________________
164
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXI
they should comply with the request of Vasudeva and allow him to enjoy the merit of his good deed, as by this compliance they will also earn a part of the merit.'
The inscription belongs to the reign of king Kirtivarman, who might be the Chandellä Kirtivarman, brother of Devavarman and son of Vijayapala. It is dated Samvat (V.S.) 1147, Maghasudi 7, Rēvati-nakshatra, which, if the year is taken as current, corresponds to Thursday, January 10, 1090 A.D.
The present inscription gives for Kirtivarman a date seven years earlier than the date, V.S. 1154, so far known for him from the Deogarh inscription. I have already suggested in this journals that Kirtivarman ascended the throne sometime between 1061 and 1072 A.D. Recently Dr. Sircar has published an inscriptions of the same king dated in V.S. 1132, which is fifteen years earlier than the date recorded in the present inscription. Kirtivarman ruled for a few years after 1098 A.D., his last known date from the Deogarh inscription. The earliest known date of his grandson Jayavarman falls in 1117 A.D. Between the two ruled Sallakshanavarman, son of Kirtivarman; but no record of his time has been discovered. This suggests that Sallakshanavarman had a short reign. He may have succeeded Kirtivarman about 1105 A.D. The inscription for the first time makes mention of the name of the guru of Kirtivarman and of his patronage to the Saivas and the Pasupatas, two schools of Saivism.
The prasasti was composed by the Kayastha Thakkura Devapala, son of Paya, and the mandapa was built by the sutradhara Rama, who is mentioned in another Kalañjara inscription dated 1131 A.D., when his son Rupakāra Lahada made an image of Nilakantha."
The scribe, who appears to have omitted a portion of the text which he later on incised in the margin, has drawn the attention of the reader to it by adding a note at the end of the main record saying 'the wise will read the small inscription also". The marginal note seems to state that the two ploughs of land were donated by Vasudeva.
1 If my reading of this portion of the text as gadakadvaya-daněna is correct, it seems that Vasudeva requested Srimurti for permission to donate two pots of water and gain the merit of this pious deed. The practice of setting up over the lingam, for the duration of the summer, of two pots of water from which water falls on the lingam drop by drop is not only common, but is regarded as a highly pious deed.
[The preceptor of king Kirtivarman is mentioned in verse 2 as Sri-mürti which does not appear to be his personal name but looks like an honorific expression like bri-mukha, éri-hasta, iri-charana, etc. (cf. above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 304 f.). His real name is given in his own speech, quoted in verses 5 ff., as Vasudeva. The passage Saivah Pasupat-acharya-värika-pramukhah in verse 6 means the Saivas headed by the Pasupata Acharyas and varikas,' in which the värikas were 'temple superintendents' like the Pandas of today (of. above, Vol. XXX, pp. 171, 173 ff.). The reading intended for what has been read gadaka seems to be gamdasha, 'handful'.
The expression raja-brikaran-adhipah in the same stanza means 'superintendents of the king's record department'. Vasudeva thus requests the royal officers and the local Saivas to protect the mandapa constructed by him. In verse 5, he prays for only that much merit for his pious deed as would accrue to a person dedicating two waterjars for providing for continuous ablution of a Sivalinga (cf. ibid., p. 235).-Ed.]
Above, Vol. XXX, p. 89.
IHQ, Vol. XXX, pp. 183 ff.
Above, Vol. I, p. 139.
Ibid., p. 198, v. 9 and p. 327, v. 4. His coins with the name Sallakshanavarman have been found.
[See below, p. 165, note 4; p. 166, note 2.-Ed.]
ASR, Vol. XXI, pp. 34-35, Pl. X, C.
[bee below, p. 166, note 1.-Ed.J
