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60
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. IX.
College, Benares, in December 1903. In discussing these sculptures, Dr. Vogel also noticed this stone, but failed to ascertain its precise find-spot."
Judging from the rubbings, the slab which bears the extant portion of the inscription measures 26" by 15" (66 cm. by 38 cm.). The stone-mason has done his work with great care and neatness, and the letters are deeply cut.
The inscription consists of eight lines, but it is far from complete. About one-fifth of the entire slab is broken away along the proper left edge, and consequently lines 1-7 have each lost a number of syllables, which varies from nine to fourteen. The first three syllables of the first line and the first akshara of the second line have also disappeared owing to a small piece of stone having chipped off from the upper right corner. The record is further damaged by the surface having more or less peeled off in the marginal portions.
The characters of the inscription very closely resemble those of an inscription from Jhalrapatan and are of the ornamental type current in Northern India about the beginning of the eighth century A.D. Attention must, however, be drawn to the letters bh and y. The former of these always, and the latter in several cases, exhibit forms which come very close to those of the Maukhari alphabet of the sixth century A.D. The language is correct Sanskrit and metrical throughout. As regards orthography, there are three different points which deserve notice: (1) the doubling of the letters m, t, p and v in conjunction with a preceding or following r, in maranayor-mmoksha-, 1. 1; yattra, 1. 2; attra and -mûrttiḥ, 1. 4; sarppatsarppa- and -ruchir-vvilôla-, 1. 6; (2) the substitution of a single consonant for a double one in tatva-, 1. 3; -vritya, 1. 4; ujvalam, 1. 7; and (3) the use of e for b in vrahmaha, 1. 2, and sandhivandha-, 1. 7.
The inscription is not dated, and its object is to record the erection of a shrine of Bhavani at Benares. There are altogether five verses, the first three in the Sragdhard and the last two in the Sârdúlavikridita metre. The first stanza is devoted to the praise of the city of Varanasi. The purport of the second verse is not quite certain; it seems to speak of a particular quarter of the holy city, which was often visited even by the moon when practising her penance. The third verse contains an eulogy of the builder of the shrine, named Pantha, and the last two speak of the consecration of the Bhavânî image (?) and the construction of the shrine, respectively.
TEXT.
1 [Om svasti *] [Khyâ]tâ Vârânas-iyam tribhuvana-bhavan-âbhoga-chaur-îti dârât= sêvante yâm virakta janana-maranayor-mmôksha-sakt-aika-[chi]ttah [1] sô
2 [ta] sagano yattra dêvô vimuktaḥ yâm drishtvå vra(bra)hmah-api chyuta-kalikalushô jayatê suddha-bhavaḥ || [1] Asylmuttungs-ipiaga-aphuṭa-éa[bi]kirana-[évêta-bhâsâ sanatham ramy-âyâma"]
vidya-vêdartha-tatva(ttva)-vrata-japa
3 pratôli-vividha-ja tapada-stri-vilâs-Abhiramam |
niyama-vyagra-chandr-abhijushtam érimat-sthanam [pri]thivy
kritajñaḥ fuchi-tt*]
11 [2*]
4 Attr-ábhût-Pantha-nama sisur-api vinaya-vyapato. bhadra-marttiḥ tyagi dhirah parilaghe-vibhard-py-dima-Frity (ty)-&bhitu[shtab | Ganga-srotas
1 Annual Report of the Lucknow Provincial Museum for 1903-4, p. 2. Archeological Survey Report for 1908-4, p. 212.
Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 180 and Plate.
Eg. in yattra, jayaté, 1. 2; vinaya, 1. 4; and yéna, 1. 5.
[In my own transcript this word was misread as drya-.-E. H.]
This restoration is based on the preceding abhits and dima-vritty&.
