Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 64

No. TWO INSCRIPTIONS OF THE TIME OF GOPALA
(2 Plates) D. C. SIROAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 11.9.1957) Both the inscriptions edited below are inscribed on stone slabs which are at present preserved in the Gwalior Museum. The first of them was found at Baraudl and the second at Narwargarh, both in the Shivapuri District of the former Gwalior State. The first record was noticed by M. B. Garde in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of the Gwalior State, V. S. 1979, No. 26, and the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1922-23, p. 187. The notices of the record in D. R. Bhandarkar's List of Inscriptions in Northern India, No. 597, and H. N. Dvivedi's Gwalior Rajyake Abhilekh, No. 132, are based on Garde's note. The second epigraph was noticed by Garde in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of the Gwalior State, V. S. 1971, No. 9. and in Ind. Ant., Vol. XLVII, p. 242. His views were similarly quoted by Bhandarkar, op. cit., No. 603, and Dvivedi, op. cit., No. 141. Unfortunately the published notices of both the inscriptions are based on incompleto and inaccurate transcripts. Some of the important details are omitted in the notices which contain several errors of omission and commission. They are edited here with the help of impressions prepared under my supervision about the end of 1952 when I visited Gwalior with a view to attending the Fifteenth Session of the Indian History Congress and examining the inscriptions preserved in the Gwalior Museum. Both the inscriptions, which were registered as Nos. 141 and 139 of the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, 1952-53, Appendix B, belong to the reign of the Yajvapāla or Jajapēlla king Gopala (known dates between 1279 and 1289 A. D.) of Nalapura. They contain each a prasasti recording the excavation of a väpi. The eulogies were composed by the poet Sivanābhaka belonging to a Mathura Kayasthe family hailing from Gwalior.
1. Baraudi Inscription of V. S. 1336 There are 29 lines of writing, which cover an area about 22 inches in length and about 184 inches in height. The preservation of the writing is not quite satisfactory as a number of letters are damaged here and there. The characters belong to the Dēvanagari alphabet of about the thirteenth century and closely resemble other contemporary inscriptions discovered in the area in question. The letter b has been indicated by the sign for v. The orthography of the inscription is also similar to that of other records of the age and area. Reduplication of a consonant after
is noticed only in a few cases. Anusvāra has been used for class nasals excepting some cases while it has taken the place of final mat the end of the first and second halves of stanzas in all cases. The language is Sanskrit and the whole composition, excepting a few passages at the beginning and end, is in verse. It is & prasasti composed in 30 stanzas. The verses are numbered, although there is a mistake in the numbering. The twentyfourth stanza is wrongly numbered as the twentythird and the mistake is continued in numbering the following vorge8. The date of the record is quoted in the last line 88 V.S. 1336, MärgabIrsha-vadi 6, Friday. It regularly corresponds to the 27th October 1279 A.D. The month was Purnimānta.
The inscription begins with the symbol for Siddham followed by the passage Ori namah Sivāya. Then follow the 30 stanzas of the prasasti. The first two of them (Vorbes 1-2) contain adoration to
18oo abovo, Vol. XXX, pp. 145 8. and Plate ; Vol. XXXI, pp. 323 ff. and Plates; Vol. XXXII, PP. 367 f. and Plates.
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