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270
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1889.
resident cultivators, being exempted from all ádána, ditya, forced labour and prátibhédika, (and) not to be entered by irregular or regular soldiers, -(the grant being made) according to the maxim concerning land unfit for tillage, 45 on the full-moon day of Bhadrapada, to Bappaevâmin. Dikshita, an inhabitant of Vijaya-Aniruddhapuri, a member of the Bhâradvaja family, a student of the Madhyandma (branch) of the Vâjasanêyi (or White Yajur-Voda) in order to defray the expenses of the bali, charu, vaišvadeva, agnihotra, and other rites. Wherefore future kings, whether of our line or others, understanding that worldly existence possesses (as little) kernel as a reed, a bamboo or a plantain-tree, and that life is comparable to a water-bubble, and considering that youth is liable to fade like the sirisha-flower, that sovereignty passes away like the water of a mountain-torrent, and that regal splendour is unstable like an asvattha-leaf which is struck by a very strong wind, should agree to and protect this our grant. But he, who with a mind covered by the dense darkness of ignorance resumes it, or allows it to be resumed, shall be guilty of the five mortal and the minor sins. And it has been said by the worshipful son of Parâsara, Vyåsa, the arranger of the Vedas ..........
(L. 37). - In the year four hundred and six, on the Afteenth (lunar day) of the bright half of Bhadrapada. The messenger for the conveyance of this (grant) is SriVallabha-Bappa. By order of the great general (mahábaladhikrita) Måsama, this has been written by his younger brother Dêvadinna, the minister of peace and war (savdhivigrahadhikrita).
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
BY J. F. FLEET, BO. C.S., M.R.A.S., C.I.E. No. 182.-BELUR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF JAYASIMHA III.-SAKA-SAMVAT 944.
Bolar is a village about seven miles south-east of Bâdami, the chief town of the Badami Taluka or Sab-Division of the Bijapur District, Bombay Presidency, in the map, Indian Atlas Sheet No. 41, it is entered as Belloor,' Lat. 15° 51' N., Long. 75° 49' E. It is mentioned in this record by the old name of the Pêrar agrahera, in line 33; and as simply Porar, in lines 35 and 38. There are two inscriptions at this village; both inside the Fort. One of them is on a large stone-tablet that stands facing a modern shrine of the god Hanumanta. On this stone there are the remnants of an Old-Kanarese inscription of sixty-seven or sixty-eight lines of about thirty letters each; but a great deal of this record is now illegible; and, at my visit, I only noted that the date (line 32 f.) is Saka-Samvat 962, the Vikrama sasivat sara. The other inscription, which I am now editing, is on a stone-tablet at an old temple, now known as the temple of the god Narayana. A photograph, from my estampage, has been published in Pari, Sanskrit, ani Old-Kanarese Inscriptions, No. 70. And I have noticed it in Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, p. 43 f. But it is now edited for the first time.
The temple, which is now half below the level of the ground, is of some interest, though it does not present any elaborate architectural decorations. Instead of having the usual porch and entrance-hall, it is entered by a small door about 5 6' high by 3' 0'' broad. The first hall, the roof of which is supported by sixteen pillars, is about forty-five feet square. The second half is smaller, about thirty feet long by twenty feet broad. Over the door from the first hall to the second, there is a sculpture of Lakshmi and her elephants; and the same is repeated over the door from the second hall into the shrine. In the shrine, standing on an abhisheka-stand, there are three stone images, between three and four feet high, of the gods Brahman, Vishņu, and Siva, with emblems and attendant figures, and of beautiful antique workmanship. They are, in fact, among the best specimens of their class that I have ever seen; and, if they are still in a state of perfect preservation, as at the time of my visit in January, 1877, it would
+6 See Gupta Inscriptions, p. 188, note 2, and the rectification on p. 221 above.
+6 I suppose that the real name of the town is Aniruddhapurt, and that the prefixed vijaya means 'victorious' us in Vijaya-Vaijayanti, Vijaya-Paldsika, etc.
Ir. connection with the results for the date in the inscription now edited, it would be teful to have the full details of this date. But, as they are not in my notes, they are probably illegiblo.