North Indian Inscriptions

MISCELLANEOUS INSCRIPTIONS

Nos. 111-112 ; PLATE XCII
BORIA STATUE INSCRIPTIONS OF JASARAJADEVA : (KALACHURI) YEAR 910^¹

THESE inscriptions were discovered in 1881-82 by Sir A. Cunningham^² near the ruins of a temple of the goddess Kaṅkālī in an old deserted fort, 3 miles to the north-west of the village Bōriā. This village is situated about 20 miles to the north of Kawardhā, the chief town of a former feudatory State of the same name in the Chhattisgarh Division of Madhya Pradesh. Cunningham published a transcript and a photozincograph of the inscriptions in his Archæological Survey of India Reports, Vol. XVII, p. 44 and plate xxii. They were subsequently noticed by Rai Bahadur Hiralal in his inscriptions in the Central Provinces and Berar.^³ They are edited here for the first time from excellent ink impressions kindly supplied by Mr. M. A. Suboor of the Central Museum, Nagpur.

They are two inscriptions. each on a separate statue. Both are in a good state of preservation. Their characters are Nāgarī and language Sanskrit. Each consists of only three lines. The average size of the letters in the first or larger one is . 5" and that of the second is . 7".

The larger (A) of the two records is incised on the pedestal of a bearded figure with hands joined in adoration. It mentions Ṭhākura Māltu, the Chief Minister (Mahāmātya) of the illustrious and victorious king, Mahārāṇaka Jasarājadēva, and names his son, mother and daughter. The object of it is to record the construction of a temple by Māltu for the religious merit of his father. This temple is evidently identical with the present one dedicated to the goddess Kaṅkălī.

The second inscription (B) also mentions the illustrious Jasarājadēva. The object of it is apparently to record that the statue on which it is incised represents Jāgu, the son of Dhirachhēndra, who was a military officer, evidently, of Jasarājadēva. He is stated to be a devoted disciple.

The first inscription contains the date, Samvat 910, expressed in decimal figures, of an unspecified era. It must, of course, be referred to the Kalachuri era. It does not admit of verification, but as an expired year, it would correspond to 1158-59 A.C. The second inscription is undated, but is clearly of the same period.

Jasarājadēva, mentioned in both the records, is evidently identical with Yaśōrājā whose inscription, dated K. 934, was found at Sāhaspur in the same State of Kawardhā. He was probably a feudatory of the Kalachuris.
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¹ This date is furnished by the first or larger of the two inscriptions. The smaller one is undated.
² ''The Memorandum of Inscriptions in Chattisgher’, published by Sir R. Jenkins in A. R., Vol. XV, p. 506, mentions two records at Borea of Pandria, one of them being dated Saṁvat 849. These appear to be different from those edited here. See C. A. S. I. R., Vol. XVII, p. 44.
³ First ed., pp. 165 ff; second ed., pp. 177 ff. ⁴ Cunningham gives the date as Saṁvat 910 in one place and as Samvat 1110 in another. See his A. S. I. R., Vol. XVII, pp. 44-5. Hiralal read it as 945 or 915. Jasarājadēva of the present inscription is probably identical with Yaśōrāja of the Sāhaspur inscription (below, No. 115) which is dated in the (Kalachuri) year 934. If the date of the present inscription is also in the Kalachuri era, as appears probable, the reading 1110 is impossible. If referred to the Vikrama era, this date would be too early for Jasarājadēva, judging from the characters of the inscription. It is also unlikely to be a date of the Śaka ; era as shown by the word Saṁvat prefixed to it, though it would, in that case, not be impossible for Jasarājadēva. The figures of the date are very badly formed. The Sāhaspur inscription indicates that the first figure is intended to be 9. The last two figures appear to be 1 and 0. In any case the last figure cannot be read as 5, for the contemporary shape of which, see 1. 6 of the Sāhaspur inscription.