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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVIII
Sivakara II and then by his younger son śāntikara I, he seems to have flourished considerably before the end of the seventh century. It, however, seems that our record was incised when Subhākara I may not have been on the throne. The inscription under discussion may thus roughly be assigned to the third or fourth quarter of the seventh century.
The inscription begins with the usual symbol for siddham or siddhir=astu. Line 1 of the epigraph seems to have contained a complete verse in the Aryä metre. This is suggested by the fact that line 2 begins with a different verse in the Sārdülavikridita metre. Of the verse in line 1, only the first foot and nine syllables as well as traces of four more aksharas of the second foot are found. That the right part of this line, that has been broken away and lost, contained a little above twenty aksharas appears to be suggested quite clearly by lines 9-11 of the inscription. Line 9 begins with a verse in the Indravajrā or Upajāti metre which ends with the word hattah followed by two dandas at the commencement of the next line. Then follows a verse in the Mālini metre ending with the word yasya followed by two dandas and the expression tēn=aitato forming the beginning of another verse in a metre other than the Mālini. This analysis shows that no less than twenty-one syllables are lost at the end of line 9 and twenty-three at the end of the following line.
The extant portion of verse 1 containing the words "alir=avatu," let the bee protect [us]", is apparently in adoration of some deity. The reference to the god as a bee reminds us of the mention of Vishnu as “the mighty bee on the lotus which is the face of Jämbavati" in the Tusham rock inscription. But the god adored in the first verse of our epigraph is probably Siva as the Construction of a temple of that god is the main subject recorded in the inscription.
Verse 2 says that there was a mighty king in the Bhauma family whose name was ($u*]bhākara. The past tense in the verb ăsit may suggest that the inscription was engraved after the death of the king. As we know, there were no less than four kings of this name in the Bhauma-Kara dynasty of Orissa, although the reference to the family as Bhauma in the present record and not as Kara no doubt points to an earlier ruler of the family. The identity of Subhākara mentioned here is, however, made clear by the following verse (verse 3) which speaks of queen Madhavadēvi apparently as the wife of the king referred to in the previous verse. As known from the Chaurasi plate of Sivakara II, son of Subhākara I, queen Madhavadēvi, whose name is often wrongly supposed to be Mädhavidēvi, was the wife of king Subhākara I and the mother of Sivakara II. The second half of verse 3 says how a temple of the god Bhava (i.e., Siva), entitled Madhavēsvara, was built.
There is no doubt that the temple was built and the deity was installed on behalf of the queen Madhavadēvi and that the god (probably in the form of a linga) was styled Madhavēsvara after her name in accordance with an old practice followed in different parts of India. Verse 4 seems to compare the temple with Siva's residence on Mount Kailāsa and also to record the appointment of & Saiva acharya for conducting the worship of the deity installed. Verse 5 refers to a vāpi or tank that must have been excavated near the temple in question. The old tank, on the bank of which the ruins of the Hamsēsvara temple at Jajpur stand, is possibly no other than the väpi mentioned in this verse. The next verse (verse 6) speaks of a hallah, a market or a fair.' that seems to have been established or organised in a locality in the vicinity of the temple and the tank. Possibly the income of the hatta was assigned to the temple. Verse 7 refers to a person who did
1 The date of the Chaurasi plate of this king (J. B. O. R. 8., Vol. XIV, pp. 292 ff. and Vol. XV. PP. 572-573 and platea) is doubtful.
*Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. II, p. 270. There is no reference to any boe in the present inscription. See note 3 on p. 183 below Ed.]
J. B.O. R. 8., Vol. XIV, pp. 292-306; Misra, op. cit., p. 8.
Cf. the cases of Prithiviivars named after Prithivishang (Select Inscriptions, p. 293), Mihirēsvara avidently Damed after Mihiralakshmi (Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. III, pp. 288-89), and numerous other later instances recorded In theoription. Flont's interpretation of the name Mühire vars as a form of the god sien combined with the Ban" is no doubt wrong.
