________________
No. 42] FOURTH SLAB OF KUMBHALGARH INSCRIPTION; VIKRAMA-S. 1517.
277
12 gel Tigurer I TOT E foarte rara n'[311*] våa 13 fat ata ta ta for a 1 fauen aT [44*] 14 दत्तां परदत्तो वा यो हरेत वसंधरी । षष्टिवर्षसहस्राणि विष्ठायां - 15. Firâ AA: *[51*]Qualquran # # Tan te [n*]
No. 42. THE FOURTH SLAB OF THE KUMBHALGARH INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME
OF MAHARANA KUMBHAKARNA OF MEWAR; VIKRAMA-SAMVAT 1617.
:
By R. R. HALDER, RAJPUTANA MUSEUM, AJMER. This inscription found in a Vishnu temple, originally called Kumbhasvāmi temple but now known as that of Māmádēva at Kumbhalgarh in Mewăr territory, is engraved on one of the five big slabs likewise inscribed and placed by the Mahārāṇā Kumbhakarna in the said temple. Of these, the first, third, fourth and a small piece of the second slab have been discovered up to now and are now preserved in the Udaipur Museum. All are in a mutilated condition except the fourth, the text of which I edit from an ink-impression kindly placed at my disposal by Rai Bahadur Gaurishankar H. Ojha of Ajmer, who has given a brief notice of it in the Annual Report of the Raj putana Museum, Ajmer, for the year 1925-26.
Each one of the slabs contains the same date, which reads as below - *संक्त १५१७ वर्षे शाके १३८२ प्रवर्तमान माम्गशीर्ष वदि ५ सोम प्रशस्तिः, i.e., Monday, the 5th day of the dark half of Mārgasīrsha of the Samvat year 1517 and Saka year 1382, which corresponds to 3rd November 1460 A.D.
The present slab contains ninety-one (180-270) verses written in fifty-one lines with a portion of a prose line at the end.
The character is Nagari of the 17th century A.D., common in Rajputāna during that period. The letters are on the average about of an inch and the speee covered by the writing is about 3' 9" X 3' 1'.
The language is Sanskrit and the composition is excellent with the exception of a few wrong grammatical formations, e.g., Vivasat (1. 9), udavīvahad (1. 43).
As regards orthography, the following points may be noted -o is usually distinguished from b except in a few places, e.g., in vibhēda (1.2), -vabhūva (1. 10), -pivat (1. 11), Vali- (1. 16), vrāhmanim (1.18), parābadhi (1. 33) and bikhyātaḥ (1. 38), etc.; consonants are doubled with a superscript r as in Erddivam (1. 1), -varnnanam (1.2), -rddarda (1. 8), arnnödhe- (1. 22), durggan (1. 49), etc. ; sa is used for sa in sita (1. 16). Anusvāra is used for nasals, as in bhujango- (1.2), chamcha- (1. 3), etc., and at the end of stichs and hemistichs, as in, -rddivaris (1.1).- nábhari (1. 3), -trishnăm (1. 10), etc. Visárga is omitted in' sutavarais-lai, sastra-pūtai (1. 1), while it is redundant in dhāmah 1. 42).
The inscription formed a prasasti of the Guhila rulers of Mewar and the present slab continues their account from Lakshmasimha down to the Mahārāņa Kumbhakarna. The ninety verses found on the present slab are distributed as follows:-Vv. 180-181 are devoted to Lakshmasimha, vy. 182-184 to Arisimha, vv. 185-190 to Hammira, vv. 191-203 to Kshētrasimha, vv. 204-215
BULLLLLLLLLLLLS * Metro: Anushubh.
. The anuscdra is written in the next line.