________________
The
Vol. XVI
No. II
m
JAINA ANTIQUARY
" श्रीमत्परमगम्भीरस्याद्वादामोघलाञ्छनम् ।
29
जीयात् त्रैलोक्यनाथस्य शासनं जिनशासनम् ॥
ARRAH (INDIA)
[ अकलंकदेव ]
December 1950.
AN INSCRIPTION ON A JAINA IMAGE FROM PATUR, AKOLA. By
Sri Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya M. A.
About a year ago Mr. S. S. Patwardhan, Curator, Central Museum, Nagpur very kindly sent me at my request a number of photographs of some interesting Jina images preserved in his Museum, along with which an ink-impression of an inscription over the image of Suvidhi from Patur, Dist. Akola, was also sent. The present note is based on a reading of the inscription from the said ink-impression a photograph of which is reproduced here and I must acknowledge here the courtesy shown to me by Mr. Patwardhan in this regard and the help rendered by Mr. R. Gupta, Photographer, Indian Museum, Calcutta.
The inscription in three lines is written in the North Indian characters of the 12-13th Cent. A. D. and the language is Sanskri which is very much corrupt. The writing occupies a rectangular space measuring 10"x3", and the most interesting point to note here is that the letters vary considerably in their shape and size, some portion of the beginning of line 2 seems to have been peeled off rendering the reading of the text well nigh impossible in that portion.
The inscription refers itself to the year 1245 of the Vikram Samvat very peculiarly indicated by Sam Ma[m] for Sam Vat, corres
