North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

kāñchana, 1. 11, maṇḍala and maṁḍala, both in 1.5, nandinī and saṁtati , both in 1.8, and paraṁparā and kumbhāyamāna, both in 1. 29 ; (6) the jihvāmūlīya is used once in 1.12 ;(7)the kāka-pada sign or a single or double-daṇḍa is marked at the end of some of the lines to denote that the word is not completed in that line and is continued in the following line, e.g. at the end of 11.15-17, 24-25, 33 and 38 ; and (8) there are occasions when a daṇḍa used as a punctuation mark has a top-stroke as any letter, e.g. the one after kautukāt, 1. 14. and in rare instances it is engraved as somewhat resembling the sign for r. as in the same instance. Again, in some instances the sign for medial ā is separated from the letter to which it belongs and is placed closer to the following letter, as in adhō dṛishṭvā, 1.16, where the mātrā attached to the second letter is closer to the third.

...The language is generally correct, but wrong spellings are occasionally to be noted by mistakes on the part of the person who wrote the Praśasti on the stone. In 1.6 shanna occurs for shaṇṇa, which is repeated in 1.10 ; and we have dig-maṇḍala for diṅ-maṇḍala and nistruṁśa for nistriṁśa both in 1.16, aṁhri for aṅghri in 1.20 and chakshuḥ-karṇa for chakshush-karṇa in 1.24. [1]

...The inscription contains a Praśasti, and as such, is of great literary value. The composition is in the gaudī style, as is quite in consonance with vīra-rasa, and not infrequently it uses figures of speech like anuprāsa, ślēsha, upamā, rūpaka, utprēkshā, vyatirēka, atiśayōkti and virōdhābhāsa, It is also full of words of unfrequent occurrence [2] ; and rare metres like pṛithvī (v. 38) and rathōddhatā (vv. 2, 4 and 14) and still rarer the pañchachāmara (v. 15) are used. It may also be noted here that in two verses (28 and 31) there is yati-bhaṅga. The style is ornate, and in the words of Kielhorn, ‘highly bombastic and artificial.’ But it does not lack the prasāda-guṇa. The composition, on the whole, reminds the reader of a vīrakāvya, e.g. of the XIIth canto of Śrīharsha’s Naishadhīya-charita, describing the chiefs assembled in Damayantī-suayaṁvara. But with all this, the historical material contained in the inscription is much less.

...The inscription is one of the reign of king Naravarman of the Paramāra dynasty of Mālwā, and was composed, as it appears from the contents of v.55, by himself. [3] The purpose of the inscription is to record the assignment of the village Mōkhalapāṭaka, by Naravarman himself, instead of two villages (not mentioned by name) which were donated previously on a solar eclipse, by his brother Lakshmadēva and which existed in the Vyāpura-maṇḍala (the donee’s name being not mentioned) and to construct a temple at which the present inscription was put up and which is stated to have been adorned with many eulogies and hymns composed by the king himself (vv. 55-56). The inscription is dated in Saṁvat 1161 (expressed in numerical figures only). The year of course must be referred to the Vikrama era and would correspond, if expired, to 1104-05 A.C. No other details of the date are mentioned.

...We shall now briefly review the contents of the record. Beginning with a small sentence in prose paying adoration to the goddess of learning (Bhāratī), it has seven maṅgala-ślōkas, invoking the blessings, respectively, of the same goddess and of Dēvī (Durgā), Śrīpati (Lakshmī’s husband), the learned with their utterances, Śiva, Brahmā, Harihara and Vishṇu, one verse being assigned to each of them. Verse 4, which is in praise of Śiva, indirectly also introduces the fire-born race which is said to have excelled the solar and lunar races. It is noteworthy that invocation to some of the deities occurs here for the first time in the records of the Paramāra house. The invocatory section, as we may call it here, ends with a floral design, as each of the section describing a prince in the composition that follows.

... The Praśasti then proceeds to trace the origin of the house of the Paramāras, by describing the Mt. Arbuda (Ābū), which is here said to have humbled the pride of the noblest of the mountains (the Himalayas), and refers to the creation of the eponymous hero of the name of
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[1] Besides these, Kielhorn has also noted two instances of wrong spellings; they are tajjñair in 1. 35 and vidhadhvam; but I suppose that these expressions are correct.
[2] And there are also allusions to old legends, e.g. in verses 2, 7, 25, 33 and 50. In op.cit., p. 181 Kielhorn says that he could find no authority for brahmāṇḍakhaṇḍa denoting ‘ the vault of heaven’, used in 11. 5. 7, 13 and 13 ; and for this I may mention Kālidāsa’s Mēghadūta (pūrva-Mēgha). v.30, describing Alakā as a portion of the heaven (divaḥ khaṇḍam).
[3] The poet’s name is not specifically mentioned but can be inferred from the statement in v. 56 that the temple where the stone was put was adorned with many praśastis composed by Naravarman himself.

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