North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

BRITISH MUSEUM SARASVTI IMAGE INSCRIPTION

Vāgdevī (Sarasvatī), made of “grey sand stone”, which is now preserved in the British Museum, London, and is a “ typical specimen of Hindu art in the medieval period when it had reached a high standard of perfection”. [1] The inscription is edited here from a photo-copy supplied kindly by the authorities of the Museum, at the request of the Chief Epigraphist, to whom my thanks are due.

...The inscription consists of 4 lines, the last of which is only about one-sixth of the others in length. No record as to how the image reached the British Museum is now available, except that it was presented to it by a British officer who obtained it about a hundred years ago in the ruins adjoining to Bhōja-śālā at Dhār, [2] the former capital of the State of that name and now the headquarters of a district in Madhya Pradesh. The technical execution of the record is good but it has suffered a good deal from small abrasions here and there, particularly on the proper left side in 11. 1-3, and an oblique crack on this side has damaged one or two letters in each of the lines. The base on which the record is incised measures 30.48 by 10.16 cms. The script is Nāgarī of the eleventh century A.C. to which the record belongs. The initial i, occurring only once in iti, 1.3, is shown by two curves and placed one below the other ; dh is often formed as v, e.g. in sūtradhāra, 1. 3 ; the letters t occasionally resembles n, see -nagarī, 1. 1, and –suta, 1. 3 ; and finally, the curve of v is angular, as in yōsā-, 1, 1.

...The record is in Sanskrit and consists of a dedicatory verse in the Śārdūlavikarīḍita metre, with the portion giving the name of the sculpture and that of the writer and the year in figures in prose, in the end. The orthography calls for the usual remarks, e.g., that a consonant following r is doubled and that the dental sibilant is throughout used for the palatal, for which see nirmmamē and Śiva-, respectively in 1.3. We may also note the throughout use of the anusvāra sign and the pṛishṭha-mātrā .

...The inscription refers itself to the reign of the illustrious Bhōjadēva who is called in it ‘the moon among the kings’ and who has been identified with the great literary person of that name and the kings of Dhārā. The purpose of the inscription is to record the installation of the image of Vāgdēvī, on the pedestal of which it is engraved. The year of the record, as mentioned in figures only and without any further details thereof, is 1091, which is equivalent to 1033-1034 A.C. The sculpture was engraved by Maṇathala, son of the mason Sahira, and the inscription was written by Śivadēva.

...As we know from the Tilakamañjari, the palace of Bhōja or Bhōja-śālā as it is now popularly known, was then called Bhāratī-bhavana on Sarasvatīkaṇṭhābharaṇa ; [3] and the image under reference may have been installed in it, in a prominent place, by Bhōja himself, who was a zealous devotee of the goddess Sarasvatī.

TEXT [4]
[Metre : Śārdūlavikrīḍita].

[1]See R.P. Chanda. Med. Ind. Sculptures in the British Museum, London, 1936, p. 46. For the description of the Image, see Gopinath Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Vol. I, Pt. II, p. 377 ; and S. Shivaram Murti, Indian Sculptures, pp. 106 f.
[2] As stated by Wakankar in his article referred to above.
[3] Introduction p. 5.
[4] From a photograph. It also shows two letters in the corner just beside the proper right top, both of the same time as the inscription.
[5] The subscript r of this akshara has not come out on the photograph and it is possible that if at all engraved, it was not deep enough.
[6] Both these aksharas are mutilated, but as there is space for one only, it appears that they may have been crisped into each other. Conjecturally to be restored as संसु Also, perhaps नरेंद्रनंदनकरी was intended.
[7] Mutilated. Adopted from Dikshit’s reading. सौख्यायामरसंसद:(?).
[8] This and the preceding sign of anusvāra, which have not come out on the photograph, are perhaps clear on the original.
[9] These three aksharas have been restored from the traces left ; and the reading is uncertain
[10] At both places in the name the nasal is lingual and not dental as taken by Dikshit.
[11] The first of the letters in this word is mutilated and the second is illegible. Perhaps what was intended here is विज्ञानिक, as shown by the traces. The reading of नि is not certain.