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12
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( JANUARY, 1927
While the general contents of the inscription of Yasodhavala are of no great interest, its date is important, inasmuch as it definitely enables us to determine the period of the first wattle between Arnórâja and Kumarapala.
The stone was found by Rai Bahadur Pandit Gourishankar H. Ojha in the Sirohi State in Rajputana and is now deposited in the Rajputana Museum, Ajmer. It contains thirteen lines of writing : lines 8-11 are badly defaced. The character is Någari and the language is Sanskrit, but incorrect. It is dated Monday the 14th day of the bright half of M&gha, Samvat 1202 (A.D. 1145), and records that a certain grant was made at the village Ajâhari by the queen Saubhagyadêvî of the Chaulukya family of Gujarat) during the prosperous reign of Mahamandalesvara Yasodhavala (ll. 1-6). The next three lines are imprecatory and threaten punishment in the next life to those who may appropriate this grant in future. The last two lines mention the name of the Sutradhdra (engraver) as Châdadêva, and containtwo words taldra and surabhi (1l. 12 and 13 respectively), which need explanation. The word surabhi means a cow and the grants made by kings or rulers inscribed on stones are called sureha, surihi or surf, which are corrupt forms of the Sanskrit word surabhi. Such inscriptions contain on top the figure of a cow with a suckling calf, and sometimes the sun and the moon on either side above the cow, which represents the earth. The idea is that as long as the earth, the sun and the moon ball endure, so long will the granta be preserved. In Rajputana, they are generally found in fields and temples, and this is first inscription known to me, in which the word surabhi is written.
The word talára is another form of the word taldraksha 16, which seems to be an official title. Probably it meant in those days what the word kôtwdl (a police officer) means at the present day. The word is used several times in the Chirwa inscription 11, dated Sam. vat 1330 (A.D. 1273), of the time of Rawal Samarasimha of Mewâr.
in the Prithvichand Charitra of Manikyasundarasûri, composed in 8. 1478, there is a list of officials, which includes the names talavar and talavarga. Sometimes in inscriptions we find the word talavargin18. The word talliori is perhaps also akin to this (taldra), and means a watch. man of the village, whose duty it is to watch crops in the daytime and assist the far. mers to do so at night. His peculiar duty, however, is to ascertain the boundaries of each field and of each farmer's possession. In Gujarati, the word talați 19 still refers to a patwdri. Line.
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