________________
No. 15.]
MULGUND INSCRIPTION OF KRISHNA II: A.D. 902-903.
191
still several influences of the earlier type. Of the test-letters kh, n, j, b, and 1, the ni does not oocur, but the others are all found : we have the kh five times, in 11. 1, 4, 5, 8, 9; the j fourteen times twice subscript), in ll. 1, 3, 5 to 8, 10, 11, 12; the b three times (onge subscript), in 11. 4, 12; and the l eight times, and four times subscript, in 11. 3, 7, 10 to 13. The subscript I still shows strongly the influence of the earlier, square type. But the l itself and the kh, j, and b are all of the later, cursive type. Other noteworthy points are as follows: We have an initial short a in l. 6, formed entirely between the two lines of the writing; and An initial e, both short and long, in 11. 9, 13. There are final forms of t at the end of 1.3, and n near the end of 1. 4. As regards vowels attached to consonants, the long à is formed sometimes by only a slight curve downwards, as in the khyā of prabhakhyaya, 1. 1; sometimes by a stroke coming about half-way down, as in the bhā of the same word; and sometimes by a stroke continued quite to the bottom of the consonant, as in rags, 1. 3. The 2 is formed sometimes on the left of the letter, according to the earlier fashion, as in vēdine, 1. 1, and sometimes by a superscript mark, as in the first three words in the same line : the fourth word, frēyasē, presents it in both forms. The ai, which we have three times, in jaina, l. 1, nagaraih, 1, 11, and brāhmanais, 1. 12, is of the earlier type, made by two 7-strokes, one above the consonant and one oa the left of it: in the earlier stage both these two strokes were placed on the left of the consonant. The o presents a different form in each of the five cases in which it occurs : in otkarshē, l. 3, it has its own separate form, of the later type : in onnata, 1. 5, it has an intermediate form in tanayo, anujo, and prodyuktas, 1. 6, it is formed on the earlier lines, as a combination of an 8-stroke on the left and an ā-stroke on the right. The au is found in maukha, 1. 8, and is of the earlier type, made partly by the e-stroke on the left of the letter. The m is still of the earlier type, to the extent that the turned up stroke on the right of it is made from half-way up the body of the letter, not from the bottom of it. The k and r, letters about which there is more to be said on another occasion, are almost entirely of the later type, being broadened and shortened so as to be formed very nearly quite between the two lines of the writing. The rare chh occurs in l. 1, in chhandra, by mistake for chandra.
The language is Sanskrit, five verses and then prose: there are several mistakes. The record presents two unusual words : in l. 8 maukha, which seems to be used in the sense of mukhya, 'original, first, principal, chief', and to mean here & chief disciple'; and in 1. 6 prodyukta (not found in dictionaries), used in the sense of, and perhaps actually standing for, udyukta, zealously active'.1 In respect of orthography we may note (1) a somewhat free use of the Kanarese instead of l in Sanskrit words in kaļa, 1. 2; sakaļa, 1. 3; pālayati and dhavala, 1. 4; kusala, 1. 6; and nakula, 1.9: but the l is retained in alaya, 11. 7, 11, and kula, 1. 12, and of course in vallabha, 1.3, and valli, valli, 11. 10, 11, 13: and (2) the use of $ for s four times in the word sēna, &s & name and part of a namo, in 1. 8.
The inscription refers itself to the time of a king Krishṇavallabha, by whom it means the Răshtrakūta king Krishna II. It tells us that some officer of hig, whom it mentions as Vinayāmbudhi, the Ocean of Modest Behaviour", was governing a district which it calls the Dhavala-vishaya. It then recites that at the city Muļgunda, in that district, a certain Chikarya, son of Chandrarya, a merchant, founded a temple of Jina. And finally, its special object is to record the grant to that templa of three fields, each of the capacity of one thousand betel-creepers. One of these fields was given by Arasarya, a son of the Chikārya who founded the temple. The second was given by four head-men of guilds, who are not namod. The third was given, in a very liberal-minded fashion, by some unnamed Brāhmans of the Bellala family. The grants were given in trust for the temple to a Jain teacher or priest named Kanakasēna, of the Sēna lineage, a disciple of Virasēna, who had apparently been the chief disciple of an Achārya named Kanakasēna. The Sēna-anyaya, to which these teachers
See note 3, p. 193, below the text.
