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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA ...Coming to notice the contents of the inscription in its fragmentary condition, we find the word Hēraṁba in 1. 1 of the bigger piece, which indicates that this verse which was probably the first stanza of the record, must have been devoted to pay obeisance to Gaṇapati. Line 2 describes a deity ‘who was adored by the lord of the city of the Siddhas’, i.e., Kuvēra ; and we may conclude that this verse was composed to pay salutation to, or invoke the blessings of, Śiva. The figure 4, which is engraved just after this account, goes to indicate that the inscription began with as many maṅgala-ślōkas, their contents being unknown. The next ten verses, in 11. 3-8 which are all fragmentary, appear to have embodied the mythical account of the origin of the Paramāras, as to be found in the Udaipur praśasti and some other records of the house, telling us about the sage Vasishṭha, his penances on the Mount Arbuda and the creation of a hero of the name of Paramāra, who was the originator of the house. This is obvious from the words Nandīvardhana-giri and Pramāra (for Paramāra), respectively in 11. 4 and 6. A sage of the name of Manduka is also mentioned in 1. 7, but the details about him are all lost. Verse 15 begins with the expression vaṁśē tasya mahārathaḥ samajani (1. 8), showing that this contained the description of the individual rulers belonging to the house. In 1. 13 we find the name of Vairisiṁha, (who is evidently the second ruler of the name, mentioned in the Udaipur praśasti), as his son Sīyaka (II) (called Sīyāka here for metrical exigencies) is mentioned in the immediately following portion, with some of his exploits which are well known. The description as a whole is poetic, except that we learn in 1. 13 that Vairisiṁha performed a tulādāna(?) and that his son Sīyaka II, as referred to above, defeated the Hūṇas and enjoyed that portion of the earth for long. ... Vairisiṁha’s success over the Hūṇas is known from the Navasāhasāṅkacharita ; [1] but so far as I know, the present inscription is the only record affording epigraphical confirmation of what is recorded in a literary source.
... Line 16 of the inscription incorporates the name of Vaḍajānātha, [2] apparently a local deity whose favour Vairisiṁha enjoyed, as shown by the tenor of the description. In 1. 17 appears the name of Vākpatirāja, who was also known as Muñja, as said here. He was a multitude of fame ; and in 1. 19, we find his brother Sindhurāja mentioned. The description of both these princes is highly poetical, though worthless from the historical point of view. ...The conventional nature of the description that follows precludes the possibility of judging if the name of any other prince was incorporated in the rest of the portion inscribed on the first of the fragments now available. In the last line thereof, however, we have the expression suślakshṇā Yaduva [ṁśajā]. which appears to be applicable to a Paramāra queen ; but we do not know any of these queens to have taken her birth in the Yadu-vaṁśa. ... The record shows the usual orthographical peculiarities, such as (1) the use of v to denote b also, e.g. in vrahma-, 1. 2 ; (2) the reduplication of a consonant following r, as in –nirggata-, 1.22 ; (3) the general use of the sign of anusvāra to denote the dental and the labial nasals ; (4) sandhis violated between Śrī and the vowel following it, e.g., in Śrī-Arisiṁha-, 1. 42 ; (5) the general use of the pṛishṭha-mātrā and the occasional use of the sign of avagraha ; and lastly, the spellings of khaṇḍa with sh, aṅghri with h, and samvat with m, respectively in 11. 13, 14 and 36. ... Coming to study the contents of the second slab, we find that the partly broken letters in the first line thereof are too fragmentary to afford any intelligible sense, and the second line thereof, i.e. 1. 30, has expression trividha-pravīra-, which we know to have been the title assumed by Arjunavarman. [3] The next line (v. 54) mentions a ruler, whose name is again lost but who is said to have put to flight (made kāndiśīka) a Yadu king. This is evidently a reference to Arjunavarman’s successor Dēvapāla who, by a stratagem to avoid invasion of his own country, concluded a treaty with the Yādava Siṅghaṇa (1210-1247 A.C.) and entered with him into a confederacy to invade Gujarāt which was then passing through a crisis during the weak rule of Bhīma II. [4] And the description of Jayavarman during whose reign the inscription was set up, as seen above, also appears to have been lost on the portion which is now missing. ...
Following the praśasti of the royal house, we hear of a sage of the name of Mallikārjuna,
who was a pāśupata and who belonged to Avantī. The fragmentary nature of the inscription
does not enable us to know the purpose of the mention of this person, but it appears to be
tempting to hold that he was credited with building a temple or all the temples and installing
[1] See the Political History Section.
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