North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

..In the expired year ten hundred augmented by seventy-eight, (in figures) 1078, by the era of the Śaka king, in the cyclic year Dhātṛi, on the akshaya-tritīyā tithi in the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha, the week-day being Tuesday and the nakshatra Mṛigaśiras, during the beneficial and victorious reign of the illustrious Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Mallikārjuna, while the Mahāpradhāna Nāraṇanāyaka and the Sāndhivigrahika Anantugi, son of Lakshmanaiprabhu are bearing the burden of the cares of the administration of his kingdom, Suprayā has been appointed Daṇḍāḍhipati for bearing the burden of the cares of the administration of Prānālaka-dēśa. His eldest son should hold the same country, making the town of Panalā granted by (royal) favour [1] his headquarters.

..At this very Secretariat Paraśarāmaprabhu, son of Vētapaiprabhu, and‒giprabhu, son of Tārupaiprabhu, and Chhintumaiprabhu, son of Jōipaiprabhu‒all these (are witnesses).

.. (Line 12) (This) pillar bearing the royal order should be preserved as long as the moon and the sun endure !

(Here follow some benedictory and imprecatory verses.)

No. 29 : PLATE LXVII
BASSEIN STONE INSCRIPTION OF MALLIKARJUNA : SAKA YEAR 1083

..THIS inscription is reported to have been found at Bassein and is now deposited in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. It was first briefly referred to in the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, part ii, p. 20 and n. 2. It was edited for the first time by Dr. H.D. Sankalia and S.C. Upadhyaya without a facsimile in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIII, pp. 274 f. It is edited here from an inked estampage kindly supplied by the Chief Epigraphist. The stone on which the present inscription is incised measures 105.41 cm. by 46.99 cm. The inscription covers a space 35.56 cm. by 35.56 cm. “Below the inscribed portion, in a rectangle, there is a representation of the curse similar to that noticed before though it is much worn out. At the top between the inscribed portion and the figure of the Sun and the Moon, in a rectangle, there are two figures, and between them are two‒one big and the other small‒Śiva-liṅgas. The figure on the right, probably a woman with a peculiar head-dress, is seated facing full front and its left hand is held over the big liṅga. The figure on the left is seated similarly, with its right hand supported by the left resting on the small liṅga. The big liṅga is placed on a very high yoni-paṭta.”

..The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet. The average size of the letters is 1.27 cm. The following peculiarities may be noted : the initial i has retained its old form (see ityādi line 5), medial ē and ō are denoted by a pṛishṭhamātrā (see Sōma-dinē, line 2); Śrī has attained almost the modern form of that akshara (see Śrī-Mallikārjuna, line 5); dh does not show a horn on the left of its vertical (see samadhigata, line 3), and so in order to distinguish dhā from vā, the two verticals of the former are joined by a short horizontal stroke (see Mahāpradhāna, line 7). The language is Sanskrit, and, except for one verse which occurs in lines 9-11, the whole record is in prose. It is very carelessly written and engraved so that in many places the reading
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[1] Tulpule, following Dikshit, takes prasāda in line 9 in the sense of prāsāda and understands this as referring to the gift of a palace also to Suprayā. This is incorrect. Compare. ta-prasād-āvāpta-samasta-maṇḍala- chintā-bhāraṁ samudvahati etc. in lines 3-7 of the Āgāshī stone inscription, where prasāda clearly means ‘royal favour’. The same sense is intended here.