North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

form, first curved above and then bent below, and with the horizontal stroke attached to it, it looks like a modern lra, cf. asmābhiḥ aṁkē and agnihōtra in 11. 11. 12 and 21, respectively. Of the consonants, k in the sign-manual of the king in the end shows a different form from all others. The left limb of kh begins with a curve as to be found in ś, as in lēkhāṁ, 1. 2 and Vaiśākha,1. 12. The left limb of ch is triangular, cf. paṁcha, 11. 6-7; the lingual ṇ in its subscript form continues to appear as I, see paurṇamāsyāṁ, 1. 12 ; t and h have developed a fine tail and th resembles v with the addition of a curved stroke or a loop above, as in tithau, 1. 12 and yathā 1.26. Dh. except when it is a subscript, has developed a horn on its left limb ; the horn some times resembles a stroke, as in dharmma, 1. 38, sometimes it is more developed as in pādānudhyāta, 1. 4, and at times the stroke is bent, as in paridhāya, 1. 13. This letter is also endowed with a top-stroke and the verticals of dhā continue to be joined in the middle by a horizontal bar, cf. vasudhā, 1. 16. The akshara p looks like y in some cases, for example in kalpāntasamaya, 1. 3, where both these letters are used. In rare cases r appears as ch, see śravaṇa, 1.26. Instances of imperfect carving of some of the letters have been noted in the text that follows.

....The language of the record is Sanskrit ; and with the exception of two stanzas at the beginning, two in the middle in 11. 16-19, and ten imprecatory stanzas at the end, which are all customary as to be found in other Paramāra grants, the record is composed in prose. The verses are not numbered. Orthographical peculiarities are almost the same as we find in the other records of the time and locality, for example, (1) the use of the sign of v to denote b, as in vibhartti, 1. 1 ; (2) the doubling of a consonant after r, e. g., in the same instance ; (3) the use of the dental for the palatal sibilant, cf. sirasā, 1.2 ; (2) the anusvāra often doing the duty of a class nasal event at the end of a sentence or a stich, see Viṁdhya-maṁḍala, 1. 8, aṁkē, 1. 12, and paṁcha, 11. 6 and 7. The word yauvanaṁ is spelt with j in 1. 16 and ṛishi as rishi in 1. 14, which may be due to local pronunciation of the words. The other mistakes of spelling, for which sometimes the writer and at others the mason is responsible, are noted in the text that follows.

.... The object of inscription, which is a royal charter, is to record the donation of the village of Guṇaürā in the (group of )forty-eight villages known as Vōḍasirā in the Narmadapura-pratijāgaraṇka in Vindhya-maṇḍala, by the Mahākumāra Udayavarman, the son of the the Purōhita Mālū(lhū?)-śarman, who belonged to the Gargga gōtra with three pravaras, viz. Gargga, Sainya and Āṁgirasa of the Vājasanēya-śākhā, and who was the son of agnihōtrin Yajñadhara. The date of the grant, as written both in words and numerical symbols, was Sunday,the fifteenth day of Vaiśākha of the expired (Vikrama) year 1256 when there was the Viśākhā nakshatra and the Parigha yōga. The date regularly corresponds to Sunday, 30th April, 1200 A.C., taking the year as the southern expired Vikrama.[1]

...The arrangement of the contents of the inscription under study is almost the same as of the many other Paramāra grants. Opening with the auspicious symbol and the customary two stanzas paying obeisance to Śiva and invoking his blessings, it goes on the to record, in a prose portion, the genealogy of the donor, which is followed by the mention of the gift village, the general conditions of the grant with instructions to local persons, the customary imprecatory verses, and, in the end, the sign-manual of the ing followed by the name of the Dūtaka, who was Maṇḍalīka Kshēmvarāja.

... The genealogical portion (11. 3 ff.) mentions the name of Yaśōvarman and his successor Jayavarman, both as sovereign lords ; and thereafter figures the name of Lakshmīvarman, who is stated to have the privilege of using the five great sounds and was a Mahākumāra. He was succeeded by Hariśchandra, and Hariśchandra by his son Udayavarman,[2] who issued the present grant. Both these rulers are mentioned as Mahākumāras, entitled to the use of the five great sounds, as Lakshmīvarman. Of the names figuring in the genealogy, those of Yaśōvarman and his son Jayavarman, who were sovereign lords at Dhārā, are well known, and we also known that Lakshmīvarman was the latter’s brother and had established himself in the Bhopāl
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[1] Ibid., pp. 253-54 ; also see Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, p. 38, No. 71.
[2] It is noteworthy that the present grant explicity states that Udayavarman was the son of Hariśchandra, but the relationship of Hariśchandra with his predecessor is not clearly stated therein.

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