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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA And the fourth face contains 36 lines of writing, all in Old-Kanarese characters, covering a space of 3′ 3″ high by from 9″ to 10″ broad. The 83 lines of writing in Nâgarî characters on the first, second and third faces make up the principal inscription (A) of the pillar. A second inscription (B) is contained in the first 27 lines, in Old-Kanarese characters, on the fourth face. And the rest of the writing, altogether 26 lines in Old-Kanarese characters, furnishes a third inscription (C), which commences below the end of A on the third face of the pillar, runs on to the lower part of the fourth face, goes from there to the lower part of the first face, and ends on the lower part of the second face. The inscription A, as stated above, contains 83 lines of writing in Nâgari characters. With the exception of altogether eleven aksharas in the middle of lines 52-54, which are completely effaced, the writing is well preserved. The size of the letters generally is about one inch, but it is somewhat less in the lower lines of the first face. The language is Sanskṛit, and, with the exception of the introductory ôṁ svasti śrîḥ, the whole inscription is in verse. It is written very carefully, and in respect of orthography it need only be stated that the letter b throughout is written by a sign of its own, not by the sign for v. As regards lexicography, it may be mentioned here that the word pushpa in line 69 apparently is used to denote a particular coin.[1]
The inscription, after glorifying the mythical bird Garuḍa, refers itself to Śaka-Saṁvat 867, the year Plavaṅga, and to the reign of the [Râshṭrakûṭa] Akâlavarshadêva Kṛishṇarâja [III.], the son of Amôghavarsha, whom it represents as residing at Mânyakhêṭa. And its proper object is, to record certain donations, which at a solar eclipse on Tuesday, the new-moon day of Bhâdrapada in the above-mentioned year, were made by Chakrâyudhabudha, the chief (or proprietor) of the village or Pâviṭṭage in the Karṇapuri vishaya, in favour of a school or hall (śâlâ) that had been established at the village by the chief minister and Saṁdhivigrahin of Kṛishṇarâja, Nârâyaṇa, surnamed Gajâṅkuśa, an inhabitant of the village of Kâñchanamuduvôl in the Mâhisha vishaya.[2] In the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXIII. p. 123, No. 61, it has been shown that the date of this inscription, for Śaka-Saṁvat 867 expired, corresponds to Tuesday, the 9th September A.D. 945, when there was a solar eclipse which was visible in India, 6h. 18m. after mean sunrise.[3] And it has also been already stated that, as the Jovian year Plavaṅga, which in lines 3-5 of the inscription is coupled with Śaka-Saṁvat 867 expired, did not commence[4] till the 17th October A.D. 945, the inscription must have been drawn up some short time after the specific date in lines 45-50, on which the donations are recorded to have been made. Of the localities mentioned, the village of Pâviṭṭage, where the śâlâ was established,[5] has with great probability been suggested to be the modern Sâlôṭgi where the pillar which contains the inscription was put up. The other places (with the exception of the well-known Mânyakhêṭa) have not been identified.
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