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No. 44]
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE TIME OF YAJVAPALA GOPALA 1.-Inscription from Sesai, V. S. 1341
Sesal is a village about nine miles from Shivapuri, the headquarters of the District of that name. An inscription on a memorial stone-pilar in this village was noticed in the Annual Administration Report of the Archaeological Department, Gwalior State, for Samvat 1971 (No. 21), and in Dvivedi's Gwalior Rajyake Abhilekh, No. 141. Unfortunately the Report does not appear to have been published, while Dvivedi fails to notice that the inscription belongs to the reign of the Yajvapala (Jajapella) king Göpäls.
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The epigraph contains twelve lines of writing and covers an area about 12" by 9". The preservation of the writing is not satisfactory. The record bears the date: V. S. 1341, Pausha-vadi 1, Monday. The details of the date are irregular, but may refer to the 25th of December 1284 A.D.
The inscription begins with the symbol for Siddham, followed by the word svasti. King Gopaladēva is then introduced with a string of epithets including Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhiraja Paramesvara and Paramamahesvara. Then it speaks of the rajya or rule of Jaitujahmadeva, 'the slave of the servants of cows and Brahmanas. Although his relations with Gōpāla is not specifically indicated, he was undoubtedly a subordinate ruler under the Yajvapāla (Jajapella) monarch. He seems to be the same as Mahākumāra or Kumara Jaitravarman called Jaitavrahmadēva, Jayatavrahmadeva or Jeyatavrahmadēva in the Bangla inscriptions (Nos. 3-5; cf. No. 15) edited below. He probably enjoyed the status of a sub-king or Yuvaraja. His mention in these records may be compared with that of a feudatory in some medieval inscriptions of Madhya Bharat and Rajasthan.1
The object of the record is found in lines 5 ff. It has been stated that Ra° Malayadeva of the family called Damgrot was judhita (i.e. yuddhita in the sense of 'dead as the result of fighting in a battle') in connection with a case of cattle-lifting at the pratōli (i.e. a street or ward) of Sesaigrāma. It is further stated that his elder wife named Mahiņidē (i.e. Mahiņidēvi) and younger wife named Nāvulade (i.e. Nāvuladevi) also became judhita. It is clear that Malayadeva lost his life while resisting the operations of certain cattle-lifters at the village of Sesai. His two wives were probably killed by the enemies who appear to have invaded Malayadeva's residence at the village. The sentence that follows says how the memorial pillar bearing the inscription under study was caused to be made by Ra° Hirmāņa and Ra° Hamsaraja who were respectively the elder and younger sons of Malayadeva. The contraction ra, used in connection with the names of Malayadeva and his sons, stands for räuta which was derived from Sanskrit rajaputra and was commonly used as a title of subordinate chiefs.
Sesai-grama is no doubt the village where the inscription has been found.
TEXT
1 Siddham svasti éri[h] Prakri(kri)ya-virājamāna- sakala-vira(ru)d-a
2 vali-samālamkrita | paramabhaṭṭāraka-mahārājādhirāja
3 paramésva(va)ra-paramamābēeva(šva)ra-mahārāja-irf-prithithvi)pa
1 See above, Vol. XXX, pp. 192, 193 and note 1.
The language of the record may of course also suggest that the two wives of Malayadeva took part in the fighting with the cattle-lifters.
From impressions.
Expressed by symbol.
The dandas are superfluous. The expression-prakriya-virājamāna seems to mean flourishing in the exalted position'. One may also suggest prakritya for prakriya.
The danda is unnecessary.
