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CHRONOLOGY OF GUJARAT
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(B) Hari-Hara, a composite sculpture of Vişnu and Siva, from Osiā temple, Marwad. Plate XLVIII:
(B) Vāyu, from Śāmalāji, with name inscribed. Plate LXXIX:
(B) Inscription on the back-side of the Life-size Kotyarka Mahudi Bronze (Plate LIII).
The one line inscription on the back of its Prabhāvali, which could not be deciphered so far, has been read by Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra Shastri as under :
“From the ink-impression of the inscription, it can be made out that it contains the well-known Buddhist formula, namely, Ye dharmāh etc. It ends with Mahāśraranah instead of the more common form Mahāśramanah. The characters belong to a later period, say, after 800 A.D."
Another ink-impression, bit less clear, was sent to Dr. D. C. Sircar, Government Epigraphist for India, Ootacamund, South India, the too well-known Scholar-Editor of “Select Inscriptions". He was requested to decipher the same, so as to afford a clue regarding the identity of the bronze.
Dr. Sircar writes "Two of the words in the inscription appear to read Ch [ai] tya and Srāva [ka]. From the latter word, it may be possible to infer that it is a Jaina epigraph. ... The characters belong to the Southern alphabets and may be assigned to about the 8th or gth century A.D."
The word, however, read as Śrāva [ka] by Dr. Sircar has been read as Mahāśravanah by Dr. Chhabra, his ink-impression, perhaps, having been more clear. The conjecture of the letter [ka] may have been for [na] h. Thus the reading which Dr. Chhabra has given, may be accepted for our purpose.
This reading, conclusively settles the question regarding the religion to which the bronze belongs. It is purely Buddhistic. - See, Plate LII). Plate XC:
The image of Gadādhara Vişnu, known as Śāmalāji, from the long Gadā reaching the feet, and still in regular worship at the shrine of rather a later date, is in the sculptural style of Vişnu, from Bhinmāl (Plate XLII) and Tenne (Plate XLIV.), illustrated above. It may not be later than Sth century A.D. The shrine, on the banks of the Meśvo river has come to be more known after the recent discovery of the late Kșatrapa Period Stūpa and Vihāra at Devani Mori, the site of the village nearby.
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