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438
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
lines have been half or entirely effaced,' the injured spots becoming larger and larger towards the end of the inscription.
The workmanship is good. In the first line some of the anusváras have been made highly ornamental, being surrounded by three semi-circles, to the uppermost of which a stroke resembling a mátrá is attached. At the end there are two signs of good omen, the second of which is a Svastika. The name of the first is not known to me. It consists of an oblong with two small circles at the top and one in the centre and a triangle attached below. The characters are ordinary Devanagart of the 13th century. It must be noted that va does duty for ba and oa, and that the groups like jiy, ttva, ddya are invariably spelt jy, toa, and dya. In verse 45 we have the curious word Gurjarátráḥ corresponding to the modern Gujarat. In my opinion it has been coined out of the latter just like Suratrana out of Sultan and Garjanaka out of Ghaznav. Gujarat itself is probably a hybrid formation, the Arabic collective affix at, being added to the name of the Gurjara or Gujar clan.
The contents of the inscription, which, with the exception of the first and last words, is throughout metrical, are as follows:
(1) A mangala, verses 1-3, the first two being addressed to Siva, identified with the Bupreme Brahma.
(2) A eulogy of the temple and town of Somanátha, which the Moon founded in order to escape from the intolerable disease of consumption, verses 4-5.
(3) A eulogy of certain members of the Vastrákula race and of the Chauluk ya kings of Anhilvåd, verses 6-25.
(4) A eulogy of Sridhara, the representative of the Vastrákula family in Vikrama Samvat 1273, who built several temples at Devapattana, verses 26-51.
(5) A eulogy of an ascetic, Vimalasiva (?), who seems to have been the spiritual head of the Saivas or priest of the temple, verses 52-57.
(8) A notice of the author of the poem, whose name is lost, a prayer for the duration of the new temples and a notice of their architect (name lost) verses 58-60 and the date.
The eulogy of the Chauluk ya kings teaches us nothing new. They are all there from Malaraja I. to Bhimadeva II. with the exception of Bhimadeva I., whose name has been lost by a break in the first Pada of verse 16. Their description is almost entirely conventional. The only historical fact mentioned (verse 23) is that Bhimadeva II. built a Somekvaramandapa, or a hall connected with the temple of Siva, which bore the name Meghadhvani. The description of the Vastrákula family possesses greater interest. Verse 7 informs us that its Vedic gôtra was that of Sandilya, and that its home was Nagara, i.e. Vadnagar in northern Gujarat. To this race belonged yabhatta (verses 7-8) a pious astrologer, through whose benedictions king Mala, i.e. Mularaja, 1. enjoyed, untroubled by foes, for a long time his kingdom, which might raise envy in Inura's breast. Possibly this may mean that Uyabhatta was Mälaraja's Joshi or court-astrologer. This man had three sons, Madhava, Lala and Bhabha, whom the king charged with the supervision of his charities and commissioned to look after the digging of square and round wells and tanks as well as after the erection of houses of
• Thon letters, which are very faint or doubtful, have been enclosed between brackets.-[G. B.]
