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APPENDIX]
RAJAPRASASTI INSCRIPTION OF UDAIPUR
RAJAPRASASTI INSCRIPTION OF UDAIPUR
(Continued from Vol. XXIX, part V)
Abstract of contents
Slab I; Invocation The contents of the first slab are mostly invocatory, though the main theme of the inscription, namely the construction of the artificial lake called Rajasamudra, is alsc alluded to at places as in verse 3. The first thirteen verses constitute a Bhavanistötra, the following nine a Ganesastotra and the rest a Surya-stötra. There are altogether thirty stanzas, the concluding portion of the last one being destroyed. Although the first eulogy is designated as Bhavani-stötra, yet in it are invoked some other deities as well, such as Rāma in verse 1, Ramă in verse 5, Sarasvati in verse 6, and so forth. In the last verse of this stötra, that is in verse 13, the poet has introduced his name as Ranachhoda, whose parentage is given further on in the record.
Slab II ; Canto I The second slab also has an invocation in the beginning, comprising eight stanzas, collectively named in the inscription as Mangalāshtaka. From the first verse we gather that the temple of Ekalinga (13 miles to the north of Udaipur) was situated near the stream Kutila' on the top of the mount Vivara. It is indicated in verse 7 that Rāņā Rājasimha was a descendant of the solar race to which belonged Manu, the first of the kings. After the Mangalashtaka; verse 9 describes the poet Ranachhoda to be a Tēlanga Pandita, born in the Kathöndi family ; his father's name is given as Madhusudana, while his mother is one Vēni, daughter of the family of the Gosvamins. The same stanza speaks of Ranachhöda's two brothers whose names appear to be Bharata and Lakshmana, for whose teaching the Rāja prasasti was utilized. The next verse, i.e., verse 10, tells us that the king, while residing at Dhôdhurdā, commenced the construction of the great lake on the 7th day of the dark half of the month of Māgha in the year (or rather after the completion of the year) 1718 (of the Vikrama Samvat), and that the poet Raņachhöda at the same time began to compose the prasasti of that lake at the command of the king.
In verse 16 the poet says: 'I compose this work in the language of the gods, i.e., in Sanskrit, because the works composed in that language, like the Mahābhārata, are everlasting like the immortals themselves, whereas Bhashā works are short-lived as the mortals themselves.' Then, before
1 The inscription seems to have been noticed for the first time by Major A. N. Bruce, Political Agent at Hadoti, and Captain J.. Blair, Assistant Agent to the Governor General in Rājputāna, during their visit to Udaipur early in the eighties of the last century. Yaduraya, a Brahmana of Rajnagar, was sabeequently asked to transcribe the record and to despatch the transcript of each canto to Major Bruce as soon as it was complete. The text thus received by Major Bruce was being forwarded to Captain Blair at Tonk who had it translated into English by Pandit Ramkarna of Tonk. Sixteen cantos were thus transcribed and translated into English when the work suddenly stopped due to the sad dernise of the two English officers. The labour was, however, not wasted; for, Munshi Deviprasad prepared a summary of the contents of the sixteen cantos with the help of Pandit Ramkarna's translation and published it in Urdu as a brochure titled Tarikh Rajparahasti (Nawal Kishore Press, Cawnpore, 1884). The transcript was, however, defective as some namos bad either boon wrongly read or altogether omitted (including that of Hamir) by Deviprasad. Kaviraj Shyāmaldās published the text in the Viravinõda which was not accessible to us.
It is a small stream near the Eklingaji temple and is also mentioned in the Ekalinga-mahatmye of the time of Mahariņā Raimal. See Ojha, History of Udaipur State (in Hinds), Vol. I, p. 112, n. I. Perhaps the same stream is mentioned in the Singl-Rishi Inscription, v. 20. Soo above, Vol. XXIII, p. 237.
• Apparently connected with the Gosvamins of Näthadvari, whose ancestors originally came from the Telugu country. Vitthalanātha, the second son of Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Vallabha sect of the Vaishnavas Loquired the title of Gosvamin. This family was originally settled in Brindavan and Mathura but later on in V.8. 1728 moved to Nathadväră with the deity Ranchhödjf during the reign of Maharana Rajasimha out of four of molestation at the hands of Aurangzeb.
