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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF VAGADA No. 84 ; PLATE LXXXIV ...THIS inscription was first noticed by F. Kielhorn, who published from ‘an imperfect pencil rubbing’ sent to him by Kavirāja Shyamaladas, an abstract of it, in the Indian Antiquary, Volume XXII (for 1893), pp. 80 f. [1] The record was also referred to in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, for 1914-5, p. 36; and subsequently it was edited and translated into English, by L. Barnett, in the Epigraphia Indica, Volume XIV (for 1917-18), giving his own version of the text, in Roman Characters (pp.297-303), but without a facsimile. Barnett’s transcript of the text of the inscription was based on an inked impression received by him from the Curator of the Jhālāwāḍ (Rājasthān) Museum, pt, Gopal Lal Vyas; and, as he himself writes, the impression “was in several places touched with white paint, which somewhat lessens the value of the testimony. [2] It is probably owing to these touches that while editing this important record Barnett could not do full justice to the text; and the transcript, as we shall see below, has not only some lacunae but is also full of inaccuracies at several places. All these considerations necessitate a fresh attempt; and the inscription is edited here from the original stone and a set of excellent inked impressions prepared fresh and supplied to me, at my request, by the Superintending Archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, Baroda. ... The inscribed slab is built into a wall in a temple of Maṇḍalēśvara Mahādēva, standing in the eastern extremity of Arthūṇā, a village about 45 kms. south-west of Bāṅswāḍā, which was formerly the capital of a State but now the chief city of a district of the same name in southern Rājasthān. [3] The inscribed portion measures 76 cms. broad by 67 cms. high and con tains 53 lines of writing. With the exception of some single and sometimes two or three aksharas which are lost here and there in consequence of damages suffered by the stone, particularly in its lower part, the writing is well preserved. The damage does not appear to have been effected when Barnett wrote in 1917-18; and in the subjoined transcript these letters I have restored from his writing, except when the text can obviously be prepared, even conjecturally. It is however, to my surprise that Barnett was unable to read some of the letters and some others were wrongly read by him, which are all clear in the impressions before me. This may probably be due to the indifferent impression sent to him, as we have stated above. The size of the letters varies between 8 and 10 mms. in height, excepting the mātrās and flourishes above and subscripts below.
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The characters are Nāgarī, bearing a great resemblance to those of the preceding inscription. They are well cut and deeply engraved; and a few of them exhibit their ornamental
form. Some of their peculiarities, as to be observed in the present inscription, however, may
be noted here. The initial a begins with a vertical stroke followed by a curve, as in atha, 1.5;
and the loops of the initial i are sometimes subscribed by the medial short and in the other
[1]
Kielhorn also says in op. cit., p. 80 that this pencil-rubbing was accompanied by a rough transcript of the text.
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