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No. 16]
CHATESVARA TEMPLE INSCRIPTION 20 यौवन(नं) गिर(रि)नदीसलिलगत्वराणि चैश्वव्ण्याकल्या(लय्या)स्मद्दायोनुमंतव्यः
पालयितव्यश्चेत्युक्तञ्च भगवता वेदव्यास(से)न 21 व्यासेन [*] 'व(ष)ष्टिवर्ष (र्ष)सहस्राणि स्वर्गे मोदति भूमिदः [*] प्रा.
च्छेत्ता चानुम(मं)ता च तान्येव नरके वसेत् ॥१॥*1 विध्याटवीष्वतोया22 सु शुष्ककोटरवासिनः[*] कृष्णाहयो हि जायन्ते भूमिदायं हरन्ति ये [२॥*]
बहुभिर्वसुधा भुक्ता राजभिः सगरादिभिः [*] यस्य य23 स्य यदा भूमिस्तस्य तस्य तदा फल(लम्) [॥३॥*] पूर्वदत्तां द्विजातिभ्यो
यत्नाद्रक्ष युधिष्ठर [*] महीं महीमतां श्रेष्ठं दानाच्छ,योनुपा24 लनाम्*] [॥४॥*] संवत्सरशतषट्के द्वघुत्तरके [फाल्गुण(न)बहुलः' दशम्यां लिखि
त(तं) चैतत्सान्धिविग्रहिकरामाने (गे)ति ॥*]
No. 16-CHATESVARA TEMPLE INSCRIPTION
(1 Plate)
B. CH. CHHABRA, NEW DELHI This beautiful prasasti is neatly engraved on a well-dressed, slab of black granite. It is kept in the temple of Siva, that goes by the name of Chatosvara, in the village of Kisnapur or Kisanpur (Krishnapura), in the Cuttack District of Orissa. This village is situated about 12 miles northeast from the town of Cuttack. The inscription seems to bave been examined first by Bābu Nagēndranātha Vasu as early as November 1893. He noticed it in Bengali, in 1894, in his Visvakosha, Vol. VI, p. 229. Later on, in August, 1898 he read a paper on it, giving its full text and translation, which has been published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Vol. LXVII. 1898. Part I (History, Antiquities, etc.), pp. 317-327. No facsimile of this prasasti has so far been published elsewhere.
After Vasu's treatment of this inscription, no other scholar seems to have cared to examine it closely, though it has been referred to by various scholars in connection with the history of Orissa. In the winter of 1938, the writer of this article, in the course of his official tour in Orissa, happened to visit Kisnapur, where be studied the inscription from the original slab. As a result thereef, it was found that the text presented by Vasu is as inaccurate in places as his interpretation of it is erroneous. The present writer had occasion to comment on this inscription in the Hindi monthly Itihasa, September 1961, pp. 166-168, as also in the Orissa Historical Research Journal, Vol. I. 1952, pp. 11-13, where the importance of the inscription as well as a few examples of the defects in Vasu's treatment of it has been pointed out. These may be considered as enough justification for a re-edition of the inscription.
1 Metre of verses 1-4: Anushubh. * This visarga is superfluous. 3 DGA/63
