North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

MĀNDHĀTĀ COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF JAYAVARMAN (II)

writing on the first plate which is in nineteen lines, covers a space measuring 41.5 by 23.5 cms., that on the obverse of the second, 42 by 25 cms., and that on its reverse side, 41.5 by 20 cms., including the last line which is only about 15 cms. long. The writing on this plate consists of twenty and fourteen lines, respectively, on its obverse and reverse.

...The letters have been carefully drawn and well engraved. The engraving is fairly deep but does not show through on the reverse. The writing as a whole is in an excellent state of preservation. On the proper right side of the reverse of the second plate, just above the midline, in a rectangle, which lessens the length of the initial portion of lines 43-49 and measures about 10.2 cms. high and 8 cms. broad, is engraved the figure of Garuḍa, the emblem of the royal house of the Paramāras, in human form, kneeling towards the left and with four hands, the upper two of which are folded over the breast, the lower right lifted up with fingers raised and the lower left holding a snake with its hood raised. The figure has a bird’s beak, and shows its hair raised up ; its face is bearded, as of the Rājpūts, and it has a necklace, armlets and anklets. It also wears a scarf in the neck and an upper garment with flaring ends. Below it, is engraved the sign-manual of the king Sva-hastō=yaṁ mahārājasya, in characters smaller than those of the body of the main record.

...The characters are Nāgarī, resembling those of Dēvapāla’s grant found at the same place and dealt with above. However, noteworthy are the forms of the letters i, ē, k, th, bh and ś, which mark a transitional stage. The form of the initial i in ity =āsīt, 1.5, is different from that of the same vowel in 11. 4, 27 and 47, where the two loops, which are placed horizontally in its former form, are not only one below the other but each of them also shows a hook at its, end, turned in opposite directions. The slight difference in the formation of the initial ē is to be noticed in ēshaḥ, in 11. 23 and ēvaṁ, 1, 36, the latter assuming almost the modern shape. Of the consonants, the letter k has begun to lose its loop occasionally, as in kula, 1.5, and chakrē, 1. 16. The letter th also shows two forms, one, made up of two loops of equal size, engraved one below the other and followed by a vertical, as in atha, 1. 13, and the advanced one in which the upper loop is shortened and rounded as in the same word in 1. 18. Attention may also be drawn to the formation of bh, which continues as before, but occasionally its left- side stroke is drawn only upwards, as in bhūmi and bhūyō, both in 1. 45, showing it to be a precursor of its modern form. The palatal sibilant also shows two forms, the older one in Paraśurāma and the other which is slightly advanced, in diśyāt, both in 1. 2. To note some other peculiarities, the initial a in Ajayadēva, 1. 53, ā in Āmadēva, 1. 52 and the conjunct consonant jñ in ājñā, 1. 40 are precursors of the modern forms of these letters. The subscripts chh and th are laid flat on their sides and are almost alike in form ; cf. chchhinna, 1.8 and sthāna, 1.31 ; the conjunct consonant ṇṇ is engraved so as to resemble ṇl, in kshuṇṇaṁ, 1. 2 and dōshṇā, 1. 15, but in utkīrṇṇaṁ, 1. 52, as before, i.e., a single ṇ crossed by a slanting bar. R continues to appear with a wedge in the middle but with a pointed tail, cf. vāribhiḥ, 1.3.

... The language is Sanskrit, which is almost faultless. With the exception of the grant portion and a small sentence in the beginning and one in the end, the charter is composed in verses. In respect of orthography, the following points are worth noticing :–– (1) the letter b is indicated by the sign for v ; cf. prativimva, 1. 1 ; (2) the consonant following r is generally doubled, with a few exceptions ; cf. dharmmāya, 1. 1 and Yaśōvarmmā, 1. 10 but not in svargē, 1.44 and durgē, 1. 49 ;(3) the sibilants are correctly used with the singular exception of sata for śata in 1. 25; (4) sandhis are occasionally violated, as in mentioning the gōtras ect. and in a few instances like śrī-Ajayadēva, 1. 53 ;(5) the medial dipthongs are denoted by pṛishṭhamātrās, which in case of ō, marks one of the components at pṛishṭha and the other at agra ; cf. lōkān, 1. 20 and kshōṇīṁ, 1. 22 ; and in au, one of the components is used at prishṭha, cf. tithau, 1. 28, but there are a few exception to the use of the mātrā of dipthongs, like dēvēna, 1.28 and dēvō, 1. 52, no pṛishṭha-mātrā being employed in such cases ; (6) the class nasals at the end of a verse or a hemistich are correctly used and not changed to anusvāra with the only exception in sāmprataṁ, 1. 16 ; in two instances, viz. samupanētayaṁ, 1. 41 and śāsanaṁ, 1.51 ; anusvāra is wrongly used along with the following m and in the first of these instances it appears to be scored off ; but it continues to serve the purpose of a nasal in the midst of words ; cf., for example, utsaṁga and puṁja, both in 1.6 and paṁḍitēṁdra, 1. 50, for all

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