North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

impressions supplied to him, Kielhorn writes: “The plates are in a state of perfect preservation, so that the reading of the text, with perhaps the exception of a single akshara (the second akshara of the name in 1.6) is nowhere doubtful”. The plates were originally held together by two rings passing through two holes, each showing the diameter of about 2 cms. and cut in the lower part of the first and the upper part of the second. But the rings had both been cut when the impressions supplied to him were taken. Each plate contains fifteen lines of writing. The lower proper right corner of the second plate shows a representation of Garuḍa, about 6.35 cms. high by 7 cms. broad, with the body of a man and the head of a bird with an aquiline nose, facing left and looking at a serpent held in his left hand, as to be seen on most of the plates of the Paramāra rulers. The figure occupies the initial portion of the last four lines, making the length of each of them shorter by about 1.8 cms. The weight of the plates is not known.

...The characters are Nāgarī of the regular type for the period to which the record belongs and have a general resemblance to those of the Mahauḍī inscription of Bhōjadēva. The topstrokes of several letters end in a nob, e.g. of kē in kēśō and all in vibhartti, both in 1. 1, and most of them in 1. 18. The initial i is formed of two loops, the first of which has a fine tail attached to it and the second a hook above; see iti in 11. 12 and 18; the consonant ṅ continues to be without its dot, as in piṅgala, 1. 3; ch and v are often alike in form, e.g. in vudvuda-chaṁchalā-, 1. 25; and occasionally r also, with a clear triangular loop, assumes a similar from as in Rāmabhadra-, 1. 26; the subscript ṇ is engraved as l ; see pūrṇṇa, 1. 6 ; the superscript t and occasionally n also is shown by a horizontal stroke, as in mattvā, 1. 18 and anta, 1. 7 ; dh has developed a horn or a stroke on its left limb ; cf. rāj-ādhirāja, 1. 3 and vasudhā-, 1. 10; and occasionally, both, the horn and the stroke are marked, as in dharmma, 1. 20 and sādhu-, 1. 23. The verticals of I are joined in the middle by a horizontal stroke, as dhār-ādhārā, 11. 11- 12. In rare cases the superscript n has its antique form ; see anya-, 1. 24 and p and y occasionally appear alike, as in paṭṭa-kila, 1. 18 but not in janapada in the same line.

...Lines 1-2, 10-12 and 22-28 of the record are in verse and the rest of it is in prose. The sign-manual of the donor which is in slightly bigger letters, appears at the end on the first plate in the middle of the space and forming a complete line, whereas on the second plate it is in continuation of the main body of the record in the last line. In respect of orthography, the points that call for notice are (1) denoting b by the sign of v, as in vibhartti 1. 1 ; (2) the occasional use of the dental for the palatal sibilant ; e.g. in sirasā,- 1. 1, and vice versa in a singular instance in śāśana-, ¬ 1. 17 ; the use of the dental sibilant for the lingual in adṛishṭa, 1.16 and possibly also in dṛishṭvā, 1. 9, though it is correctly used in vishayē, 1. 10 and āshāḍha, 1. 29 ; (3) doubling of a consonant after r, as in pūrṇṇa, 1. 6 ; (4) the use of an avagraha correctly in 1. 16 but wrongly in 1. 20 ; and (5) the use of the pṛishṭha-mātrā except in 1. 1 and in a very few instances like mạṇḍalē in 1. 6. The sign of an anusvāra is put to denote a final m even at the end of a stich, and it is interesting to note the change of the visarga of yāḥ in 1. 1 to s when followed by s, and also the spelling of -siṁha in 11. 6 and 30.

...The inscription belongs to the reign of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Jayasiṁhadēva, who was evidently a member of the Paramāra house of Dhārā. The object of it is to record the grant, by Jayasiṁhadēva, of the village Bhīma, situated in the territorial division of Maktulā–forty-two in the Pūrṇapathaka-maṇḍala, for the maintenance of the Brāhmaṇas residing in the paṭṭa-śālā (tent-house) at the holy Amarēśvara, for the religious merit of his parents and himself. The date is given in 1. 29 in decimal figures only; it is the thirteenth of the dark half of Āshāḍha of the (Vikrama) Saṁvat 1112. For the expired Chaitrādi year 1112. this date would correspond to 27th May, 1055 A.C., and for the expired Kārttikādi year to this date would correspond to 13th June or13th July, 1056 A.C.[1] It does not admit of verification.

...After two maṅgala-ṡlōkas which are generally to be found in the several grants of the Paramāra kings and which pay homage to Vyōma-kēśa and Smar-ārāti (both meaning Śiva). the inscription gives the genealogy of the king Jayasiṁha, beginning with the P.M.R., the illustrious Vākpatirājadēva, his successor the P.M.P., the illustrious Sindhurājadēva, his successor the P.M.P., the illustrious Bhōjadēva, and his successor the P.M.P., the illustrious Jayasiṁhadēva (11. 3-6). Up to Bhōjadēva the genealogy is known from the other records of the house which also mention the mutual relationship of these rulers ; and the only additional
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[1] Kielhorn, op. cit., p. 47 and n.

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