North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

...The inscription is written in the Nāgarī characters of the eleventh century A.C., which, though resembling those of the Bēṭmā and Bāṅswāḍā plates of the Paramāra king Bhōja, who was also the donor of the grant under study, are rather crudely formed and are not so elegant as on them, issued olny three years earlier. The technical execution is rather sloven and very often the letters show redundant chisel strokes, transforming their shapes. The letters are also inconsistent, e.g., the letter k appears in ligatures in kalyāṇa and kalpānta, both in 1.2, but in the several other instances, as in Vākpati, 1.4 and bhukti, 1.19, the loop forming its left limb is joined to the vertical by a stroke ; and its curve on the right is occasionally omitted, as in-kṛitim, 1.1. Some of the letters are visible only in traces, e.g., Ātrēyasa-, 1.14. These errors are all due to the carelessness of the engraver.

...With reference to palaeography of the letters in the inscription, we may note that ch, dh and v have often the same form, an instance of which is afforded by the expression vadhaprāyaśchitta in 1.8, where all these three letters are to be found. Bh and ś continue their antique forms ; cf. vibhartti, 1.1 and śrī, 1.3 ; j appears in its transitional stage, both the antique and advanced forms thereof appearing side by side in Mahārājādhirāja, 1.3 ; and the letter r often has an additional horizontal stroke so as to make it assume the form of y, e.g., in para-yasaḥ, 1.24. The old form of this letter, resembling a vertical bar with a horizontal stroke attached to it in the middle on the left, also survives in a very few instances, as in punar=ādadīta, 1.23.

...The language of the record is Sanskrit ; and, with the exception of two verses in the beginning, two in the middle in 11. 9-12 and five of the imprecatory and dedicatory verses in the end (11. 21- 28), it is composed in prose. As regards orthography, we may note that (1) the sign for v is throughout used to denote b as well, see vibhartti,, 1.1 ; (2) a consonant following r is generally doubled, as in the same instance ; (3) s is wrongly put for ś in sirasā, 1.1, and ś for s in śāśana- 1.18, and in the word jasa in 11.17 and 22, where we also have an instance of the local pronunciation of the word. (4) Excepting in a few instances, the use of the pṛishṭha-mātrā is common ; and (5) there is a tendency to put the sign of anusvāra instead of a class-nasal, even at the end of a sentence or a hemistich, though sometimes we also find the use of the dental nasal, as in samupagatān=samasta-rāja-purushān, 11. 6-7 and in bhagavantaṁ, 1.9. Redundant use of the anusvāra is also to be seen as in dṛishṭvāṁ, 1.9, and of the visarga, as in bhūmēḥ=ścha, 11. 12-13, which appears to be the engraver’s error ; triṁśat in 1. 13 is spelt as truṁśat ; buddhvā, appearing twice in 11.. 20 and 28, is spelt as vuddhā ; yaśas as jasas, in 1. 22. There are four instances where rules of euphony have not been observed. They are (a) the m at the end of v.4 (1.12) is combined with the following i of iti ; (b) the sign of a visarga occurring at the end of a hemistich in 1.21 is changed to r, in view of the following y ; (c) the same sign after Rāmabhadra, which again is at the end of a hemistich, is changed to s in view of the following s which begins the next foot of the v. 8 in 1.26 ; and (d) the medial i of ti in iti which is followed by beginning a verse is changed to y (1. 23). The change of visarga to s before s in 11. 21 and 26 is also noteworthy.

...The inscription is a royal charter issued by the Parama-bhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and paramēśvara, the illustrious Bhōjadēva, who meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Sindhurājadēva, who meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Vākpatirājadēva, who again, had meditated on the feet of the P.M.P., the illustrious Sīyakadēva (11. 3-6). The genealogy is already known to us and the text of the inscription is practically identical with that of the other charters issued by Bhōjadēva, e.g., the Bēṭmā grant, differing only in respect of the grant portion and the date.

...After two verses in praise of Śiva in the form of Vyōmakēśa and Smarārāti, followed in prose by giving the genealogy of the donor, as we have just seen, the charter proceeds to record the object, which is the perpetual bestowal of some land by him in the village Kirikaikā, situated in the region to the west of Ujjayanī [1] (the well-known Ujjain), in favour of the Brāhmaṇa Vachchhala, son of bhaṭṭa Sōśvara, [2] and well versed in Vedic studies. He was of the Ātrēya gōtra with the three pravaras, Ātrēya, Ārchanānasa and Syāvāśva and belonged to the Bahṛicha śākhā, He had hailed from Mānyakhēṭa. The property granted to him consisted of thirty-four aṁśas (parts) of level ground of the ordinary land and excluding that which was being enjoyed by
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[1] It is interesting to note the spelling Ujjayanī.
[2] It is possible that the name may have been Sōmēśvara, and the second letter thereof may have been omitted by the writer on the plate.

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