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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XVIII.
The characters are cute-ar gled and belong to the Eastern variety prevalent in the ninth century A. D. over the larger portion of Northern India.
The inscription, as was pointed out by the late Dr. Bloch long ago, is full of orthographical blunders and was apparently written very carelessly. A number of letters have been lost at the end of each line, except the fourth. Calculating on the basis of completing the first two slokas, we find that at least 15 letters must have been lost in the first line and 11 in the second. Owing to the incompleteness of the record and inaccuracy of the scribe, it is not possible to give a connected account of the contents of the inscription. The opening benedictory verse must be taken as referring to Siva, as it mentions the serpent-girdle, bull emblem and the moon. The purport of the second verse, which probably commences in the second line and ends in the third, is very obscure. The end of the last line seems to refer to a stone image of the divine Näriyana.. The text is edited from two impressions prepared at my instance.
TEXT. 1 Om' [l*) Havamtu töchhoyamuragēndra-sūtram vrisha-dhvajam sõma-jaga(t)
prakāśam | ma...... 2 Bhagav'atis-tu Sūrija | Satvas-tu Dévi bhuvi märtti-loke
snānē . . . . . . 3 ika-sūdro dvija-varņņa’-nāri-sēvyas-tu dēvi bhagavatis-tu Sūrjja || pi *** 4 nā[ma]pa dhavadi (?) | Bhagavató Nārāyana (sya] saili pratima' bhaktyantam
No. 38.--POLONNARUVA INSCRIPTION OF VIJAYABAHU I.
By S. PARANAVITANA, OOTACAMUND. The subjoined inscription is engraved on & stone slab lying to the west of Vihāra No. 1, about 50 feet north-east of the Latāmandāpaya in Polonnaruva, the mediaeval capital of the kings of Ceylon. It was first discovered and brought to notice by Mr. H. C. P. Bell, C.C.S., the late Archæological Commissioner of Ceylon, who sent inked estampages of it, for examination, to the Government Epigraphist for India. Mr. H. Krishna Sastri in his Annual Report on Epigraphy for the year 1913, has discussed the historical importance of this record. An account of the inscription, with translation of it, has also been published by Mr. H.C. P. Bell in the Annual Report of the Archeological Survey of Ceylon for the year 1911-12. The text of the inscription has recently been published in the South Indian Inscriptions (Texts), Vol. IV (No. 1396). The present article is prepared with the help of an impression preserved in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India, and of another kindly supplied by the Archæo. logical Commissioner of Ceylon. I am much indebted to Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sustri and
1 Expressed by a symbol
* Correct bhavantu or Bhavani fri. The metre seems to be upajati although the first akshara of the second line does not conform to the soanning. [What is meant here is probably Bhavaa Tri(Tri)-nétram-Ed.]
Possibly this is to be corrected "lökyaa' or ldchyan'.
• This expression is repeated at the end of the third verse, in line 3. The correct reading is possibly Bhagavali tu Suryah' or Bhagavä tuutu Süryah."
. The metre is probably upajäli, but the fifth Akshara is short instead of long. (The original reada Satu-astra. -Ed.] • Apparently mariyaloke is intended.
*[The original has earnna.-Ed.] • va is written below the line
Correct Pratima. 1 Correct bhailddam (?). [The original reads blaktyårsnäb.-Ed.]
