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266 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVII Inscription C A Fragmentary Inscription of Mahāsēnāpati Bhattisoma Not far from the yüpa which bears the above inscriptions, there are two other pillars at Nändsā, situated only within a distance of about a quarter of a furlong from it, in the same lake. According to the information supplied by Mr. A. K. Vyas, M.A., Superintendent, Victoris Hall Museum, Udaipur, one of these pillars, which is uninscribed, is undamaged; but the other which was inscribed, was broken into several fragments by a stroke of lightning some years ago. One of these broken pieces has been preserved in the kõtāļi (store room) of the village and the inscription, which is being edited here for the first time, is inscribed upon it. It is unfortunate that other inscribed fragments of the pillar should not have been found. I am editing here the fragmentary record that is available, because even in its present condition it is historically important.
The inscription consists of seven lines of very uneven length. It does not seem very probable that there were any letters to the left of the present first five lines. It would then follow that they were shorter in length than the subsequent lines. How far each line extended to the rigt cannot be ascertained or inferred. Nor do we know whether the inscription began with y tsya, which is the opening word of its present first line. It did extend further than the seventh fire, for we can clearly see the medial matrā signs of the letters of the eighth line.
The engraving of the record is careful, and its letters show the same palæographical peculiarities as those in inscriptions A and B above. It would therefore appear to be not faz rol oved in time from them. Its extant portions contain no date, but we may place it in the 3rd century A. D.
The language is Sanskrit, but there is occasional influence of Prakrit, as in the forms sēnāpatisya and Sõgisya in 1. 8. The record was probably in prose; the word yasya in the first line and gralokāh in the second could, however, well have been the beginning and concluding words of a line of verse.
The first two lines were probably a eulogy of Mahāsānāpati Bhattisoma, as they state that all the worlds were filled by his fame'. The 3rd line reads : sva-dēše Kotiti[rthe], which would show that the fief of Bhattisoma was in the vicinity of Kõțītirtha. The passage probably refers to some of his benefactions at that holy place. There are several Kötītirthas in India in places like Banaras, Mathurā, Kurukshetra and Ujjayini, each of which boasts of one. Which one is intended here is difficult to say. The fourth line [pā]rsvē Salmali-vrikshah refers to a salmali tree in the vicinity of something. Why this tree is mentioned here we do not know. It was not one of the trees out of which & yüpa could be made. The fifth line is tāpas-aśrama-va[na] ; it probably refers to a forest given as an asrama to ascetics. The sixth line probably refers to something done by Bhattisoma for the increase of his family and gotra, and refers to his sons and grandsons. The last line describes Bhattisoma as & Mahäsēnāpati. In contemporary Maukhari, Satavahana and Ikshvāku records, this title seems to denote a feudal chief of considerable importance, ruling over a fairly big district. The same probably was the case with Bhattisoma.
Bhattisõma is further described here as a Sögi. We have seen above that the records of the Mālava chief [Sri ?Jsoma on the yüpa in the tank describe him as a leader of the Sögis. We have already discussed the significance of this term. It would appear that the Sögis were a subclan of the Mālavas and that some of their generals had acquired the leadership of the whole state.
Abovo, Vol. XXIII, p. 47; VOL. VIII, p. 94; and Vol. XIX, p. 1.
