North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

...The characters are Nāgarī of about the 11th century A.C. Worth noting is the formation of the vowel i, appearing in iti in 1.6, which consists of two circles horizontally placed with a curve below. The language is Sanskrit, and the orthography calls for no special remarks.

...The inscription refers itself to Udayāditya who is endowed in it with the titles of parama bhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara, and is stated to have then encamped at the village Dhavalī near Ujjain.[1] The purpose of the inscription is to record the donation made by Naravarman, who was evidently his son, of 12 halas (?) of land in the village known as Rāḍhaghaṭikā, for perpetually burning a lamp (akshaya-dīpikā) in honour of Lakshmadēva who was another son of Udayāditya and thus a brother of Naravarman. The year, mentioned in numerical figures in the last line of the inscription, is 1140, without any further details. As the current Vikrama year, it corresponds to 1082 A.C. The name of the engraver is not recorded, nor is any epithet attached either to the name of Naravarman or to that of Lakshmadeva.

...After the customary word svasti (be it well), the inscription introduces Udayāditya, with all his paramount titles, as seen above, and adds that he was then residing at the village Dhavalī. Followed this, the record tells us that Naravarmadēva, who was his second son[2] and possibly a governor of the region around Ujjain, donated a plot of land, measuring 12 I in the village Rādhaghaṭikā, for the purpose mentioned above. The inscription then close with the mention of the year.

...As the present inscription was incised only about three years after the preceding one and as it comes from the vicinity of Ujjain, which was then included in the dominions of the Paramāra sovereigns of Mālava, the king Udayāditya mentioned in it is plainly identical with the well-known Paramāra king of that name. We also find that the epithets applied to him here are exactly those as found in the Shērgaḍh inscription, edited below.

...Lakshmadēva and Naravarman are the well-known sons of Udayāditya ; but the expression denoting the purpose of the donation made here calls our special attention. It is akshaya-dīpi- kārthē, which appears to have been used for its longer and complete form, viz., akshaya-lōka-dīpi- kārthe, in the sense of ‘’a lamp giving perpetual happiness in heaven’’. And taken in this sense, which appears to be the only possibility, the inscription contains a very important historical reference, leading us to conclude that Lakshmadēva had died a short time before the record was executed. Naravarman had a great affection for his brother Lakshmadēva, as we know from the Nagpur Museum stone inscription which was composed by the former ruler who devoted as many as 19 stanzas giving fulsome praise to the description of Lakshmadēva.[3]

... The inscription thus reveals for the first time a new historical fact, viz. that Lakshmadēva predeceased both Udayāditya and Naravarman, though the circumstances leading to his death,along with the approximate time when it took place, are not known. Here we have also to note that the Nagpur Museum stone inscription, which enumerates the names of all the rulers from Vairisiṁha to Lakshmadēva, while introducing each one of them, uses such a word as signifies ‘a king’, e.g., kshitipati, bhūpati or ṇripa, but such a word is not used in it in the case of the last of them only, i.e. Lakshmadēva, though it states that he was devoted to govern the subjects.[4] The omission of a word denoting a king only with the name of Lakshmadēva in the record is significant as it perhaps implies to show that he never ascended the throne of Dhārā. That he worked as governor in some of the eastern part of the Paramāra dominions under his father Udayāditya is also suggested by the donation made by him as recorded in the same inscription.