North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

TRANSLATION

..In the Śaka year 982, on Friday, the 9th (tithi) of the bright fortnight of Śrāvaṇa (during the victorious reign of ) the illustrious Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, Māṁvāṇirājadēva, who has obtained the five mahāśabdas, who is appearing glorious with all royal titles such as ‘the lord of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvaras,’ ‘veritable Dāmōdara in the destruction of the demons that are his enemies,’ ‘an admantine cage for the protection of those that seek his refuge’ and so forth‒

..(Line 2). During the augmenting, beneficial and victorious reign (of that king), while the Mahāmātya, the illustrious Bimbapaiya, the Mahāpradhāna, the illustrious Nāgaṇaiya, the Lēkha-Sāndhivigrahika, the illustrious Vakavaiya, the Mahāsāndhivigrahika, illustrious Jōgalaiya, the Senior Bhānḍāgāra-sthēpāḍhisēna, the illustrious Mahādēvaiya, the Junior Bhāṇḍāgāra-sēna Bhāilaiya, and others who are in charge of the Śrīkaraṇa (administration), are bearing the burden of the cares of his entire kingdom.

.. (Line 4).The illustrious Mahārājaguru Nābhāta, the Junior Rājaguru Vilaṇḍaśivabhaṭṭa the Shakāṇa (?) Paivayaka, the Mahāsāmanta, the illustrious Tāsivarājala, having undertaken the work of construction[1], have completed this temple of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, the illustrious Chhittarājadēva (known as) the temple of Ambaranatha in Pāṭapalli (governed ?) by Bhagala.[2]

No. 18 : PLATE XLV
VIHAR STONE INSCRIPTION OF ANANTADEVA I : SAKA YEAR 1003

.. THIS inscription was first noticed in the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XIV (1882), p. 379, where its date Śaka 1003 (A.D. 1081) was mentioned, and it was referred to the reign of the Śilāhāra king Anantadēva.[3] It was subsequently noticed by Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji in the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, part ii. pp. 18-18, f. n. 7. Bhagvanlal stated that the inscription mentioned the Chief Minister Rudrapai, Ajapālaiya, son of Mātaiya of the Viyāḍika family, and the grant of some drammas to Kharāsān Maṇḍalī. It was supposed to contain a reference to the settlement of the Parsi community from Khōrāsān in Irāṇ[4] The inscription was first edited without a facsimile by Dr. M. G. Dikshit in his Selected Inscriptions from Mahārāshtra (Marathi), pp. 69 f., and later, with a facsimile by Dr. S.G. Tulpule in his PrāchīnaMarāṭhī Kōrīva Lēkha (Ancient Marathi Inscriptions), pp.15 f. I edit it here from a fresh stampage.

.. The inscription is said to have been found at Vihār in the Thāṇā District, and is now deposited in the Prince of the Wales Museum, Bombay. It is on a sandstone slab 4’ (121.92 cm.) by 1’ 5” (43.18 cm.), with a rounded top, on the right and left sides of which there are the sun and the moon. There are only four lines of somewhat defaced writing in the upper half and three almost completely effaced in the lower half.

..The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet, The language is incorrect Sanskrit in-
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[1] Kārāpaka is one who causes the construction of a building.
[2] The text has samuddharita, which means restored, but if Pāṭapallī is the name of a locality, Bhagala may have been its governor or officer in charge. Pandit Bhagvanlal took the passage to mean that the persons mentioned here constructed a temple of the god of Chhittarāja near the Āmbar Nāth temple in Pāṭapallī restored by Bhagala. The wording of the record is obscure here.
[3] This Volume (p. 379) mentions another stone inscription offifty to sixty lines in extent which was taken to England by Mr. Moor. It is now untraceable.
[4] See S.H. Hodivala, Studies in Parsi History, pp. 80-81 ; J.B.B.R.A.S., XXIII, pp. 560-61; S.K. Hodivala Pārsīs in Ancient India, pp. 53-54; I.J.S. Taraporewala, Kane Commemoration Volume, p. 513 etc.