South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

TWO INSCRIPTIONS FROM JAIPUR DISTRICT

No. 33─TWO INSCRIPTIONS FROM JAIPUR DISTRICT

(1 Plate)

D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND

About the end of 1952 and the beginning of the following year, I was travelling in various parts of Madhya Bhārāt and Rājasthān in search of inscriptions. In the course of that tour, I visited Jaipur, headquarters of both the State of Rājasthān and the District of Jaipur (old Jaipur State), in January 1953. There are no inscriptions among the exhibits of the Jaipur Museum ; but Dr. S. P. Srivastava, Chief Superintendent of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Rājasthān, was kind enough to allow me to examine some old impressions of epigraphic records that are preserved in that museum. These inscriptions were mostly copied from different parts of the Jaipur District of Rājasthān ; but the findspots of many of them could not be determined. In the following pages I edit two of the inscriptions, impressions of which were kindly supplied to me by Dr. Srivastava. My thanks are due to him for this act of kindness as well as to Mr. U. C. Bhattacharya, Curator of the Rājputānā Museum, Ajmer, for a few informations, and to Pandit A. K. Vyas, Superintendent of Archaeology and Museums, Udaipur (Rājasthān), for some suggestions.

1. Inscription of the time of Allāvadīna ( ’Alāuddīn), V. S. 1362

This is a stone inscription in seven lines, the last of which has only two letters. The space covered by the writing measures 31½ inches in length and 8½ inches in height. The inscribed stone must have belonged to a step-well ; but its findspot is unknown to me.

The characters, which are neatly and carefully engraved, are Nāgarī. The lines of writing have each a double daṇḍa at both ends. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit. Little calls for special remark as regards the palaeography and orthography of the record with the exception of the fact that b has been indicated by the sign for v and kh by that of sh. The date of the inscription is given as Saṁvat 1362, Phālguna-vadi 12, Thursday, Uttarāshāḍhā-nakshatra, Varīyān yōga, which is stated to have fallen in the victorious reign of mahārājādhirāja śrīmad-Allāvadīna, ‘ the destroyer of the pride of all kings ’. The date seems to correspond to Thursday, February 10, 1306 A. D., taking the month to be Pūrṇimānta. On that date kṛishṇa-dvādaśī began at ·33 of the day and Uttarāshāḍhā-nakshatra at ·16.

The object of the inscription, which begins with an adoration to Jagajjananī, ‘ the mother of the world ’, is to record the construction of a vāpī or step-well by two brothers, named Bhōjadēva and Padamasiṁhadēva, who belonged to the Chāhumāna (i.e. Chāhamāna or Chauhān) family. They are stated to have been the sons of Gōpatidēva (from Gōpati’s wife Dharmādēvī), grandsons of Dhēnūdēva and great-grandsons of Māḍhūdēva. Bhōjadēva (possibly also his brother Padmasiṁha) is described as Mahā-Khaḍgadhara. The record was written by Śivarāja, called Vyāsa. The expression khaḍgadhara means ‘ a swordsman ’; but in inscriptions we have the official designation Khaḍgagrāha or Khaḍgaraksha^[1] which has been interpreted as ‘ a clan of body-guards carrying swords ’. Khaḍgadhara of the inscription under study seems to be a similar official designation, although the real status of Chāhamāna Bhōjadēva can hardly be determined. The eulogistic description of the imperial ruler Allāvadīna in the present inscription as samasta-bhūpāla-mānamarddana, which does not look like a casual reference to the lord of the land, may suggest that Bhōjadēva was in the service of the Muslim conquerors of Rājasthān. Vyāsa was the official designation of Brāhmaṇas employed by the Rājput kings for reciting and explaining the epics and the Purāṇas. It is still the family name of many Brāhmaṇas of Rājasthān. Apparently the

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^[1] N. G. Majumdar, Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 853 (text line 18) ; Vogel, Antiquities of the Chamba State, pp. 127 f.