North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

and Dr. S. G. Tulpule [1] also edited it, the latter with a facsimile. It is edited here from an estampage kindly supplied by the Chief Epigraphist. The stone is now preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay.

..“The stone measures 1’11” (58.42 cm.) by 1’5” (43.18 cm.) and the inscribed portion 1’4” (40.64 cm.) by 1’ ½” (31.75 cm.). At the top, the stone is in the shape of a triangle, within which is carved a kalaśa, resting on a liṅga” [2]. The record consists of 12 lines and is in a fair state of preservation, some of the letters in the last three lines having become somewhat illegible.

.. The characters are of the Nāgārī alphabet. Worthy of note are the forms of th in Sōmanātha-, lines 2-3, and of dh in dēvādhidēvasya in line 8. The language is Sanskrit, somewhat incorrect in the formal portion. The following orthographical peculiarities may be noted— the use of chchh for tsa in line 1, of s for ś in –slāghya-, line 6, and pram-ōdadhi for paramōdadhi in line 4. The whole record is in prose.

.. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the illustrious Aparādityadēva, evidently one of the two Śilāhāra kings of Northern Koṅkaṇ. Diskalkar, who read the date as (Vikrama Saṁvat) 1176 (A.D. 1119), took the king to be Aparāditya I. This identification was apparently supported by the mention, in this inscription, of the Mahāmātya Lakshmaṇanāyaka, whom Diskalkar identified with the Mahāpradhāna Śrī-Laksmaṇaiyaprabhu referred to in the Vaḍavalī grant of Aparādityadēva I, dated Śaka 1049 (A.D. 1127). Diskalkar’s identification was accepted by Dr. A. S. Altekar in his article on the Śilāhāras in the Indian Culture, Vol. II, pp. 393 f. But Diskalkar’s reading of the date is wrong. The correct reading is Śaka year 1107, Sunday, the 15th tithi of the bright fortnight of Chaitra, the cyclic year being Viśvāvasu. This regularly corresponds to Sunday, the 17 th March A.D. 1185. The cyclic year was Viśvāvasu as stated in this inscription. The Śilāhāra king then reigning was Aparāditya II, whose Lonāḍ inscription [3] was incised just in the preceding year.

.. The object of the inscription is to record that Lakshmaṇanāyaka, son of Bhāskaranāyaka, the Mahāmātya of Aparāditya, having bathed in the great sea, offered arghya consisting of various kinds of flowers, worshipped the god Umāpati (Śiva) and made the following gifts to the god Sōmanātha in Saurāshṭra—four drammas to be given on (each) occasion of a gift [4] out of the proceeds of a garden in Sthānakīya-pāṭṭana and twenty-four drammas out of the income of a whole rice-field. The worship of god (Sōmanātha) was to be performed on five auspicious occasions, viz. Chaitrika [5], pavitrika [6], Śivarātri, Dakshiṇāyana and Uttarāyaṇa. The name of Śrī-Chāhaḍadēva occurs at the end of the present inscription, but in what connection,
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[1] P.M.K.L., p. 77 f.
[2] Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, p. 277.
[3] Above, No. 30.
[4]As stated below, the gifts were to be made on five occasions in a year as stated in lines 11 and 12.
[5] It is not certain which tithi in Chaitra is here intended. Dikshit takes it as referring to the saṅkrānti in Chaitra evidently because Dakshiṇāyana and Uttarāyaṇa mentioned later refer to saṅkrāntis, Perhaps the paūrṇimā (full-moon day) of Chaitra is meant. The fourteenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Chaitra is called Chaitrikāparvan in line 46 of the Berlin Museum plates (No. 11), probably because it was combined with the paurṇimā of Chaitra.
[6] Sankalia and Upadhyaya have not attempted to read this and following words. Dikshit and Tulpule also read pavitrika here, but do not give its meaning. Lexicons give pavitra in the sense of Śrāvaṇa śu. di. 12, (M. W.), but it is sacred to Vishṇu, not to Śiva as is implied here. It is probably identical with the Pavitrāropaṇa-vrata which consists in the investiture of a deity with the sacred thread called pōṁvaḷeṁ in Mahārāshṭra. Different tithis are prescribed for this for different deities. In the case of Śiva it is the 8th or 14th of any of the fortnight of Āśvina (the best), Śrāvaṇa (the middling) and Bhādrapada (the lowest). For further particulars see Kane, History of Dharma śāstra, Vol. V, p. 339 f. Pavitrikaparvan falling on Bhādrapada śu. di. 14 is mentioned in the grant of Vākpati Muñja, dated Śaka 1031. Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 52.