North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

RAIPUR MUSEUM STONE INSCRIPTION OF PRITHVIDEVA II

lines gradually increases from 10” in the 1’ line to I' 4½” in the 22nd and then gradually decrease to I' 3½” in the 25th. The last line, in which the records ends, measures I' long. The stone is broken on the proper left side only, its top, bottom and right side being intact. When entire, the inscribed surface must have measured about 3' broad. The extant writing is in a state of good preservation, only one or two aksharas here and there being partly damaged. The letters are carefully and beautifully formed. Their size varies from .6” to . 8”.

The characters are Nāgarī. Attention may be drawn to the initial ai which is formed by adding a pṛishṭhamātrā to the sign for ē (see Airāvata, 1.17), the proper sign for b as distinguished from v, which occurs in babhūva, 11.6 and 7, dh which shows a horn at the top on the left, as indhvansāya, 1. II and the flat-toppped ś as in Śivāya, 1. I. The language is Sanskrit, and except for the opening obeisance to Śiva and the name of the sculptor at the end, the records is metrically composed throughout. There are, in all, thirty verses, all of which except the last are numbered. The praśasti, as the inscription is called in line 25, was composed by Dēvapāṇi, and engraved by the sculptor Pālhūka. Dēvapāṇi was also the author of the Akaltarā and Ratanpur inscriptions of Vallabharāja. The present inscription has consequently several verses in common with those two records, especially with the latter. Thus, verses 4-21 of the present inscription occur in the same order in that record. The orthography shows the same peculiarities as the Akaltarā stone inscription.

As stated above, the present record is fragmentary and though it has a considerable portion in common with three other inscriptions^¹ of Vallabharāja, the latter also, with the exception of the Akaltarā stone inscription, have suffered too much to be of much use in the restoration of its lost text. It is not, therefore, possible to give here a connected and complete account of its contents. After the usual maṅgala-ślōka in praise of Śambhu, the inscription seems to have mentioned the Kalachuri family and described two or three princes of it in verses 2-4. The name of the last one only, viz., Ratnadēva (II) has been preserved at the beginning of line 4. Like the Akaltarā stone inscription, the record then seems to have turned to the ancestors of Vallabharāja, who, as feudatory chiefs, served the predecessors of Ratnadēva II. Verses 5-7 apparently eulogised Dēvarāja, Rāghava and Harigaṇa, but the name of only the last one occurs in the preserved portion. Harigaṇa's wife was described in the next verse (8), but her name is lost. The glorification of their son Vallabharāja commenced in line 7, though his name does not occur in the extant portion till line 16. Verses 10-15 extol his proficiency in the healing art, his appreciation of merits, his capture of elephants in the Vindhya mountain, the fierce fight in which he distinguished himself, his raid in a distant country which was commenced by his suzerain, and finally his fame and charity. Verse 16 seems to show that he was looked upon as an adopted son by Lāchchhalladēvī whom we know from the Akaltarā stone inscription to be the mother of Ratnadēva II. Verse 18 described a city founded by Vallabharāja, which is said to have resembled the city of Kubēra (i.e., Alakā). The next three verses, two of which occur in a complete from in the Akaltarā record, described a tank which Vallabharāja excavated in the same city. Verse 22 probably referred to some charitable or religious works of Vallabharāja, one of which, a garden, is mentioned in the beginning of line 19. In the next verse Vallabharāja is said to have loyally assigned to the king Ratnadēva (II) half of the religious merit which accrued to him on account of the aforementioned benefaction. Verse 24 records that he made a request to Ratnadēva (II) for some donation for the worship of Siva, which
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¹ Viz., No. 84, above and Nos. 87 and 95, below.