North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF CHANDRAVATI

No. 81 ; PLATE LXXXI –B
BHŪLĀ STONE INSCRIPTION
[Vikrama] Year 1321

... THIS inscription was first brought to notice by Gaurishankar H. Ojha, in the Annual Report of the Rājputānā Museum, Ajmer, for 1910-11, appx. A, No. 11. It was subsequently noticed by the Chief Epigraphist, in the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, for the year 1968-69. [1] It is edited here for the first time from a set of impressions which I owe to his kindness.

...The record is incised on a stone-slab, found at Bhūlā in the Piṇḍwāḍā tehsīl of the Sirōhī District in Rājasthān, and is now preserved in the Rājputānā Museum, Ajmer. The writing covers a space 41 cms. broad by 31 cms. high, and contains 10 lines, the last of which is only 11.5 cms. long and contains 4 aksharas. It is fairly legible except the first three letters in 1. 6, which contain a name. The average height of the letters ranges between 1.5 and 2 cms.

...The script used is Nāgarī of the 13th century A.C., to which the record belongs. It is slovenly written and a few of the aksharas are not well formed, e.g., dra in Chandrāvaty-,1.2; tṛu-in mātṛu-, 1. 4; and sva in svarggē, 1.8. The language is corrupt Sanskrit and the record is entirely in prose. The pṛishṭha-mātrās are used, the only exception being noticed in Rōhēṭaka in 1. 5, which shows the sign of the medial dipthong above the letter.

... The object of the inscription is to record a grant of some land in favour of the Brāhmaṇas of Rōhēṭaka-sthāna, in the village Maṇḍāvaḍā, which was then being administered by Sajaḍa who is otherwise unknown. The donation was made by Pratī-, i.e. Pratīhāra Lākhaṇapāla and his brother Pratīhāra Gōpasēna for the merit of their mother Salakhaṇadēvī, in the (Vikrama) year 1321, on Monday, the third day of the dark half of Pausha. For the current Vikrama year the date regularly corresponds to 19th of November, 1263 A.C.

...The inscription opens with the date, expressing the year in decimal figures only; and subsequently it mentions Chandrāvatī, the capital of the Ābū branch of the Paramāras, as we know from some other sources also. At this place the donation stated above was made. The name of the king. who was then ruling, does not figure in the record, but from the provenance of the inscription and the year given in it, he appears to have been probably a descendant of the wellknown ruler Dhārāvarsha, a younger son or brother of Sōmasiṁha and the father of Pratāpasiṁha who is known from the Girvaḍ inscription of V.S. 1344. [2]

...The inscription of the time of Dhārāvarsha range between V. 1220 (1164 A.C.) and 1276 (1219 A.C.); the first of these is known to have been found at Kāyadrā and the second at Makāval. [3] After this long reign of about 55 years this king appears to have been succeeded by his son Sōmasiṁha, whose earliest and latest known years are V.S. 1287 and 1293, respectively. And considering that Dhārāvarsha closed soon after the date furnished by the Makāval inscription, i.e., some time about V. 1280, his son Sōmasiṁha’s reigning period may be calculated to have ended some time towards the close of V. 1300, when he was succeeded by his son Kṛishṇaraja. And if all this calculation is correct, we may further suggest that the present inscription was issued some time towards the close of Kṛishṇarāja’s reign, shortly after which the territory around Ābū was temporarily annexed by the Guhila Samarasiṁha of Mēvāḍ who came to the throne some time between 1267 and 1273 A.C. [4]

... The details of the land which was donated, are not mentioned in the record, which states only that it was situated within the boundary of the village Maṇḍāvaḍa and extended up to the place where the reeds locally known as kāsa begin to grow.

...As for the localities mentioned in the inscription, Maṇḍāvaḍa (1.6) is the modern village of the same name lying about 3-4 kms. due north of Bhūlā where the inscription stone was found and which itself is about 32 kms. due south-southwest of Piṇḍwāḍā, the headquarters of the tehsīl of the same name. In the same tehsīl exists another village with the same name Maṇḍāvaḍ;
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[1] His No. C-2685 of 1968-69.
[2] Below, No. 82.
[3] No. 67 (from kāyadrā) ; For the other. see No. 197. below.
[4] S. E., p. 90. Also see I. N. I., Nos. 579 and 649, respectively.

................CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM
VOL.VII ............................................................PLATE LXXX
NANA STONE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF SOMASIMHA: (VIKRAMA) YEAR 1290

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