North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

..(Line 19) The minister and others should preserve (this) religious gift. On the destruction of it, the offender will have to dwell in hell.

..And it has been declared by the sages who are our ancient teachers :‒

(Here follows an imprecatory verse.)

..May there be happiness and great prosperity ! May it be well with the writer and the reader !

No. 37
DIVĒ ĀGAR STONE INSCRIPTION OF ANANTADĒVA III : SAKA 1176

..THE stone bearing this inscription was found while digging in the hamlet of Mr. Yashvantrao Joshi at Āgar in the Śrīvardhan Tālukā of the Kōlābā District. The record has been edited by Dr. M.G. Dikshit in the Selected Inscriptions from Mahārāshṭra (Marathi), pp. 85f. As the inscribed stone could not be traced, Dikshit’s reading of the text is included here.

.. The stone bearing the inscription measures 106.68 cm. in breadth and 38.10 cm. in height. It has the figures of the sun and the moon at the top, and below them the present record is engraved on a space measuring 38.10 cm. by 25.48 cm. inches. Below it, there is the usual sculpture of the Ass-curse.

.. The record consists of 10 lines, the last of them containing only one akshara. The characters are of the Nāgarī alphabet. The language is incorrect Sanskrit. The orthography does not call for any remarks.

.. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvarādhipati Anantadēva, who, as shown below, was probably a king of the Śilāhāra dynasty. It is dated in the Śaka year 1176, on the 8th tithi of the dark fortnight of Āshāḍha, the cyclic year being Ānanda. The date cannot be verified for want of the necessary particulars, but the cyclic year according to the southern luni-solar system was Ānanda as stated here. The Christian equivalent of the date is Thursday, 9th July A.D. 1254.[1]

.. The object of the inscription is to record that a Māṇḍalika of the king, named Rāma donated a vāṭikā (orchard) in the village Dīpaka to one Gaṇapati Nāyaka[2]. As this is not an official record the usual particulars about the ministers of the king etc. do not occur therein,

.. The Mahāmaṇḍalēśvarādhipati Anantadēva was probably a prince of the Śilāhāra family. His name does not occur elsewhere. But the date of the present inscription shows that he flourished in the period between the reigns of Kēśidēva and Sōmēśvara. The last known date of the former is Śaka 1161, and the first known date of the latter is Śaka 1181. The date of the present record falls between these. So this Anantadēva, who will be the third Śilāhāra king of that name, seems to have succeeded Kēsideva II, but how he was related to him and to Somesvara, who followed him, is not known.

.. The village Dīpaka mentioned in the present inscription is evidently modern Divē Āgar, where the inscribed stone was found.

Text

[1] Dikshit has wrongly stated that 24th June A.D. 1254 as the Christian equivalent of the date. It corresponds to Āshāḍha śu. di. 8.
[2] He was probably a Brāhmaṇa. For the names of Brāhmaṇas ending in nāyaka, see lines 15 and 16 of No. 36, above.