South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

the older type only when it is the superscript in a conjunct or a vowel-mark is added to its bottom (cf. Kṛishṇaº in line 3, Karkkaḥ in line 4). The letter b is indicated by the sign for v. On palaeographical consideration, the inscription may be assigned to the latter half of the seventh century or the first half of the eighth, preferably to the former period.

The language of the record is Sanskrit and, with exception of the invocatory passage at the beginning and sentence mentioning the engraver in line 15, the whole epigraph is written in verse. As regards orthography, the inscription resembles contemporary records of Northern India. Final m is changed to anusvāra at the end of the second and fourth feet of stanzas. The extant part of the inscription bears no date.

The inscription contains a praśasti in five stanzas in all. The composer offers his adoration to a god in verse 1. Verse 2 introduces the royal personage, the recording of one of whose pious activities was the object of the inscription, while verse 3 speaks of the particular meritorious deed performed by him. Verse 4 prays for the permanency of the object made and verse 5 mentions the author of the praśasti. A passage in prose at the end of the record mentions the engraver. It is not possible to determine whether the date in figures was incised at the end of the line and is now broken away.

The first akshara in the extant part of line 1 seems to be a damaged jyē which is followed by a double daṇḍa and a symbol for Siddham. It is not possible to restore the word ending in jyē unless it is believed that the scribbling above the beginning to the line were meant to write the same. These scribbled letters appear to read Yadu-ra(rā)jyē which follow what looks like a damaged Siddham symbol. But it has to be admitted that such a passage at the beginning of an inscription is rather unusual. The Siddham symbol in line 1 is followed by a passage which appears to read namaḥ | and what follows in lines 1-2 is a stanza in the Anushṭubh metre in adoration of a god whose epithets kāl-āñjana-rajaḥ-puñja-dyuti, [ma]hāvarāha-rūpa and jaṅgama have only been preserved. There is no doubt that the reference is to the god Vishṇu since the expression mahāvarāha-rūpa certainly speaks of the Boar incarnation of that deity.

Verse 2 in lines 3 ff., while introducing the hero of the praśasti, speaks, in the first foot, of a king named Kṛishṇarāja who is stated to have belonged to the royal family of the Mauryas. The second foot of the stanza mentions another king, apparently named Āryarāja, who is described as the son of Chandragupta. The words indicating the relationship between Kṛishṇarāja and Āryarāja are lost ; but the intention of the praśastikāra appears to have been to represent Chandragupta’s son Āryarāja as born in the family of Kṛishṇarāja of the Maurya lineage. The second half of the stanza speaks of a person known by two names, viz. Ḍiṇḍirāja and Karka, one of which was given to him [by the people] in recognition of what he did with reference to the invincible Kānyakubja. This Ḍiṇḍirāja alias Karka was no doubt a ruler who was probably the son or successor of Āryarāja, although the words indication their relationship cannot be traced in the extant part of the verse. The verb indicating the nature of the achievement of Karka Ḍiṇḍirāja with reference to the city of Kānyakubja is also imperfectly preserved ; but the idea may have been to represent him as one who burnt the city. This seems to be suggested by the preserved last akshara of the verb (viz. hya which may be the remnant of nirdahya) as well as the fact that the word karka has ‘ fire ’ as one of its meanings. Ḍiṇḍirāja may thus have well been called Karka or ‘ the Fire ’ because of his success in burning the city of Kānyakubja.

Verse 3 describing the meritorious deed performed apparently by Ḍiṇḍirāja Karka, which was the subject of the praśasti, is damaged and its purport is not quite clear. The first half of the stanza has, however, the expression puṇy-āvyavachchhitti and the passage mahatā mūlyēna yat=kāritaṁ(tam) and the latter half the letters [Śau]rēḥ śirō vēshṭituṁ mālākā . . . lavdha(bdha)-vyam=avyāhataṁ(tam). It therefore seems that the king performed the deed in question in the