South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

the interior of a simple word a nasal before a consonant of its own class is always denoted by its own sign, nowhere by the sign of anusvâra. After r, a consonant (other than a sibilant or h) is generally, about five times out of six, doubled. Before r, t is doubled in mâttra, l. 6, śakti-ttray-, l. 13, and paṭṭa-ttray-, l. 14, while it remains single in twelve similar cases ; and k is doubled in vikkramaiḥ, l. 7, parâkkramatas=, l. 9, and -âkkrântâ, l. 11. Before y, dh is changed to ddh in addhyêya-, l. 2, ârâddhya, ll. 4 and 7, addhyuvâsa, l. 5, and asâddhyâs=, l. 13 ; but not in anudhyâya, l. 8. The number of clerical errors is very small ; I need only point out here Sthânur= (for Sthâṇur=) in line 1, and utkrishṭa (for utkṛishṭa) in line 8.

In respect of grammar generally and lexicography the text calls for few remarks. The use of the gerunds ârâddhya and adhîtya in verse 12 does not accord with the rule of the grammarians, but may be defended by the less strict practice of even classical writers. Similarly, the employment of bhôjya (instead of bhôgya) in pṛithivîm . . . svavaṁśa-bhôjyâm of verse 25 is contrary to Pâṇini, VII. 3, 69, but the word is often used in the same way elsewhere, especially in epic poetry. Like other inscriptions, this one also contains some words which are not found in the published dictionaries. Of these, antarâlaya (formed like antarâgâra, antargṛiha, antar-bhavana) in verse 6, sânâmya (an abstract noun derived from the adjective sanâman, ‘ having the same name’) in verse 8, brahmasiddhi in verse 12 and samutthâpana in verse 16 can offer no difficulty. The word aśvasaṁstha in verse 11 I take to be synonymous with aśvârôha, ‘ a horseman,’ and I would compare with it such words as gajastha, rathastha, syandanastha, as well as turagâdhirûḍha and turaṅgasâdin (e.g. in Ragh. VII. 34 and Śiś. XVIII. 2). On the word ghaṭikâ in verse 10 I have published a special note in Nachrichten der K. Ges. der Wiss. zu Göttingen, 1900, p. 345 ff., where I have tried to prove that a ghaṭikâ was an establishment (probably founded in most cases by a king) for holy and learned men, such as is often mentioned in other inscriptions under the name brahmapurî. In the note referred to I have shown that ghaṭikâ is used in this sense e.g. in the Kâśâkuḍi plates of the Pallava Nandivarman Pallavamalla (South- Ind. Inscr. Vol. II. p. 349, lines 56 and 59) and in the Chikkulla plates of Vikramêndravarman II. (above, Vol. IV. p. 196, line 14).^[1] The last remark which I would offer on the wording of the present inscription is, that the author in verse 29 uses iva . . . tadvat, instead of yadvat (or yathâ) . . . tadvat. This, so far as I know, is foreign to the usage of classical writers, from whose works I am unable to quote quite analogous instances.^[2]

The inscription contains 34 verses. The metres of nine of them (verses 25-32 and 34) are the ordinary ones : Pushpitâgrâ, Indravajrâ, Vasantatilakâ, Mandâkrântâ and Śârdûlavikrîḍita. The metre of the long verses 33, with which the poem proper here presented to us fitly closes,^[3] is a species of Daṇḍaka, called by the general name Prachita. It consists of four Pâdas, each of which contains six short syllables and eight amphimacers (─ ..─).^[4] Most interesting from a metrical point of view are the verses 1-24, composed in a metre^[5] which is found rarely elsewhere
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^[1] Since writing my paper on ghaṭikâ, I have come across the word ghaṭikâsâhasa, which in line 41 of the Haḷḷegere plates of the W. Gaṅga Śivamâra I. (Ep. Carn. Vol. III. p. 108, where it is wrongly transcribed by ghaṭikâ-sahasra) occurs as an epithet of a Brâhmaṇ. I have little doubt that this word is identical with the words gahiyasâhasa, ghaisâsa, mentioned above, Vol. VI. p. 241, note 2. In Hêmachandra’s Dêśînâmâlâ, II, 105, to which Prof. Pischel has drawn my attention, we find ghaḍiaghaḍâ (i.e. ghaṭikaghaṭâ or ghaṭikâghaṭâ), paraphrased by gôshṭhî.
^[2] In the Râmâyaṇa, iva . . . tathâ is used like yathâ . . . tathâ, but passages like VII. 7, 18 ff., where this is the cases, are somewhat different from the one in our text. Exactly like the iva . . . tadvat of the text I find iva (or va) . . . evaṁ used in the Pâli Gâthâs ; compare e.g. Jât. Vol. IV. p. 172, l. 11 : Gavaṁ va siṅgino siṅgaṁ vaḍḍhamânassa vaḍḍhati evaṁ mandassa posassa bâlassa avijânato bhiyyo taṇhâ pipâsâ cha vaḍḍhamânassa vaḍḍhati, ‘as the horn grows, so thirst grows.’
^[3] Verse 34 gives the name of the author, who also wrote the inscription on the stone.
^[4] For a much longer species of Prachita (in which each Pâda contains six shorts syllables and 16 amphimacers) see Mâlatîmâdhava, Dr. Bhandarkar’s ed., p. 181.
^[5] I have published a short paper on this metre in Nachrichten der K. Ges. der Wiss. zu Göttingen, 1899, p. 182 ff. As that paper is in German, I repeat here what has been stated in it.