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FOL. IX.
already, married Lâhiņi. After his death, his widow went to her brother's home, and was settled at the town of Vata which in the course of time had fallen into decay.
12
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
The town of Vata (Vața-nagara, Vata-pura) is glorified in verses 20-25. Here it will be sufficient to say that it is stated to have been founded by the sage Vasishṭha, that it was situated on a river named Sarasvati, and that its inhabitants are described as devoted to the worship of the Sun. That the queen Lâhiņi restored there an ancient temple of the Sun and restored or founded a tank, has been already mentioned.
The inscription (according to verses 33 and 34) was composed by the Brahman Mâtrisarman, the son of Hari, and engraved by Sivapâla, the son of the sûtradhara Dêaka, who was the son of Durga (Durgårka, i.e. Durgâditya), the son of the sthapati ('architect, carpenter,' etc.) Någa. It ends (v. 35) with the date: the ninth tithi of the dark half of the month Nabha, i.e. Śrâvana, the moon being in (the nakshatra) Mrigasiras, of the year (given in words) 1099 in the time of Vikramaditya, 'in the place' (sthanake) of Chitrabhânu. By this last expression I understand the author to say that the date fell in the Jovian year Chitrabhánu. This year can be combined with the Vikrama year 1099 only, when the latter is taken to be the expired Chaitrádi Vikrama year 1099, and Chitrabhânu to be the Jovian year so named according to the southern system. For that year the date would correspond to the 12th August A.D. 1042, when the 9th tithi of the dark half of the amânta Śrâvana ended 10 h. 46 m., while the nakshatra was Mrigasîrsha by the equal space system and according to Garga for 15 h. 46 m., and by the Brahma-siddhânta for 14 h. 27 m., after mean sunrise. The date is the earliest date of the Vikrama era that quotes a Jovian year, and, with the exception of quite modern dates, the only Vikrama date in which a Jovian year is quoted according to the southern system. It also is the earliest known date in which we find the expression Vikramaditya-kálé.
The Pramâra or Paramâra chiefs mentioned in this inscription ruled the Arbuda-mandala, i.e. a tract of country called after Arbuda, the modern Mount Abû. They are probably closely connected with the Paramâras of Chandrâvati, mentioned, e.g., above, Vol. VIII. p. 201. Regarding Vigraharaja and his ancestors I cannot offer any remark.
The places Vata and Badari in Vamsaratha (v. 14) I am unable to identify. Vața must be an old place, being mentioned already in the Vasantgadh inscription of Varmalata of the [Vikrama] year 682, and in a somewhat earlier inscription which was found at the village of Sâmoli in the Bhômata district of Mêvâd, and of which Mr. Ojha has sent me impressions. If not identical with Vasantgaḍh itself, it must be looked for close to it.
1
TEXT.3
•* [Ma]hêśvara[m] || [P]rê chêtasam tathân Vânia= prasastis-sukritâ mayà || [1] Jyotir-jyôtividâm savaḥ sava-dhiyâm dhishnyam param varchchasâm || bhaktânâm dhanadaḥ smritaḥ kalusbaha sa[m=a]samvṛitam matimatâm dâtâ cha
sat
karmmanâm || pây&d=vô Vasu-Siddha-Kinnara-nutas trailôkya-dipo Harih || [2*] "Vasishtha-kôpâj-janitaḥ kumaraḥ Pramarat-âvâpa ya.7
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1 The exact meaning of verse 20 is not clear to me, and there is a doubtful passage in verse 23.
2 By the northern system Chitrabhânu lasted from the 11th September A.D. 1039 to the 6th September A.D. 1040. From impressions supplied by Mr. Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha. Below "Ed." denotes the text in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. Vol. X. p. 671; I quote from it only a few passages, to show what that text is like.
About 15 or 16 aksharas are broken away at the commencemeat of the line. Ed. has Pranamya Hariputr[4]na kaviná Mátṛisarmmand I suh[ri]ddhitatarám Vántin; but this, with the exception of the word Vant, is a pure invention, suggested by verse 33 of the text.- M
shiubh).
Metre: Sardalavikridita.- Jy6tividAm for the sake of the tre forvidam. 6 Metre of verses 3-8: Upêndravajra, Indravajra anda
I.., apparently, from whom the Praiåra family tek is in formed on the analogy of bandhutá, janaté, etc.
wad Pramáratá seems to have been
