Epigraphia Indica Vol 09

SR No.: 032563
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch, Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1907
Total Pages: 498
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 28 MB

Page 197

[VOL IX.
Vijada, the son of Dhanasimha; and the name of the person who repaired the temple of Téjabpala (the Luniya-vasati) is given as Pêthada in an inscription at that temple, the full text of which is:
L. 1 Om
2 n 3 sys
150
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
A-chamdrårkkam namdatâd-êsla samgha-'dhisaḥ śrimasangha-yuktab | jîrnnôddharam tênê yên-êhâsrbudâdrau
Vastupâlasva-sâraiḥ ||
Pethadah chaityê
The inscription with which we are more immediately concerned here is on a black slab, built into the side wall of a shrine in the corridor of Vimala's temple. It contains 30 lines of writing which cover a space between 1' 7" and 1' 8" broad by 1' 1' high, but of which only the first 22 lines extend over the full breadth of this space; lines 23-29 are only 1' 5" long and line 30 (which contains merely a date) only 33". The greater part of the writing is well preserved; but in line 16 about 10 aksharas and in line 17 about 4 aksharas are effaced, and in some places the writing is difficult to read, mainly, as it seems to me, because the letters have been formed carelessly and are so close to one another that they have not come out clearly in the ink-impression at my disposal. The size of the letters is between and ". The characters are Nagari. The language is Sanskrit, and, with the exception of the words on || fri-Arbudatirtha-prasastir-likhyate || at the commencement, the words atha rájávali || in line 9, and the date in line 30, the text is in verse, the number of verses being 42. In respect of orthography only few remarks are necessary. There are separate signs for the letters b and v, and the sign for the former has been wrongly employed also for v in sarbagña, 1. 16, and sa hbhabaḥ, 1. 21. The palatal sibilant is used instead of the dental in manasvi, 1. 4, sámha- (for simha-), 1. 6, and sahaéré, 1. 8, and the dental instead of the palatal in nivéeitam. 1. 8, pesala-, 1. 18, and fasi-, 1. 29. Instead of the vowel ri we have the syllable ri in Rishabha, 11. 26 and 29, and in line 24 the author himself has written shad-arttavaḥ instead of shad-ritavah, which would not have suited the metre. What is more interesting is, that in line 4 we find nṛipasa for ripasya, and in line 21 vadája instead of vadánya. The latter reminds us of the name Nydnatakti (instead of Janafakts) in Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 93, 1. 26, and shows that in Rajputana as well as in the Kanarese country there could have been hardly any differe ace in pronunciation between jña and nya; and nṛipata recalls tasa and similar genitive cases of far more ancient inscriptions, without, of course, proving more than that the pronunciation of must have been similar to that of the conjunct sy. In respect of grammar I need draw attention only to the word vidadhana, in line 3, the reading of which is certain, and which the author undoubtedly has used as a 3rd person singular of the Perfect of vi-dhá (instead of vidadhe), probably misled by the participle vidadhana which was more familiar to him than the proper verbal form. 10 Though the writer or engraver in some places has done his work carelessly, I believe that, with the exception of what has been entirely effaced
1 No. 1743 of Mr. Cousens' List, "on pilaster near shrine doorway of the principal temple in Vastupala's temple."
2 Denoted by a symbol.
* Metre: Śalini.
These signs of punctuation are superfluous.
No. 1790 of Mr. Cousens' List.
When my text was finished, I was able to compare impressions kindly sent to me by Mr. Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha and by the Government Epigraphist, which in one or two places where there had been some doubt confirmed the correctness of my readings.
7 For curiosity's sake it may be stated that the Sanskrit sasa, German 'hase,' English 'hare,' seems to go back
to an original sasa; compare Prof. Wackernagel's Altind. Gramm. Vol. I. p. 225.
Compare shadricha and shadarcha in the St. Petersburg Dictionary.
See Prof. Rapson in Journ. Roy. As. Soc. 1900, p. 104 f., and Prof. Franke's Páli and Sanskrit, p. 97 f., and compare the genitive cases terasa, sagaia, etc., in Ep. Zeylanica, Vol. I. p. 18 f.
10 Proper Perfect forms which occur in the text are babidea, babhdeuh, chakdra, didéia, pra-pide and kdraydm-dratu.