North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF KOLHAPUR

..(V. 23). His younger brother is the illustrious Nāyima, who has well protected all his relatives, and is a veritable moon to the ocean in the form of the Jaina religion. He was a well-conducted and good person, devoted to charity and great fame, and was known for his piety.

..(V. 24). To him was born a valiant son named Noḷamba, who obliges good people, who is devoted to religion, who is a lion to the elephants in the form of his enemies, and a bee attached to the lotuses that are the feet of the illustrious Gaṇḍarāditya.

No. 47 : PLATE XCIX
HERLE STONE INSCRIPTION OF GAṆḌARĀDITYA : ŚAKA YEAR 1040

.. THE stone bearing this inscription was found at Herle, a village, about 11.25 km. west of Hātakaṇangale in the Kolhāpur District. It was first noticed in Major Graham’s Statistical Account of the Principality of Kolhāpur, p. 349 (No. 2). Graham gave a somewhat incorrect translation of this record. It is edited here for the first time from an estampage kindly supplied by Dr. G. S. Gai, Chief Epigraphist, who has very kindly provided also its transcript and translation.

.. The characters of the inscription are of the Kannaḍa alphabet regular for the period to which the inscription belongs, viz. the first half of the 12th cen. A.D. The medial e is indicated in two ways ; (1) by a sign at the top of the letter as in dharegellaṁ, line 4, and (2) by commencing it at the bottom left and curving it upwards, as in Giri-jātege, lines 13-14. The language is Kannaḍa except for an invocatory verse in lines 1-2, and two benedictory and imprecatory verses in line 27-30, which are in Sanskrit. The Kannaḍa text is an admixture of prose and verse. As regards orthography, it may be noted that the consonant following r is uniformly doubled, and the class nasal is occasionally used for an anusvāra. In writing -utpaṁnna (line 18), however, both the class-nasal and the anusvāra have been used. Sanskrit l is usually represented by ḷ (see Traiḷōkya), lines 1-2, Bāḷachaṁdra, line 2, and dharātaḷam, (line 4) etc.

.. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Śilāhāra king Gaṇḍarāditya, who bears here some of the birudas noticed in his other inscriptions, and a new one, viz. Maṇḍaḷika-Ḍaṅgeya-Barmma. He is described as reigning from Vaḷavāḍa and as causing daily the growth of the royal fortune of the Kshatriyas such as Bhōjadēva who had been born earlier in the Śilāhāra family. The exact significance of this description is difficult to understand. It may be noted that in the earlier Honnur inscription of Ballāḷa the name of Bhōja is not mentioned, but Gaṇḍarāditya figures therein, though without a title. The object of the inscription is to record the grant of none mattar of land in Eḍenāḍa and a garden to the Tīrthaṅkara Chandraprabha in the Basadi erected by Nēmagāvuṇḍa at Vagubana-Hērilage in Eḍenāḍa at the instance of Nāgaladēvī. The latter was probably the mother of Gaṇḍarāditya. She is mentioned also in the Kolhāpur stone inscriptions of Gaṇḍarāditya (No. 49) dated Śaka 1058, and in the Kolhāpur Śēshāsayī Temple inscription (No. 50) of the same king’s reign. After the description of Nēmagāvuṇḍa, the inscription gives that of his wife Mailiyakka.

.. The gift was made to the Jaina Muni Śāntivīra-siddhāntadēva, the previous Āchārya of Kolhāpura-tīrtha. He was a disciple of Bālachandra-vratī, the previous Āchārya of the aforementioned Chandraprabha-Jinālaya. He is glorified in the Nēmināthapurāṇa of Karṇapārya, who was patronized by Lakshmīdhara, a minister of the Silāhāra king Vijayāditya.