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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA in the Epigraphia Indica, Volume XXXIII (for 1959-60), pp.215 ff., with text in Roman characters (pp. 217-18), and Plates facing pages 218 and 219. ...The copper-plates were found in the possession of Shri Ratansingh Saindhava, a resident of the village of Mahauḍī in Āshţā tehsī[1] of Sehore District of the Bhopāl territory of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The find-spot and the actual circumstances under which they were acquired are not known ; and nothing would have been known about the record also if Shri Wakankar had not incidentally heard about the existence of the plates with the possessor, who was not even willing to show them to anybody for fear of dispossession. Wakankar any how persuaded him to allow him to take a few rubbings and prepared a few sets with such means as could be made possible on the spot. One set of these rubbings he sent to the Director-General of Archaeology in india, from whom it was transmitted to the Government ( now Chief) Epigraphist. On this of rubbings Dr Sircar’s article, referred to above , is based; and the subjoined transcript I have prepared from the same.It is unfortunate that nothing more was possible to know in respect of the original plates which are now reported to have been lost![2] ...Each of the two plates measures about 34.9 cms. in breadth and 22.86 cms. in height and each is about .5 cms. thick. Two circular holes, each roughly of the diameter of about 1cm. bored through a space below the writing in the lower margin of the first and the upper of the second, clearly show that originally the plates were held together by rings passing through them. But the rings are not how forthcoming. Each of the plates is inscribed only on the inner side, leaving the outer side blank. The first plate bears fifteen lines of writing, covering a space of 33.5 cms. in length and 18 cms. in height, and the second bears fourteen lines, the last eight of which are shorter by 9.5 cms. each, giving space for the figure of a Guruḍa, the emblem of the royal Paramāra house. carved in its lower margin on the proper right side. The figure is shown flying, with a circular object held up in the left hand, and the area occupied by it is 11.5cms. high by 9.5cms. high by 9.5 cms. broad. The letters are carefully carved and the writing appears to be well preserved. The average size of the letters is about 1 cm.
...The characters are those of the Nāgarī alphabet of the eleventh century to which the record belongs. Observing the palaeography, we notice that a number of letters, e.g., the initial a and the consonants ņ, t,n, ph and bh have undergone a change. The curve of the initial a, which is written as in modern Nāgarī, is joined to the top-stroke by a vertical, cf . adŗishţa , 1.15; The sign for bh has developed a tail in its left limb, as in t, see vibhartti, 1.1, and the rest of the letters mentioned here are somewhat developed so as to assumed their modern forms. Bh in bhaţţā- raka, 1.3, is slightly differently formed. The letter j is in a transitional stage , both its forms being noticed side by side in rājādhirāja 1.3, Dh has developed a horn on its left limb and the verticals of dhā are joined in the middle by a horizontal stroke, cf. dhār-ādhārām-, 1.11. The consonants p and y , which had so far shown only a slight distinction in the formation, can clearly be distinguished, as in kalpānta-samaya, 1.2 ; letters like t ,d,r,h and s show a fine tail below,and ś is transitional, its old form being noticed in śirasā, 1.1, and a developed one which is somewhat shows a fine tail but its ch- like form is generally first of the two instances), 1.3.R occasionally resembles ch , the best example of which is to be seen in charāchara ,1.8. ...The language of the record is Sanskrit, and, with the exception of two invocatory verse in lines 1-2, two of the customary benedictory and imprectory verses in 11. 9-11 and five in 11. 19-27, the record is in prose. In respect of orthography, the following points are worth nothing; (1) the use of the sign for v to denote b as well, cf vibhartti , 1.1 ; (2) doubling of a consonant
following r in most of the instances, as in sarggāya, 1.1: (3) putting the dental sibilant for the
palatal in vinasvara in 1.12, which is perhaps the singular example: (4) the tendency to use the
class-nasal more than the anusvāra, as can be seen in aindavīm and tanvantu, both in 1.1,
pińgalāh , 1.2 and in gurum-bhagavanthim in 1.8: (5) the consonant m is wrongly changed to be anusvāra, occasionally, at the end of the second and fourth foot of verse, as in the second foot of
v. 1, through we have m at the end of its fourth foot : (6) wrong use of the nasal is also to be
in samvatsarē, 1. 8 and samvat, 1. 28 ; śarmmanāya for śarmmaṇē in 1. 15 is a grammatical error ;
[1] The place was formerly in the tehsīl of Jāwar, situated in 23° 2’ N. Long and 76° 30’ Lat., and about 1-2
kms. from the Dewās-Bhopāl road and about 64 kms. straight east of Dewās. Mahaudī is about 8 kms.
North by east Jawar. The name is also spellt as Mahudi.
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