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330
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
cases on the top of letters and their flourishes extend to several letters on the right and left, which, owing to the unsatisfactory preservation of the original, cause not a little confusion in decipherment. Some of the letters such as j and r appear more developed here than in the other inscription from Kaman edited by Pandit Bhagwanlal Indraji. It may again be noted that the signs for the medial i and i in the latter record do not appear wholly over the top of letters as they do in the present one.
[VOL. XXIV.
The language is Sanskrit. Except for the opening om namaḥ Sivaya and the particulars of the dates here and there, the whole inscription appears to have been metrically composed. The verses are not numbered and in the present damaged condition of the record it is not possible to state their total number. The orthography shows the usual peculiarities such as the use of ri for the vowel ri and vice versa (see tritiyāyāṁ 1. 13 and chatastrimsan= 1. 18), of for b (as in Kamvali 1. 23), and of m for anusvära and sh for visarga (see Samvat 1. 13 and =arikalpatash-pratimasam 11. 16-17), unless the latter is meant to be the sign for upadhmāniya.
The present record is of the same type as the Siyaḍoni1 and Ahar' inscriptions, being a collective public copy of a number of deeds recording donations and endowments made from time to time in favour of a deity, apparently Siva, installed in a temple at Kamyaka. The record itself is not dated but its preserved portion contains seven dates of an unspecified era ranging from the year 180 to 299. The month, fortnight and tithi were stated in each case, but some of these particulars have now become illegible in two cases. As the week-day or the nakshatra has not been specified in connection with any of them, the dates do not admit of verification, but the palæography of the record leaves no doubt that they must be referred. to the Harsha era. It may be noted in this connection that Käman is only about 85 miles south-west of Ahär, the stone inscription of which contains several dates of the Harsha era. If we except the date 563 of the Pañjaur inscription, the year 299 mentioned towards the close of the present record is the latest known date of this era. The dates mentioned here thus range from A.D. 786-87 to 905-06.
The unsatisfactory condition of the inscription does not admit of a detailed and connected account of its contents. It falls into two parts which are separated from each other by an ornamental figure in 1. 123. The first part, which is almost wholly effaced, probably contained a description of the person who built the temple of Siva where the present record was evidently put up and of the Saiva Acharyas who were successively in charge of it, while the second part registers the deeds recording the donations and endowments made to the deity from time to time.
After the customary obeisance to Siva, the record seems to have had two verses invoking blessings of that deity. The third line mentions a Brahmana (Bhatta) named Kakkuka, who lived in a place the name of which appears to be Rōhitaka. He is described as a destroyer of bis enemies. The next line speaks of several sons, apparently of this Kakkuka, who attained noble fame by their excellent qualities. The eldest of them whose name appears to be Untata is described in 1. 6. The next two lines speak of a temple (matha), apparently of Siva, erected by the same person, having realized the transitoriness (of earthly fortune). The following three or four lines (9-12) mentioned some successions of Saiva ascetics, but unfortunately almost all their names are lost".
Above, Vol. I, pp. 162 ff.
There is a similar figure in 1. 11 also.
One Untata is also mentioned in 1. 19.
The name of one of them mentioned in 1. 10 appears to be Gunarasi.
2 Ibid., Vol. XIX, pp. 52 ff.
