North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF VAGADA

ARTHŪNĀ STONE INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF CHĀMUNḌARĀJA

of three straight strokes joined at right angles, as in khaḍga- 1. 11, and of t which has not developed a tail in its left limb, as in asti and prakhyāta , both in 1. 3. the letter ch can be distinguished by an acute angle in its loop, from v; cf. ruchi-, 1. 2; ṇ as a subscript is written as l; see Vishṇur = Vishṇu-, 1. 13; and dh has not developed a horn on its left limb but can be distin- guished from v only in that it is devoid of its top-stroke, as in ch =ādharē, 1. 2. The verticals of dhā continue to be joined in the middle by a horizontal stroke, as in vidadhāti, 1. 3. The letter th is formed of two loops placed vertically before a vertical stroke; see sthalē and sthirā, both in 1. 9. The subscript r appears in its complete form with the preceding consonant shown half, as in prōttuṅga, 1. 3 and putra, 1. 6. The sign representing medial short u is more often put below the letter to which it is attached, but is occasionally joined to its middle on the right; see puru-shaḥ for both these forms, in 1.6; and ruchiṁ and dyutiṁ, both in 1. 2, are examples of the same. It is interesting to note that the mātrā of ru in these examples show both the forms noted here.

... The language is Sanskrit; and with the exception of a sentence in the beginning to pay obeisance to Śiva and the date in the end, the record is metrically composed, showing 32 verses The language is generally correct, but the style is sometimes lethargic, as shown by the use of vai in v. 3. The verses are numbered. The immediate purpose of the inscription is to record the construction of a temple in honour of Hari (Vishṇu), by an officer whose name is lost, in the reign of Chāmuṇḍarāja, who belonged to the Vāgaḍa branch of the Paramāra family, as we shall presently see. Orthographical peculiarities are the same as to be found in the contemporary records, viz., the general use of the sign v for b, as in vabhūva,1. 10; (2) the doubling of a consonant following r; cf. nirggata-, 1. 6; (3) occasionally putting the dental sibilant for the palatal, as in sīghraṁ, 1. 7, and the palatal for the dental, as in śrashṭuṁ 1. 5 and āśīt,1. 12, some of which may be due to the influence of the local pronunciation; and (4) the use of the pṛishṭhamātrā, excepting a few instance like taṭē, vibhramāḍhyō and triṁśatikai-, in 11. 2, 4 and 33. respectively. The word nistriṁśa is spelt as nistruṁśa in 1. 10; ujjvala has wrongly been written as ujvala in 1. 2; and the kāka-pada sign is used at the end of 11. 12 and 19.

...We shall now briefly review the contents of the record, After the introductory ō ṁ namaḥ Śivāya, it invoke blessings of Śaṁkara in the first stanza; and the following five verses describe the origin of the house of the Paramāras from the fire-fountain of Vasishṭha, performing penance on Mount Ābū. The next verse tells us that a prince of the name of Maṇḍana was born in that house; he was handsome and resembled Arjuna in a battle. Maṇḍana’s son, Chāmuṇḍarāja, is introduced in v. 10. Verses 13 ff. seem to refer to an officer under Chāmuṇḍarāja; his name, along with that of his consort which was given here, is unfortunately lost; but from what is preserved, he appears to be Vishṇu or Śrīdhara, identical with the same person whose son Āsarāja wrote the fair copy of the Arthūṇā stone record of Chāmuṇḍarāja, dated V.S. 1136. This officer under Chāmuṇḍarāja had three sons, whose names were Āsarāja, Bhavyāsarāja [1] and Anantapāla in order of sequence. From the present record we also learn that all the three brothers were probably officers under Chāmuṇḍarāja. The youngest of the brothers, i.e., Anatapāla, is .mentioned in vv. 20-21, where he is said to be intelligent devoted to his master, and possessing high administrative ability and also that he was governing a maṇḍala. The portion of the stone bearing the name of this maṇḍala is partly lost; but what is preserved, is rāsēṇaka. We are further informed in vv. 22-24 that in honour of his brother, Anantapāla, he built a Vishṇu temple, evidently the one where the inscribed stone was originally set up, and that he also carried on some repairs to the temple some time subscquently. Verse 25, which is equally fragmentary, appears to state that this person excavated a tank somewhere near by.

... The portion of the stone containing vv. 26-33 is too fragmentary to tell us anything definitely; but from the traces left here and there, it appears to contain the description of the tank, the name of the poet who composed the praśasti and those of the writer and the engraver. But fortunately the portion supplying the date and the year is preserved in 1. 34, which states, in words, that it was the eleventh of the bright half of Māgha of the (Vikrama)
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[1] The Pānāhēḍā inscription of V.S. 1116 was engraved by Āsarāja, son of Śrīdhara (1. 38). and the Arthūṇā inscription of V.S. 1136 was written by the same person (v. 87). It is not know if the Āsadēva. son of Vishṇu (who too may have been known by the synonym Śrīdhara), is identical with the same person.

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