North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

NAGPUR STONE INSCRIPTION OF NARAVARMAN

...Verses 33-34 speak of Udayāditya’s valour and glorify him. But the description is all general, not mentioning any specific exploit undertaken by him. The next two verses introduce his son Lakshmadēva ; and the following twenty verses are devoted to give a laudatory account of his bravery and his victorious expedition in all the four directions, appearing almost as a dig-vijaya, His victorious campaign against Tripuri is mentioned in vv. 39-42, stating that at that time he had encamped on the banks of the Rēvā (Narmadā) and his elephants roamed at their own sweet will on the Vindhya mountains. This account seems to contain a historical reference. The Kalachuri Karṇa at that time was dead and succeeded on the throne of Tripuri by his son Yaśaḥkarṇa (1072-1115 A.C.) ; and Lakshmadēva’s expedition in that region endowed him with success, although it may have been only a sweeping raid. Among his other victories, the description of which appears to be only poetical, the one with the Turushkas is also mentioned in v. 54. From this reference Dr. D.C. Ganguly is inclined to hold that Mahmūd Gaznavī attached Mālwā in Lakshmadēva’s time. [1] But the fact that Mahmūd died in 1030 A.C. makes this view untenable. Elsewhere the same scholar says that Lakshmadēva repulsed an attack of Mahmūd, governor of the Punjab, when the latter invaded Ujjain. [2] But this statement too appears to be a mere conjecture, there being no grounds to support it. No Governor of the Punjab with this name invading Ujjain is known to history.

...This grandiloquent account, with its high literary value, is of little use to the historian, as we have often stated ; but the importance of the inscription lies in the fact that this is the only record where we find the name of Lakshmadēva, who was the eldest son of Udayāditya and who is otherwise unknown. The last section of the praśasti (vv. 55-56) mentions the object of the record, which we have seen above, and also that Lakshmīdhara was the architect who built the temple at which it was put up. Verse 57 contains the request of the poet to the readers to consider the worth of the composition ; and verse 58, which is the last of all, is to wish good to all, viz., the learned, the poet, and finally, to those who listen to it with all pleasure and delight.

...Of the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, that of the village Mōkhalapāṭaka appears also in the Bilhārī stone inscription (now exhibited in the Nagpur Museum) ; and Rai Bahadur Hiralal, suggesting that the name sounds like Dhaṅgala-pāṭaka, Khaila-pāṭaka etc., which are in the Jabalpur District, conjectured that the Bilhārī stone inscription may have come from the same District. [3] But while editing the Mallār plates of Mahāśivagupta in the Epigraphia Indica, and referring to this name which is mentioned in it, Mm. Dr. V.V. Mirashi states that ‘ No such name can be found in the list of villages of the Jabalpur District’ ; and he also points out that the name Mōkhala suggests Mōkhara, which is about 50 miles (80 kms.) east of Bhāṇḍaka in the Chāndā District, and Vyāpura, the name of the maṇḍala in which it was included, may have been Wurgāon, about 30 miles (48 kms.) north-east of Mōkhara. On the basis of these conjectures, Dr. Mirashi is tempted to hold that the stone bearing the Bilhāri inscription may have been originally found in the Chāndā District. [4] And in view of the fact that the present inscription also mentions the same two place-names, it too appears to have come from the same District. But it may be stated here that I have been able to trace out two names which rather more closely resemble those of the two places mentioned here. A village of the name of Mōkalvāḍī lies about 56 kms. straight east of Hoshaṅgābād in the District of the same name in Madhya Pradesh, and Vyāpura, the name of the District in which it was then situated, may be represented by Byāvarā which is about 6 kms. straight south of Hoshaṅgābād. [5] If these identifications are correct, they would show that the stone with the present inscription originally came from the Hoshaṅgābād District. But all these are mere conjectures, with nothing in the record to verify our statement. [6]
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[1] H.P.D., p. 156.
[2] S.E., p. 68.
[3] See his List of Inscriptions, 2nd end., p. 1.
[4] Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, p. 117, n. 6.
[5] Mazmuli map of Hoshangābād District., published by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
[6] In the Centenary Vol. of the Nagpur Museum (p. 19). M. M. Mirashi stated that there is much uncer- tainty about the provenance of this inscription; and suggesting both the places mentioned in it, viz. Vyāpura and Mōkhalapāṭaka, to have been situated in the Chāndā District, he also held that the stone bearing this inscription was brought to the Museum from that district. See Ep. Ind., Voll XXIII, p. 117, n. 6. This is, of course, doubtful in view of our identification of the places with those lying in the Hōshaṅgābād District, as above.

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