North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

TRANSLATION

[Success]! Hail ! May there be victory and prosperity!

..In the years eleven hundred increased by twenty which have elapsed by the era of the Śaka King—in figures, Śaka year 1120— on Monday, the 15th tithi of the dark fortnight of Mārgaśiras, in the (cyclic) year Kālayukta—on this day, here, in the beneficial and victorious reign of the Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, the illustrious Anantadēvarāya, adorned with all royal titles, while the Government consisting of the Mahāmātya Nāika Vrīhimaprabhu (and) . . . . the illustrious Vāhimaprabhu is bearing the burden of the cares of administering the whole kingdom obtained by his grace, the Kōṅkaṇa-chakravartī, Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, Mahārāja, the illustrious Anantadēva II has donated to . . . . in the orchard of . . . . Amātya . . . . of Sāmantapai, son of Lāhugiprabhu . . . . sheaves 1000 . . . .sheaves 1000 . . . .

..(Here follow two benedictory and imprecatory verses.)

No. 34 : Plate LXXII
MĀṆḌAVĪ STONE INSCRIPTION OF KĒŚĪDĒVA II : ŚAKA YEAR 1125

..THE stone bearing this inscription was found at Mānḍavī, 15 miles north-east of Bassein in the Ṭhāṇā District. The stone was later removed to the office of the Collector of the Ṭhāṇā District, and is now deposited in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. The inscription was very briefly noticed by Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji in the Bombay Gazetter, (old ed.) Vol. I, part ii, p. 20, n. 3. It was first edited with a facsimile plate by Dr. M. G. Dikshit in the Marāṭhī Saṁśōdhana Patrikā, Vol. VI, part vi, pp. 6 f. It was later included by Dr. S. G. Tulpule in his Prāchīna Marāṭhī Kōrīva Lēkha, pp. 98 f. It is edited here from the facsimile accompanying Dr. Tulpule’s article.

.. The inscribed stone measures 76.20 cm. by 38.10 cm., and has at the top the figure of a maṅgala-kalaśa. The inscription incised below consists of seven lines, some letters in which have become indistinct owing to exposure to the sun and rain. Besides, the stone has developed a crack, which also has resulted in the loss of a few letters.

..The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet. The only form worthy of note is that of th in tīrthē in line 6. The language is Sanskrit, somewhat influenced by Marathi. See Śrī-Lakshmīnārāyaṇāchē sākshī in line 6. The orthography shows the usual substitution of chh for ts in saṁvachharē, line 1, and the use of sudha for śuddha, in lines 1 and 2.

.. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the illustrious Kēśidēva, adorned with all royal titles. He evidently belongs to the Śilāhāra family of North Koṅkaṇ, though this is not stated explicitly, and is the second king of that name[2]. It is dated in the year 1125 (evidently of the Śaka era), the cyclic year being Rudhirōdgārī, on the 15th tithi of the bright fort-
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[1] Metre of this and the next verse : Anushṭubh.
[2] The Bhāṇḍup and Divē Āgar plates (Nos. 9 and 10) show that Arikēsarin, son of Aparājita, bore the name of Kēśidēva though it does not occur in any other Silahara record.