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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTION OF THE PARAMARAS OF JALOR No. 96 ; PLATE XCII ...THE stone on which this inscription is incised was found, some time in the early years of the present century, by D. R. Bhandarkar, then Superintendent of Archaeology in the Western Circle, and the record was first noticed by him in the Progress Report, Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, for 1908-9, p. 54. and then summarised in his List of Inscription of North India, No. 194. Some time later, the stone was removed to the Sardār Museum, Jodhpur, for preservation, by its Curator Bisheshwar Nath Reu, who published the inscription inscribed on it in the Indian Antiquary, Volume LXII (for 1933), p. 14, with text in Nāgārī characters and English translation thereof, but without an illustration. The record is edited here from fresh inked impressions prepared and supplied to me, at my request, by the Superintending Archaeologist, Western Circle, Baroda, from whom I also understand that the stone has now been removed to the Museum at Māndōr, some 90 kms. south-southwest of its original findspot, where it is exhibited.[1] ...As stated by both Bhandarkar and Reu in their respective articles noted above, the inscribed stone was fixed in the north cloister of the building called Tōpkhānā or a shed for artillery, which was originally a mosque, at Jālōr,[2] the principal town of a District of the same name in the Jodhpur Division of Rājasthān, about 130 kms. due south of Jodhpur and famous for the strength of its fort in former days. It is a “bulky white stone slab”, 56-18 cms. broad and 69.85 cms. high; and the writing covers a space measuring 53.5 cms. broad by 58 cms. high. The stone was originally near a temple and appears to have been fixed in the fort-wall some time later, and it is possible to conjecture that in course of this operation a portion on the right was slightly damaged, as can be known from the loss of one or two letters at the end of 11. 3-5 and the first letter in 1. 13. Otherwise, the inscription is in a fair state of preservation. The letters are carefully written and well carved. The height of an individual letter varies from 2.5 to 4 cms.
... The characters are Nāgarī of the twelfth century. The initial a, which appears twice in āsīd-, 1. 3, and Āshāḍha, 1. 13, begins with a dome-shaped curve; the subscript ṇ of the same letter resembles 1, as in pūrṇṇa-, 1. 1; the letters p and y have often the same form, cf. putrō = yaṁ, 1. 9, where p does not differ from y; and bh continues its antique form, as in samabhavat, 1.5, and bhūpatēḥ, 1. 11. The letter r is in a transitional stage, often showing its form with a triangular loop in the middle, as in rāja-, 1. 3, but occasionally, we find it in its old form which is marked by a vertical with a horizontal stroke attached to its middle on the left, as in Paramāra-, 1.2. ...The language of the record is Sanskrit ; and, excepting the initial Ōm and the portion showsing the date in the last, it line, it is composed in verse. The total number of verses is 5; they are
not numbered. In all there 13 lines of writing. The following orthographical peculiarities can be noted : (1) the use of the pṛishṭha-mātra to denote a medial dipthong,
excepting in a few instances like yēna, 1. 10, and bhaumē, 1, 13; (2) the doubling of a
consonant following r, as in pūrṇṇēna, 1. 1; (3) the use of the dental for the palatal sibilant
in two instances only, viz., Visvāmitraṁ, 1. 1 and Sindhurājēsvarē, 1. 12; and (4) the change of a
final m to anusvāra at the end of a hemistich, in two instances, viz., nūnaṁ, 1. 7 and kṛitaṁ, 1. 12?
[1]
Since this article was written, the inscription has been edited by Dr. G. S. Gai in the Ep. Ind.,
Vol. XXXVII, pp. 222 ff.
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