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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. III.
2 sakala-rájávalt-purvaml Gallakajatiya-srêshthi-Mûlajoga bharya &rdo-Modhi tatha
613 ta-gandhika-Jôjá bhâryâ Shêvada tathå putra-Jayatå-dvitiyaputra-Jasadeva
tsitiyaputra4 Jasapála-prabhpitaya Sr-Gôvarddhana-marttis namaskaranárstthal Sva-śrêyasê
pūrvajânâm srêyo5 bhivriddhayê sva bhaktyå kärápita || Sätrao_Vimjhadêva-putra-sutra"-Raghavēna(pa)
ghatità || chha [ll]
No. 42.-SITABALDI INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF VIKRAMADITYA VI.;
SAKA-SAMVAT 1008.
BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., LL.D., C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN. This inscription is on an elaborately sculptured pillar which was found by the late General Sir A. Cunningham at Sitâbaldi, near Nagpur, in the Central Provinces, and is now in the Government Museum at Nagpur.7 To judge from the photograph before me, the sculptured part of the pillar measures about 5' high by 2}' broad, of which the inscription occupies the middle portion. Above the inscription is a row of small figures, and above these are, in the centre & linga, and on the two sides of it representations of the gods Brahman and Vishņu; below the inscription are some cows and calves, and below these there is again a row of small figures, apparently fighting. I edit the inscription from an estampage, supplied to me some years ago by Dr. Fleet.
The inscription contains 11 lines of writing which covers a space of about 2' broad by 11" higb, and is fairly well preserved. The size of the letters is about l' in the upper lines, and rather less than in the lower ones. The characters are Någari. The language is very incorrect Sanskrit, and the whole is in prose. In respect of orthography, it will be sufficient to note that the consonant b, with perhaps one exception, is expressed by the sign for v, and that the dental sibilant is generally employed for the palatal, and the palatal once for the dental (in saha braváhu, 1. 6). As regards grammar and lexicography, attention may especially be drawn to the Pråkpit termination in saku, 1. 1, ddsu, 1. 8, tatparu and dhavalu, 1. 9, and dvddasu, 1. 10; to the employment of the words chadaka, 1. 5, and panati, 's great-grandson,' and nitt,
a grandson,' 1. 8, which must have been taken from the author's vernacular; and to the peculiar construction of the numerals in line 10.
Opening with the words orn, may it be well,' and a date which will be considered below, the inscription (in lines 2-4) refers itself to the reign of victory of the refuge of the universe, the favourite of Fortune and of the Earth,' the Maharajadhiraja Paramésvara Paramabhaftáraka, the glorious Tribhuvanamalladeva, the frontal ornament of the family of Satyasraya and
1 With this phrase, for the employment of which there was no reason bere, compare rdjdvalt-pdreram in Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 191, line 1 of the inscription.
j.e. breshthint.
The superscript line of 6 is very faint in the estampage. • i.e. prabhsitayaḥ, for-prabhritibhin. . Read mirttir,
Si.e. sutradhdra.. 7 See Archæol. Survey of India, Vol. VII. p. 142; and the Gazetteer of the Central Provinces, p. 341. • In the name Bópapai in line & if my reading of it is correct. • Compare Ind. An. Vol. XVI. p. 207.
