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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA 2 Narwar Inscription of V. S. 1355 This inscription is engraved on a rectangular slab. There are 21 lines of writing in the record, which cover an area about 23 inches in length and 16 inches in height. The letters are as neatly and carefully incised as in the Surwāyā inscription edited above ; but the preservation of the writing is more satisfactory in the present case, the number of damaged letters being fewer. The characters are similar to those of the Surwāyā inscription. There in little distinction between the sign indicating a final consonant and that of the medial ū mark. In some cases, the daṇḍa has been placed so close to the preceding letter as to look like an ā-mātrā. The language is Sanskrit and, like the Surwāyā inscription, it is written in verse with the exception of a few passages at the beginning and end. There are altogether 28 stanzas in various metres in the eulogy under study. The verses are numbered consecutively. The inscription resembles the other record in point of orthography ; but it exhibits several cases of the use of final m at the end of the first and second halves of verses. Consonants are occasionally redoubled after r. The date of the record is quoted at the end. It is V.S. 1355, Kārttika-vadi 5, Thursday, which corresponds to the 25th September 1298 A.D. The pañchamī tithi commenced on that date at ·38 of the day.
Like the Surwāyā inscription, the present record also begins with the Siddham symbol followed by the passage Ōṁ namaḥ Śivāya. Then come the 28 stanzas of the praśasti. Verses 1-2 contain adoration to Manmathasūdana (Śiva) and the Sun-god who is described as the husband of Rannā. In epic and Puranic mythology, the names of the Sun-god’s wives are given as Saṁjñā, Chhāyā, Rājñī, Nikshubhā or Nishkumbhā, Suvarchalā, etc. The Prakritic name Rannā (probably derived from the name Rājñī) is not found in Sanskrit works. But there is evidence to show that Rannā was a popular deity regarded as the Sun’s wife in the western parts of Northern India. An inscription of V.S. 1420, Chaitra-sudi 6, Sunday (March 10, 1364 A.D.), on the metal image of a goddess discovered in Gujarat, refers to the deity as Rannādēvī and describes her as the wife of the Sun styled Sāmbāditya,[1] a well-known aspect of the god. Our inscription actually speaks of the god as ‘one whose abode is at Śamīsthala’. This seems to refer to a temple of the god at a place called Śamīsthala which is, however, difficult to identify. The place may have formed a part of Narwar of lay in its vicinity. Verse 3 introduces the city of Nalapura (i.e. Narwar) which was the capital of the Yajvapāla kings mentioned in the following stanzas (verses 4-7). The kings mentioned are Chāhaḍa ; his son Nṛivarman ; his son Āsalladēva ; and his son Gōpāla. Among the epithets of Āsalladēva’ tri-vidha-kshitīśa-chūḍāmaṇi in verse 6 is interesting. The idea may be compared with that contained in the epithet aśvapati-gajapati-narapati-rāja-tray-ādhipati found in the string of royal epithets in many medieval records.[2] This epithet seems to represent a king as the lord of three-fold sovereignty, i.e. the three wings of sovereignty, viz., the cavalry, elephant force and infantry, while the passage quoted above from the record under study appears to refer to the supreme position of Āsalla among kings who were regarded as Aśvapati or Gajapati or Narapati according as they were strong in cavalry or elephant force or infantry. It seems that some kings considered themselves as sufficiently strong in all the three wings although their neighbours were inclined to apply to them any one of the three epithets with reference to the wing in which they were regarded as especially strong. Verse 8 mentions Gōpāla’s son and successor Gaṇapati who was the reigning monarch. Gaṇapati is here stated to have captured Kīrtidurga, while the next stanza (verse 9) continues __________________________________________________
[1] See Journ. Or. Inst., Vol. IV., No. 4, p. 406. A temple of Rannāditya or Raṇṇāditya existed at Pushkara
according to certain inscriptions of the tenth century A. D. (cf. Nos. 510 ff. of A.R.Ep., 1956-57, App. B).
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