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No. 53.] THE REWAH INSCRIPTION OF MALAYASIMHA, THE YEAR 944.
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No. 53. THE REWAH INSCRIPTION OF MALAYASIMHA, THE YEAR 944 BY PROF. R. D. BANERJI, M.A., BENARES.
The existence of this and two other inscriptions was brought to my notice by Diwan Bahadur Pandit Janki Prasad, M.A., LL.B., Home Member of the Council of Regency in the Rewah State, in April 1920. No information is available at present regarding the find-spot1 of this inscription and the date when it was brought to Rewah.
The record is incised on an oblong plain slab of sandstone, measuring 4' 3"x18". It consists of twenty-seven long lines of writing, and, with the exception of the words om svasti, at the beginning, and the date i numerals in 1. 26, is entirely in verse. The inscription is probably Buddhist as it opens with an invocation to Mañjughōsha, the Buddhist deity of learning, and mentions Buddha as Bhagavan in l. 20. There are altogether fifty-four verses in this record which are devoted to the description of the family of a feudatory chief named Malayasirhha, his chief officers, the composer of the prasasti and of the mason.
The characters belong to the central variety of the Nagari alphabet of the twelfth century A.D. The language of the record is Sanskrit, but on account of the carelessness of the mason, apparently, it contains many mistakes. The record refers itself to a king named Vijayasirhha who is mentioned in verse 5 as born of the family of Karnna. This king is again mentioned in 1. 26 in connection with the date in numerals. He is, no doubt, the same as the last homonymous Chedi king who ruled in pahala at least up to 1196 A.D. The date of the inscription is expressed both in words and in numerals: (Kalachuri-Chědi) year 944, the anka named' Sahasamalla on Friday the first of the bright half of Bhadrapada.
In the description of the family of Malayasirhha, the river Narmada is introduced in the fourth verse (1. 2). On the banks of that river was the city of Tripurt where ruled a king named Vijayadeva, born of the family of Karppa (v. 5). There was a chief named Jata, who was the adviser of the ancestors of this prince (v. 7). The illustrious Karppadeva had defeated his enemies with the aid of the force of the arms of Jäta (8). From him was born Yasaḥpāla, who was devoted to King Gayäkarppa (v. 9). Yasaḥpala's son was Padmasirhha (v. 11), who was the unrivalled minister of Vijayasimha (v. 12) and the younger brother of Chandrasirhha; Padmasimha's son was Kirttisirhha (v. 13), his son was Malayasirhha (v. 15). The description of this family occupies seven lines of this inscription.
The next seven lines are devoted to the description of Malayasimha. Talhanadevi seems to have been his mother. Some of his principal officers are named in ll. 14-15. The chief officer (Sarvvädhikarin), who was probably the Master of the Horse as well as the treasurer, was Rapasirhha, son of ri-Gargga. The minister and Superintendent of the distribution of betel-nuts (Tambula-dän-adhikritiprayuktah) was Harisirhha, son of Jagatsinha. Verses 34-40 are devoted to the description of the tank on the occasion of the excavation of which the prasasti was composed. In the 41st verse we are informed that the tank was completed at the cost of 1,500 fankakas stamped with (the effigy) of Bhagavan (i.e. the Buddha).
[According to the label on the impression of this inscription received from the Director General of Archmo logy in India, it was found near the Kastara tank in the Rewah taheil-Ed.].
[V. 5 gives Vijayadeva but 1. 26 has Vijayasimhadeva.-Ed.].
O Ind. Ant., Vol. XVII, pp. 227-28.
[The significance of sahasamallinke is not olear. Does it mean the year of Sahasamalla'? The word akba is at times used for goda or year, and Sahasamalla literally means athlete in boldness. But whether Sahasamalla refers to Vijayasimha or to some other personage or whether it has some other significance here is not known. Sähasinka, it may however be observed, is one of the epithets of Vikramaditya.-Ed.),
[Is it not the same tank where the inscription was found ?--Ed.).
