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PEHOA PRASASTI OF THE REIGN OF MAHENDRAPALA.
243
The object of the inscription is to record the building, it would seem, of a triple temple of Vishnu, and it contains a 80-called Prabasti or eulogy, as is expressly stated in verse 26. It opens with a mangala of four verses, verses 1-2 being addressed to Vishnu. verse 3 to the Kurukshetra, and verse 4 to the sacred stream Sarasvati, which flows near Prithadaka-Pehoa. Verse 5 praises the ruling king of the country, Mahendra påla.
The next portion of the poem (verses 6—19) gives an account of certain members of the Tomara family (verse 6), the last three of which dedicated the temple mentioned in the inscription. The pedigree of the Tomaras enumerated is as follows:
JAula (verses 6-8). Vajrata, married to Mangaladori (verses 9-10).
Jajjuk, married to Chandra and to NAyik & (verses 11-18).
Gogga Parokrája
Devaraju (verse 14). (verses 16–16). (verses 17-19). Regarding Jaula it is said that he was a rájá, obtained prosperity by looking after the affairs of a king,' and built many temples. It appears, therefore, that he was in the civil employ of some king or other, and received, as was often the case with ministers and other high officials, the title of raja. How many generations intervened between him and Vajrata, the next person mentioned, cannot be made out. But the remark (verse 9) that the family was "the home of joyful, prospering intimates of kings," in. dicates that its members continued to hold high places in the service of their sovereigns. The same seems to have been the case with Vajrata, who, it is alleged, "gained a lofty exaltation through most pure business transactions." Jaula's title was probably likewise inherited by his descendants, since Gogga is called bhúnáthah, protector of the earth,' which appellation may be considered as a poetical rendering of the more prosaic rdja. If the general description in verses 11-19 may be trusted, Jajjuka and his three sons entered the military service of their sovereign. For nothing is said of their success in business, but their bravery and their victories over their enemies are highly extolled. Verse 20 states that the three brothers built here,' i.e., in Pehoa, temples of Vishnu, and verse 21 attributes (that) in the middle' to Gogga, (that) at the back to Porņardja, and (that) in front to Devaraja.' Nevertheless verse 22, which contains the usual wish for the long duration of the building, speaks only of one single temple (idam dyatanam). The only possible solution of this contradiction seems to be that the structure was a triple temple, containing three statues and three adyta, united under one roof. Temples of this description do occur elsewhere, and we still have a very fine specimen in the famous Vastupalavihara on Mount Girnar.:
The next verse (23) gives the name of the architect, Achyuta, son of Rama, who was a native of Kamboja, or a Kábuli. Verse 24 enumerates the names of three villages, Yakshapalaka, Gejjara, and Påtala, which were assigned for the bhoga of the deity,
• Compare the position of the ealogy of king Jayachchandra in the Baijnath Pribati, No. II, anto, p. 113, which likewise follows immediately after the mangala.
See Burgess's Archaological Surv. Rep. Western India, vol. II, pp. 169 ff. and Porgandon's Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 232, where the building is called the temple of Vastupale and Tejpala. [Other examples oor in the Dekhan, m, for example, the temple of Manakelvars at Lakkundi.-J. B.)
