North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

The record was first brought to light by Paṇḍit Bābū Śāstrī of Dhār, by publishing its transcript in the Nāgarī characters with translation in Hindi, in a monthly journal from Dhār, called Ushā, in eight instalments, from January 1953, p. 46, to October-November 1954, pp. 41 f. On pp. 43 and 20-21 of the November-December (1953) issue of the same Journal, also appeared an introductory note on the record, from the pen of the late R.B. Deshpande, an Assistant Engineer in the State, who was also in charge of the archaeological monuments at Māṇḍū. The inscription was brought to my notice by the late Rao of Māndhātā, Sobhag Singh, who also kindly sent the plates to me for examination, and I contributed a note with my own transcript of it, in Nāgarī characters, to the eighteenth session of the Indian History Congress, Calcutta, in 1955 (Section II). In 1957-58, the document was edited by Dr. D.C. Sircar, who was then the Government Epigraphist for India, in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXII, pp. 139 ff., with his transcript thereof in Roman characters (pp. 148-156) and facsimile plates between pp. 148-157, on the basis of photographs taken from a set of impressions sent to him by Deshpande. The subjoined edition of the inscription is based on a set inked impressions taken by my self and also on the original plates, which were with me for some days, as already stated above.

...In the beginning it may, however, be recalled here that while editing the record Dr. Sircar himself observed, that “Mr. Deshpande’s views on the importance and interpretation of the record are all misconceived”, and also that “the impressions received from him were not quite satisfactory.” A careful study of the original plates also goes to indicate that the text prepared by Sircar from the unsatisfactory impressions is also in need of revision, in view of the fact that some of the letters and their parts with signs of medial vowels, and some of the signs of anusvāras and visargas, which are either faint or thinly marked even on the originals, had not at all come out or were illegible in the impressions on which Sircar’s edition of the record was based. To give here only one example, we notice that in verse 22 (1. 31), which is in the Śārdūlavikrīḍita metre, three letters which were originally omitted through inadvertence on the part of the writer, were subsequently engraved in small characters above the line, with arrowheads above and below, to draw attention where they are exactly to be supplied. This subsequent insertion, which is also thin in form, is totally missing in the illustration accompanying Dr. Sircar’s article in the Epigraphia Indica, and thus it was quite natural for him to remark that the stanza with a lacunae is metrically defective.[1] Thus there are a number of omissions and commissions in Sircar’s transcript ; and though they do not affect the meaning in any way, they mar the faithful reproduction of the text.

...The inscription is engraved on four massive plates of copper, each measuring 43.2 cms. in length, 33.1 cms. in breadth, and is between .4 and .5 cm. in thickness. Their edges are fashioned thicker so as to serve as rims for the protection of the writing. They are held together by two copper-rings, each of which is about .4 cm. thick, showing their inner diameter to be about 7 cms. and passing through two proportionate holes of about 2.5 cms., cut in the upper border of the plates, so as to disturb the writing in the first or last two lines of each. The total weight of the plates with the rings is 16 kgs. and 450 grams. The plates are in a fair state of preservation, except the third one, which, on its obverse side, suffers from a crack about 6.5 cms. long in the lower proper left corner, in which the last three letters in the last line and one in the penultimate line are partially lost, though can be supplied from the context.

... The size of the letters is about 1 cm. They are well formed and deeply cut, and the plates, being thick, do not show them on the other side. The technical execution was very carefully done, though minor mistakes of the writer or the engraver are occasionally to be found. As already noted above, there are also subsequent insertions of letters and signs, often in smaller form, in some of the lines, and at times some letters or their parts are also erased or changed, showing clearly the traces of the previous writing.

... The first of the plates bears writing only on its inner side, whereas all the others are inscribed on both the sides. The reverse side of the last plate shows only four complete lines and the fifth one containing six letters, engraved in the middle of the proper right side. The
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[1] See n. on the corresponding portion of the text, below. The record contains some more examples of the type.

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