North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

PIPLIĀNAGAR COPPER-PALTE INSCRIPTIONOF MAHĀKUMĀRA HARIŚCHANDRA

about 42 kms. straight south-east of Hoshaṅgābād, the chief town of a district the same name. Amaḍāpadra, the territorial division in which the donated village is stated to have been situated, suggests its identification with Amaravāḍā, which is now the headquarters of a paraganā in the Chhindwāḍā District lying to its south-east and in close proximity of the modern Sohāgpur parganā in which Parasavāḍā is at present situated. Or, to suggest a still nearer place, it may have been the same as the modern village Amrāvad, situated about 14 kms. east of Rāisen, the principal town of a district and tehsīl of the same name. Strewn with some old remains, this place appears to have seen better days. But this suggestion is far from certain, since I find two more places with similar names in the region, viz., Amrawāḍ which is about 45 kms. north-east of Hoshaṅgābād and Amrāpur about 60 kms. north of Hoshaṅgābād. I am, how-ever, unable to identify the fort of Guṇapura [1] and the place where the four-faced Mārkaṇḍēśvara is stated to have existed. [2]

TEXT [3]
[Metres : Verses 1-2 and 4-10 Anushṭubh ; vv. 3 and 13 Vasantatilakā ; v. 11 Indravajrā ; v. 12 Śālinī ; v. 14 Pushpitāgrā ].

[1] Dr. Ganguly identified this place with Gōdurpur near Māndhātā (H. P. D., p. 184). but the distance between Gōdurpur and Nīlgaḍh is not less than 160 kms. and it seems less likely that the former was included in a maṇḍala named by the latter. Besides, there is no ground for suggesting this identification. Similarly, his attempt to identify Palasavāḍā with a place bearing the same name in the Bombay State is based merely on the similarity of these two names. One of these is on the north of the Narmadā whereas the other to its south.
[2] Ending in Īśvara, this name appears to denote Śiva, as we generally find. At a village known as Bhēlā in the Seonī-Mālwā tehsīl of the Hoshaṅgābād District there exists an old shrine in which is installed a Śiva-liṅga with four faces. The place is on the southern bank of the Narmadā and fulfils the requirements, like all the other places which are to its south. It is still known to be sacred and an annual fair is held there. And in view of its close proximity to the other places mentioned in the inscription, I am tempted to take this deity intended by the name Mārkaṇḍēśvara. If this identification is accepted, the village Amalāḍhā, which lies just to the west of Bhēlā, appears to have been intended by the mention of Amarāpadra, in 11. 9-10 of the inscription, rather than Amaravādā, as we have suggested above.
[3] As in Journ. of Asiatic Society of Bengal. Vol. VII. pp. 736-39. the figures numbering the lines are given by me. The transcript also contains some redundant punctuation marks.
[4] As in many Paramāra grants, there appears to have been an auspicious symbol at the beginning, which has been omitted in the transcript. Read ताम् and कृतिम् respectively at the end of each of the hemistiches. It is possible that in both the words in this verse and in similar cases below. the consonants v and b may have been engraved. But we cannot be definite about it.
[5] The rule of sandhi is not observed here.
[6] This expression is apparently a mistake for प्रतिग्रामनिवासिनश्च. Also read श्र्पमरापद्र in the preceding line, and delete the mātrā of के in विषयिके in the next line.

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