North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

MĀNDHĀTĀ COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF JAYAVARMAN

Third Plate : First Side

[1] Originally engraved as vā and later on the mātrā erased as redundant, by two horizontal strokes which are faintly but clearly visible on the plate.
[2] The sign for the medial u attached to this letter was first engraved short and then made long.
[3] In the sense of प्रकटिकृतं which would not suit the metre. Read यस्येति प्रकटं . . . . .
[4] That is, his fame (यशस्) which is the first half of his name, overwhelms the three worlds and his armour (वर्मन्) which is the latter half of his name, falls short of his body
. [5] Originally म, subsequently changed to न.
[6] Originally त्व, changed to त्प. Here both the words पक्ष and क्षितिभृत् are used in a double sense. It is well known that the Maināka Mt. saved its wings by going under the ocean when all the other mountains had to suffer. The allusion in the second hemistich is not known to me.
[7] The mātrā on the first of these letters was at first marked and subsequently scored off, but it is clear on the plate. The pun here refers to the well-known saying that vṛisha meaning dharma stands only on one of its legs in kaliyuga, and this king enabled it to run on all the four legs as a bull, a poetic way of saying that he re-established dharma firmly.
[8] The repetition of the word श्री could have been avoided here by using a pronoun.
[9] The name of Jayasiṁha appears to be abruptly introduced in this stanza, apparently to show that Jayavarman was also so called. It is not known if the writer has left here some portion from the original.
[10] There is a play here on the expressions which are intended to be construed with Jayasiṁha on the one hand and with the moon on the other. This stanza poetically suggests that Śiva placed over his head the moon (in the from this ruler), and also fire from which would spring a family (agni-kula). in which Jayasiṁha would take birth.
[11] Dr. Sircar read the first of these letters as bhra, but it is clearly as taken here. He also noted that the expression here has reference to Rāvaṇa cutting off and offering his heads to Śiva, out off devotion,for which see Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya-Kāṇḍa, XXXII, v, 18. This verse occurs also in a Chandēlla inscription (No. 136, v. 10).

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