North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

KĀLVAN PLATE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF BHOJADEVA

have been omitted and the arbitrary touch of the chisel has transformed the shapes of some of the letters beyond recognition. For example, in 1. 3 the word śatru has been engraved as śatta, by wrong chisel strokes ; in line 5 sindhu appears as sēndhu by omitting the vertical before sa ; in 1. 14 i has become sya ; and in 1. 26 vishaya is carved as vishasa by marking a tail to the forelimb of the third letter. There are several such blemishes, along with the errors of grammar and composition, e.g., wrong case-endings and verbal derivations, false genders and want of concordance, make the task of restoring the text somewhat difficult. At two or three points the reading is uncertain, of major importance being the one of the name that follows nagara in 1. 7 ; it is also damaged.

...To note the palaeographical features, the initial i and the consonant j are almost modern in form, cf. Amma-, 11. 9 and 10 and vijita-, 1.4 ; the initial ē is triangular in shape, with the vertical point below, see ēvaṁ, 11. 19 and 23; k occasionally appears in ligature, e.g. in kakaḍaḥ, 1. 19 : the end of ḍ is not bent upwards and thus this letter resembles r, as in the same instance ; th is formed of two loops, the upper one left open and the lower one resembling v, cf. hathāvāḍa, 1. 18 ; and ch, dh and v are almost alike in form, cf. Chēdyādhipa, 1. 6 and dhavalita, 1. 7. The only peculiarity in the formation of dh is that it is devoid of the top-stroke. The verticals of dhā continue to be joined by a horizontal bar, as in dhārāyāṁ, 1. 1. Chh and th in their subscript form are alike, e.g. in chchhatraṁ 1. 35 and susthaṁ, 1. 42. P is often confounded with y, see alpaṁ, 1. 40, which is engraved as alyaṁ. Two forms of r are noticed ; the one in which the letter is shown by a vertical with a horizontal stroke attached to its middle on the left, and the other in which the vertical is slightly bent to the right in its lowest extremity, both the forms to be seen side by side in sāgara-taraṁga, 1. 13.

...The language of the text is barbarous Sanskrit ; and excepting the eight customary imprecatory verses in the end, it is in prose. In respect of orthography, the points that call for notice are : (1) v does the duty for b throughout, as in vala (for bala), 1. 5 ; (2) frequently putting the dental for the palatal sibilant even in common words like yaśa(s) (used as yasa five times in the record) in 11. 2, 4, 7, 8 and 14, subha, 1. 11, disā, 1. 18, saṁkha, 1. 35 and śasi. 1. 39 ; and sahasra spelt as sahaśra all the three times when it occurs in the record in 11. 8, 33 and 37 ; (3) reduplication of a consonant following r, as in nirddārita and vargga, both in 1. 6 ; (4) a confusion between the medial ṛi and r; see truṁśat for triṁśat, 1. 22, rishīṇām for ṛishīṇām, 1. 26 and truvidha for trividha, 1. 32 ; (5) no distinction between the use of mātrās between before and above a letter. It may also be noted here that the ā-mātrā of haṭṭāś- in 1. 23 is engraved as a crescent following the top-stroke ; (6) the general tendency to put anusvāra for the final m at the end of a sentence and a hemistich ; and (7) violation in observing rules of sandhi for which see śrī-Ammadēva, 1. 10 and in instances in v. 6 which is full of errors. Grammatical errors are throughout common, e.g., amvuṁ for ambu, 1. 15, chaturdaśaṁ for chaturdaśa, 1. 23, jāyati for jāyatē, 1. 41 and rājābhiḥ for rājabhiḥ, 1. 43. Elements of Prakrit are also to be found occasionally, e.g. pamvāra, 1.1, paṁchavīṁsa,1. 20, tailaghāṇaka and puḥpa, both in 1. 22, jinālaē, 1. 25 and jōgasvara, 1. 44.

...The object of the inscription is to record the presentation of certain pieces of land, oilmills, shops for merchants and 14 drammas to the Tīrthaṅkara Muni-Suvratadēva in the sacred and illustrious tīrtha of Kalakalēśvara, by the Sāmanta, the illustrious Rāṇaka Amma who “was the mark on the forehead of the Gaṅga family”(11. 8 ff.). This donation is stated to have been made, as expressed in words only, in 11. 12-13, on the amāvāsyā of Chaitra, on the occasion of a solar eclipse. But this statement does not serve any purpose as the year is not mentioned. It is not known how in the List of Inscrs. of N. I., No. 2085, the corresponding Christian date is given as 17th March, 1048 A. C.

...After the introductory blessing, svasti, the inscription furnishes the genealogy of the Pravāṁra(Paramāra) rulers (of Mālwa), naming Sīyakadēva, his successor Vākpatirājadēva, his successor Sindhurājadēva and his successor Bhōjadēva, all in general terms and supplying the only historical information that Vākpatirājadeva was a poet of high rank (1. 3) and also that Bhōjadēva had vanquished the rulers of Karṇṇāta, Lāṭa, Gūrjjara. Chēdi and Kōṅkaṇa (1. 6). Bhōja’s success over the Karṇṇāṭakas obviously refers to the long-drawn war which began from the time of Vākpati-Muñja and Tailapa. Tailapa was succeeded by Satyāśraya (997-1008 A. C.), Vikramāditya V (1008-1018 A. C.) and Jayasiṁha II (1018-1040 A. C.) ; and one of the Chālukya inscriptions which is dated 941 Ṡaka, i.e., 1019-20 A. C., styles Jayasiṁha “ the moon to the lotus

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