North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

seems to have been readily granted; for the final word in the verse which occurs in the beginning of line 22 refers to royal order. Verse 26 describes a beloved son, probably of Ratnadēva (II)¹, but his name has not been preserved. The next verse mentions his younger brother Jayasiṁha.²the name of the poet Devapāṇi, who composed the praśasti, is preserved in line 25, while that of the writer which must have occurred in the same line is lost. The last line contains the name of the sculptor Pālhūka who incised the present record.

The foregoing account will show that the object of the inscription was to record the construction, by Vallabharāja, of a temple of Siva evidently at Kōṭgaḍh and certain donations made by royal order for the worship of the deity. The present inscription is not dated, but as it mentions both the excavation of the tank Vallabhasāgara and the erection of the afore-mentions temple of Siva, it is evidently later than the Akaltraā stone inscription which mentions only the former. It is again earlier than the Ratanpur inscription which names many more benefactions of Vallabharāja and his wife and was incised, as expressly stated at the end of it, during the reign of Ratnadēva II’s son and successor Pṛithvīdēva II

The extant portion mentions no place-name.³Haṭṭakēśvarapurī in 1. 16, which Rai BahadurHiralal took to be the name of an important place, means Alakā, the city of the lord of wealth (Kubēra).⁴

¹The position of this verse which occurs after the description of Vallabharāja and his ancestors may suggest that the person described in it was a son of Vallabharāja, but the same verse occurs immediately after the description of Ratnadēva II and before the eulogy of Vallabharāja’s ancestors in the Ratanapur inscription of Pṛithvīdēva II (No. 95,below), which shows that he is identical with Pṛithvīdēva II.He seems to have ascended the throne just about the time the inscription was put up. So two verses were added here in praise of him and his brother.
²Beglar found the name of Jayasiṁha in an inscription on the gateway of the fort at Kōṭgaḍh and he has recorded the tradition which ascribes the building of the fort to Jayasiṁha, a petty chieftain subject to the Rājās of Ratnapur (C. A.S. I. R., Vol. p.212).But, as shown above Jayasiṁha was probably a younger brother of Pṛithvīdēva II.
³ The names of the villages which Ratnadēva II granted for the worship ofŚiva are lost at the end of 1. 21.
⁴ See below, p. 440, n.4.
⁵ From the original stone and inked estampages.
⁶ Metre:Anushṭubh.
⁷ The akshras lost here are supplied from l.1 of the Kugdā stone inscription (No 87,below).
⁸ The last five aksharas may have been जाजल्लदेव:.Metre :Mālinī.
⁹ The space is just sufficient for a verse of the Indravajrā or Upēndrvajrāmetre. It may have describbed [SANSKRIT]. Cf. 1. 2 of the Kugdā inscription (No. 87).
¹⁰ See 1. 3 of the Kugdā inscription. This verse may be identical with V. 4 of the Kugdā inscription.
¹¹ Metre: Śārdūlavikrīḍita.
¹² The aksharas were probably कुले.