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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA
Nos. 25-27 ; PLATES XXVII-XXX 25. THE MAHĀKĀLA TEMPLE (UJJAIN) INSCRIPTION (PLATE XXVII) ...THIS inscription was briefly noticed by K. K. Lele, Superintendent of Archaeology in the former Dhār State, in his work entitled Dhar and Mandu, pp. 29-30, and subsequently its contents were noticed by D.R. Bhandarkar in the Reports of the Western Circle of the Survey, for 1904-05, p. 8, and again for 1912-13, pp. 21 and 55 (Nos. 2601 and 2599). It was finally edited by K.N. Sastri in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXI, pp. 25 ff., with a photolithograph between pp. 28-29. The record is edited here from the original stone and an estampage which I owe to the Chief Epigraphist. ...The inscription is incised on a black basalt, now set in a small I in the compound of the Mahākāla temple at Ujjain, the principal city of a district of the same name in Madhya Pradesh. It consists of 28 closely written lines, measuring 35 cms. broad by 44 cms. high. The length of the first three lines is a little less than the usual length of the other lines so as to accommodate two or three letters less on either of their sides ; and line 17 is only about half in length of the others. Lines 18 to 28, which are engraved only on the left side, again vary in length, the first of these is 20 cms. long ; the next three about 23 cms. long each (except that the first of these is also continued on the right side) ; and the last seven lines show the length of each of them to be 12.5 cms. The lower right side of the slab contains an alphabetical-cum-grammatical chart, with its top being almost parallel to 1. 18 and showing a total height of about 55 cms. The average height of letters in 11. 1-17 is 1 cm., and below, it varies slightly, being more or less, as allowed by the space for engraving them. The inscription is tolerably well preserved, except some of the syllables which are damaged or have disappeared on account of flaking, as also on the lower left side of the stone.
...The inscription is written in the Nāgarī alphabet of the 11-12th century A.C. They are beautifully engraved. With reference to its palaeography, we note that in 11. 1-17 the syllable ṅ is devoid of its dot, as in liṅga, 1. 1, and -saṅga, 1.8 ; that dh has a horn on its forelimb, for example in –dhyāna, 1.2, though we have exceptions as in dhātrā, 1. 16 ; and the slightly different forms or r are to be seen in –rapi and charaṇa-, in 11. 16 and 17, respectively. It is interesting to note that in the alphabetical chart engraved below, ṅ exhibits the same form, the lingual ḍ is formed so as to resemble r ; dh has begun developing a horn, and finally, the letter b has a separate sign of its own, resembling a parallelogram, the heigh of which exceeds its breadth, with the side on the right drawn below. ...The language is Sanskrit. The inscription begins with a praśasti eulogising Śiva in six stanzas, each of which is complete in itself. The purpose of it, as can only be guessed, appears to record the restoration of the temple of Mahākāla where it is found, and along with it, also to give the type of the alphabet and some grammatical terminations, the details of which we shall presently see. The record is grammatical correct. With reference to orthography, we note the same peculiarities as to be found in contemporary inscriptions, for example, the use of the dental for the palatal sibilant, as in pasyanti, 1. 5 ; the occasional reduplication of a consonant following r, as in –archchita and –arppita, both in 1.2, but not in hartā, 1.7 ; the general use of the pṛishṭha-mātrā, which, in a few cases is marked above the letter, as in the three anushṭubh verses below ; and finally, the use of the sign for v to denote b, which too is given as a separate letter in the chart below. The word dhyāna in 1. 2 is spelt with the lingual ṇ, and yasmin in 1. 11 ends wrongly in an anusvāra. ...The six stanzas of the praśasti are marked from 79 to 84 ; and this naturally raises a question as to the existence of another fragment containing stanzas No. 1 to 78. It is likely, as suggested by Sastri, that the earlier portion of the praśasti which contains stanzas 1 to 78 may have been engraved on a stone slab built in a niche in the upper story of the Mahākāla temple. The resemblance in style and the subject matter, along with the kind of stone, tends to support
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