North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF CHANDRAVATI

JHĀLŌḌĪ STONE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF DHĀRĀVARSHA

...Verse 5 of the inscription mentions an officer, appointed by Dhārāvarsha, to look after the administration of the village. He was Nāgaṭa and is stated to have been adept in all arts. From his designation sachiva, he appears to have exercised great administrative power. The following verses states the object as seen above, viz., the restoration of the maṇḍapa of the temple, consisting of six platforms. evidently the temple where the inscription was found. [1] The verse that follows wishes the pious deed to continue as long as the Sun and the moon. The next verse states that the queen Śṛiṅgāradēvī, whose identity we have seen above, donated a piece of land for a flowergarden for the worship of Mahāvīra ; and the still next, which is the last one, records that the witness was dāṇika, i.e. the collector of land-tax, [2] himself, under whose skilful considerations the whole work was performed, and also that the mason (sūtradhāra) in charge of the whole work was Nīraḍa Varmā, about whom nothing else is said.

...In the end, we have a portion in prose, which states that the inscription was composed by the most revered, the illustrious, Tilakaprabhasūri, And with the date in figures, which we have already discussed above, the inscription comes to a close.

... There is only one place-name mentioned here, viz., Dundubhi, which appears to have been the old name of Jhālōḍī where the inscription was found. The reading of the first letter of the name, as seen below, is not, however, certain, and if we take the name as Undubhi, it seems to be identical with the modern village Undra, which is in the close neighbourhood, of Jhālōḍī and situated just to its north-west. [3]

TEXT [4]
[Metres : Verse 1 Vasantatilakā ; vv. 2-5 Āryā ; vv. 6-7 Śārdūlavikrīḍita : vv. 8-9 Anushṭubh ].

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[1] The temple is now dedicated to Śāntinātha, but as already noted by D. R. Bhandarkar, it was originally built in honour of Mahāvīra, as it appears from the contents of the inscription.
[2] For the word in this sense, see Lēkhapaddhati G. O. S. 1925), p. 16. This word is still current in this sense in remote parts of Rājasthān and Mālwā.
[3] C. I. R. A., p. 356, No. 7.
[4] From impressions.
[5] Expressed by a symbol which is partly visible.
[6] This akshara is partly lost and the reading of Muni Jinavijaya is adopted here.
[7] From an examination of the original, the akshara in brackets appears more like [Sanskrit] and the reading of the first two aksharas in the next line is also doubtful, as the consonant of the first of them is damaged and the second looks like a conjunct. The verse offends against the metre Āryā since it has only fourteen and not fifteen mātrās, as required.
[8] Chatushka means a ‘hall resting on four pillars or a quadrangular court-yard’; and shaṭka is used here to denote six figures of Tīrthaṅkaras. The intended sense appears to be that the gōshṭhikas (members of the assembly) constructed a maṇdapa for the six figures. and besides these, two (or two of the same?) were constructed by one whose name is not mentioned here but who is stated to have conquered kali and mōha thereby,
[9] This with the preceding akshara is indistinct and the reading is conjectural as from traces left,
[10] It cannot be ascertained whether the consonant m is doubled in all the three cases, as some others also.
[11] The reading of the bracketed aksharas is only from the left and it may also have been [Sanskrit], or [Sanskrit], which suits the sense.
[12] This akshara has now totally disappeared and the reading is from that of the Muni, referred to above.

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