________________
860
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XVII.
The inscription, however, seems to have aroused little interest at the time of the discovery, and its existence was unknown to the gentry of Dacca. In April 1911 Mr. R. D. Banerji, M.A., of the Archeological Survey, and some friends discovered it, and from that time it has been known to the public.
In August 1911 Mr. Banerji published a reading of this inscription in the Bhadra, 1318 (B.S.), number of the Pratibha, the journal of the Dacca Sahitya Parishat in an article on king Lakshmana-söna of Bengal. Four months later, in the Pausha number of the same journal, in & long article on the Sdna kings of Bengal, I gave my reading of the inscription. In June 1912 I published the inscription, with a half-tone reproduction of both the inscription and the image, in the Dacca Review, in an article on the era of king Lakshmapa-sēna. In J. A. 8. B., July 1913 Mr. Banerji re-published it in his article on king Lakshmana-sõna: The inscription has thug been published four times; yet it cannot be said that up to this time it has been properly edited Mr. Banerji's reading in the J. A. S. B., as well as his description of the image, is not free from mistakes.
The image is about 30' high and is a rather fine example of Bengal sculpture of the time of the Senas. The goddess has four arms and she stands in a graceful tribhariga pose on a fullblown lotus over a couchant lion. Her apper left hand holds a bunch consisting of a half-blown lotus with some buds and leaves. The lower left hand holds an ornamental basket-like thing, either a flower basket or a waterpot. The upper right hand holds an elephant-goad and the lower one is in the Varada-Mudra. Two attendant female figures stand on the two sides of the goddess, and two elephants are pouring water over her from two pitchers. She seems to be a curious mixture of Gaja-Lakshmi and Chaudi and may represent the Sakti of the god Harihara.
The inscription is in an excellent state of preservation. The inscribed surface is about 9?" in length, and the characters are approximately high. The characters may be called Bengali characters of the 12th century A.D. They are not very well executed and are far inferior in execution to those of the Deopara inscription of Vijaya-sēna. They may be compared in style and coarse execution to the Buddha Gaya inscription of Asokachalla-deva execated in the 51st atita-rajya year of Lakshmana-8ðna-dēva (Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XII, p. 29). In this connection I may lay stress on a fact which is sometimes forgotten. Printed types have accustomed us to a standard; but in ancient times contemporary inscriptions varied as much in style as handwritings; because the inscriptions were always written with ink or lac on the surfaces to be inscribed and were then engraved by sculptors who were not always literate.
The inscription refers itself to the third year of the era of king Lakshmaņa-Bēna of the Sens dynasty of Bengal. As the era has been proved to have begun in 1119 A.D., the inscription must have been incised in the year 1121 A.D. It records that Adhikrita Damodara, son of Maladatta, began the image of Chandi in the third year of the era of Lakshmanasēna and that his relative (younger brother?) Nārāyaṇa installed the image in the fourth year. The inscription is in two lines on three sections. I edit it from the original stone. The language is incorrect &inskrit. Suta and adhikrita, which should have been in the 3rd case according to grammatical rules, are both used in the 1st case.
TEXT.
1 श्रीममाण- मालदे(द)त्तसुत अधिक्षतः श्रीदामोदरे- श्रीनारायणन 2 सेन देवस्व सं १. श्रीचणीदेवी समारहा तबादकना-प्रतिष्ठितेति ॥
Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIX, p. 1.
