Epigraphia Indica Vol 29

SR No.: 032583
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1951
Total Pages: 432
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 54

APPENDIX]
RAJAPRASASTI INSCRIPTION OF UDAIPUR
another elder brother called Bharata, and that he commenced the composition on the 7th day of the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha in the Vikrama year 1718 in compliance with the orders of Mahārānā Rājasimha who is stated to have at the same time ordered the construction of the Rājasamudra lake as well, while halting at the village of Dhôdhumda. The week-day on that date wes Budha, as can be ascertained from verse 14 of the Canto IX, where the same date is repeated. It thus regularly corresponds to Wednesday, the 1st January A. D. 1662, taking the month to be purnimanta.
It took full fourteen years to complete the work of excavating the lake and constructing the dam and the ghā; for, we are informed that the inauguration ceremony of the Rājasamudra took place on Thursday, the full-moon day of the month of Māgha, in the Vikrama Samvat 1732," which regularly corresponds to Thursday, the 20th January A. D. 1676.
The names of the masons who are responsible for the engraving of the present inscription as also perhaps for the construction work are given in the bhäshä portions occurring towards the end of some slabs. They are : Gajadhara. Mukamda, Gajadhara Kalyana's son Urajana, Gajadhara Sukhadēva, Gajadhara Keso (Kēšava), Sundara, Lālā, etc.
The pivotal theme of the poem is the Rājasamudra. It records the digging of the lake as well as the building of the dam and the ghāt in a very elaborate manner. Besides, it abounds in incidental details upon which it is needless to expatiate here. Since the text will be found simple enough to be self-explanatory, no comments are deemed necessary in this introduction. And a verbatim translation of the whole poem would unnecessarily increase the bulk of the article which is already exceeding usual limits. We shall, therefore, content ourselves by giving an abstract of the contents at the end of the text, adding notes on the historical portions. It may, however, be observed here that whereas the poet's account of the contemporary events appears to be fairly authentic, his descriptions touching the earlier history, for which he had drawn chiefly upon legendary, bardic or traditional sources, are manifestly wrong in several details and are therefore unreliable. The inaccuracies will be pointed out at their proper places.
The text has been prepared from the inked estampages taken by Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, the then Government Epigraphist for India, in 1934. The present article was ready as early as 1940, but its publication has been delayed due to the suspension of the printing of the journal for some years during and after the World War II.
TEXT
Slab I ; Invocation
[Metres : vv. 1-14 Sikharini ; vv. 15-21, 24-30 Sragdharā ; v. 22 U pajāti ; v. 23 Bhujangaprayūta.] 1 ॥ ॐ नमः श्रीगणेशाय ॥ यशोहेतुं सेतुं सुकृतिकृतिसेतुं जलनिधो सुबद्धं यश्चके
परणिपरचक्रेण रुचिरं । रचा कामः कामं जनक
The poem was also intended to be a text book for the poet's own children, Lakshminātha and the rest see Slab XXV, v. 16.
* Possibly it is the same Dhödhu ndā as is mentioned further on in verse 5 of the Canto IX, where it is enumorated as the first of the sixteen villages whose area was included in the lake.
This date as well as that of the commencement of the work is given at several places in the poem, but of such instances where week-days are also mentioned one may be seen in ll. 41-44 of Slab IX.
• The term gajadhara is equivalent to sūtradhåra meaning "mason', literally 'holder of the yardatiok' (gaja: gaz 'yard").
. More or loss the same list is found towards the close of Slabe III, VI, VIII, IX and XXV. • From ink impressions,