shāhjahān in 1641 A.D., where he distinguished himself as an eminent scholar and statesman. In 1645 A.D., on Islām Khān’s appointment as the Subedar of the Deccan, Sā’dullāh Khān was appointed the Prime Minister. His rise was rapid and spectacular. He distinguished himself as a builder, administrator, and last but not the least as a scholar. He founded the city of Saidābād between Mathura and Agra, and it was during his prosperous regime that the Tāj at Agra, the Jām-ī-Masjid, the Red Fort and the Peacock Throne at Delhi were constructed. He also erectedvarious Masjids at Agra and Lahore. He relieved Murād during the Mughal campaign of Balkh and Quandhār in 1646 A.D., where he gave a good account of himself as a general. In 1653 A.D. he was sent against Rāṇā Rājasiṁha, who had started extensive repairs to his fort at Chitor, where he defeated the Rājpūt army and conquered the fort in a remarkably short period of fifteen days. He was the authorof the following works :─
^[1].Sā’dullāh Khānī.
^[2]. Risālā Takht-ē-taus
^[3]. Tafsīr Al Hamd Shraīf.
^[4]. Majmuā Ashiyār
^[5]. Bādshāhnāmā Shāh-i-Jahānī. The gift of fourteen cities, which according to the Rājapraśasti was made by Shāh-Jahān to Rāṇā Rājasiṁha through the goof offices of Sā’dullāh Khān, is not, however, corroborated by Muslim historians. For details see Hayāt-i-Sāleh ; Life of Sā’dullāh Khān, Prime Minister of Emperor Shahjahan (in Urdu) by Muhammad Ahmad (Nawalkishore Press, 1909) and Ojha, ibid., Vol. II, pp. 533 ff. and p. 534 n. 4.
^[6] Son of Karṇasiṁha and uncle of Rājasiṁha.
^[7] ForRāvat Mēgha and his activity, see Ojha, Vol. I. pp. 504-06.