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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA all doubt. The date corresponds, as shown by Professor Kielhorn,[1] to Sunday, 3rd March A.D. 1230. Of the inscription No. II. only a short account was published by H. H. Wilson in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVI. p. 309 f. It was edited in full by Professor Abaji Vishnu Kathavate as Appendix B. to his edition of the Kîrtikaumudî. It is engraved on a white slab built into a niche in the corridor of the temple. The writing covers a space of about 2′ 11″ broad by 1′ 10″ high. The size of the letters is ⅜″. Near the beginning and at the end of ll. 1 and 2 and at the end of ll. 3 and 4 the text is mutilated, portions of the slab being either cut off or broken off. The characters are of the same type as in No. I. The initial ô in ôṁ (l. 1) differs from the corresponding sign in Ôisavâla (ll. 15, 17, 24) and Ôrâsâ (l. 27) by the addition of a cross-bar. The letter ba is expressed y the sign for va everywhere, except in Śrîmâtâmahabu in l. 27 and Arbudas= in the last but one line. The writing of the last two lines, however, shows also some other peculiarities. The characters are partly larger, and generally executed with far less care, than those in the preceding portion of the inscription. As regards single letters, the divergences are especially prominent in the signs for ra and śa and medial ê and ô, the latter being expressed by means of a stroke above the line six times, in bhêjâtê, bhavanê, -pâṁthê, -sûrêr, tayôḥ and vilôkyamânê, whereas only three instances of this mode of writing are found in the preceding 31 lines, in varshê (l. 1), -dêvêna (l. 26) and Gôsala (l. 13). There can be little doubt, therefore, that those two lines are a later addition, and this, as will appear later on, is fully borne out by their contents.
The inscription is in the Sanskṛit language and, with the exception of one verse in l. 30, in prose. As usual in records of this period and of this part of the country, the language is largely influenced by the vernacular idiom. Proper names generally appear in their Prâkṛit form, and even instead of Skt. putra we find here the abbreviation uº, which stands for Prâkṛit utta or, perhaps, a half-Sanskṛitized utra[2] (ll. 10-25). Also the form kumara instead of kumâra in l. 26 is due to Prâkṛit influence. The single members of Dvandva compounds are frequently joined by tathâ (ll. 8, 9, 12, 19, 27). As regards lexicography, the following words may be mentioned : apabhâra, m., ‘ a burden ’ (l. 29) ; âshṭâhikâ, f., ‘ a single day of a festival lasting eight days ’ (ll. 12, 14, 16 etc.) ; kalyâṇika, n., ‘ name of a certain feast ’ (l. 26) ;[3] tathâjñâtîya, ‘ belonging to the tribe mentioned before ’ (ll. 10 ff.) ; mahâjana, m., ‘ a merchant, banker ’ (l. 10) ;[4] râṭhiya, m., which seems to denote a certain class of officials (l. 28) ; varshagranthi, m., ‘ an anniversary ’ (l. 12);[5] satka, ‘ belonging to ’ (ll. 3, 7, 10) ; sârâ, f., ‘ care, supervision ’ (l. 9).[6] In line 6 pratishṭhita is used in the sense of pratishṭhâpita. The inscription contains the official record of the erection of the temple of Nêminâtha, and regulations for the festivals connected with it and for the protection and maintenance of the building.
In lines 1-5 it is stated that ‘ to-day on Sunday, the third day of the dark half
of the common Phâlguna, in the [Vikrama] year 1287, while in prosperous Aṇahilapâṭaka
the mahârâjâdhirâja Bh[îmadêva], the royal swan on the lotus of the Chaulukya family, who
is adorned by a complete line of kings, is reigning victoriously, . . . . while the
mahâmaṇḍalêśvara râjakula, the illustrious Sômasiṁhadêva, born in the family of the illustrious
[1] List of Inscriptions of Northern India, p. 30.
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