South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Sōmēśa (i.e. Sōmēśvara or Sōmanātha) as well as Prayāga and Gayasīrsha (i.e. Gayā) and to have offered piṇḍa to his dead ancestors at the last-named place. Verse 16 states that Chāchiga’s activities in the various tīrthas and [fields of] battle absolved him from his debt to his master Gōpāladēva. The next stanza (verse 17) mentions the lady Sahajā who was the wife of Chāchiga.

Verse 18 records the excavation of a vāpi by Chāchiga. Since the following stanza (verse 19) refers to the sound of its waves, the word vāpi would appear to indicate here a tank rather than a step-well. But the inscriptions of the area in question use the word generally in the sense of a step-well. The reference to the waves, etc., in the description of the vāpi thus appears to be merely poetical exaggeration. Verse 20 states that Chāchiga also made a vāṭikā or garden apparently around the vāpi or in its neighbourhood. The garden is described as containing plants for both flowers and fruits. Verse 21 mentions Rāṇaka Chachau (apparently a colloquial form of the name Chāchiga) as a servant of Gaṇapati, no doubt the Yajvapāla king of the same name, who was the son and successor of Gōpāla. As already indicated above, the known dates of Gaṇapati range between 1292 and 1300 A.D. The stanza prays for the prosperity (śubha) of the puṇya-sthāna (i.e. sacred place) meaning the area containing the vāpi and the vāṭikā.

Verse 22 states that the poet Jayasiṁha, who belonged to the Māthura Kāyastha community and was the son of Lōhaṭā, composed the eulogy. Lōhaṭa is also mentioned in several other contemporary epigraphs (including the one of V. S. 1355 from Narwar edited below) which were composed by another of his sons, named Śivanābhaka. The next stanza (verse 23), with which the praśasti ends, says that the eulogy was written by Maharāja who was the son of Sōmarāja of the same community of the Māthura Kāyasthas. The name of the writer is spelt as Maharāja in the same stanza occurring elsewhere also.^[1] It should not therefore be regarded as a mistake for Mahārāja unless it is believed that mahā was changed to maha for the requirement of the metre. The word likhita in this stanza shows that Maharāja wrote the letters of the record on the stone in ink or a paint since, as stated in line 23 incised on the lower border of the inscribed slab, the engraver of the document was one Dēvasiṁha.

Of the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, the holy places of Kēdāra in the Himalayas and Sōmēśa or Śōmanātha, i.e. modern Pāṭan Sōmnāth in Kathiawar, as well as Prayāga near modern Allahabad in U.P. and Gayasīrsha, i.e. Gayā in Bihār, are well known. The community of the Māthura Kāyasthas received their name from the city of Mathurā headquarters of the District of that name in U.P.

TEXT^[2]

Metres : verses 1-11, 16-17, 19-20, 22-23 Anushṭubh ; verses 12, 15 Upajāti ; verse 13 Indravajrā ; verse 14 Śālinī ; verse 18 Vasantatilaka ; verse 21 Āryā.]

1 Siddham^[3] || Ōṁ^[3] namaḥ Śivāya || Śriyaṁ diśatu vaḥ Śaṁbhōr=mūrddhni śaitā[ṁ]śavī kalā | Kāla-vyāla-kṛit-ānēka-jaga-^[4]
2 d-vyāpatti-hā[r]iṇī || 1 Yā smṛit=āpi satāṁ haṁti manō-vāk-kāya-saṁbhavaṁ(vam) | aghaṁ sā tridaśair=vvaṁdyā Mahāruṁḍā
3 punātu vaḥ || 2 Sad-ānaṁda-mayīṁ vaṁdē su-rasāṁ sat-kavēr=giraṁ(ram) | na yatra niyamō Dhātuḥ prāgalbhyam=avalaṁva(ba)-

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^[1] See No. 139 of A. R. Ep., 1952-53, App. B ; below, Vol. XXXIII, p. 40, text line 27.
^[2] From impressions. This is No. 145 of A.R. Ep., 1952-53, App. B.
^[3] Expressed by symbol.
^[4] There is an unnecessary daṇḍa here to cover a little space at the end of the line.