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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXII
the older type only when it is the superscript in a conjunct or a vowel-mark is added to its bottom (of. Krishna in line 3, Karkkah in line 4). The letter b is indicated by the sign for v. On palaeographical consideration, the inscription may be assigned to the latter half of the seventh century or the first half of the eighth, preferably to the former period.
The language of the record is Sanskrit and, with the exception of the invocatory passage at the beginning and the sentence mentioning the engraver in line 15, the whole epigraph is written in verse. As regards orthograpby, the inscription resembles contemporary records of Northern India. Finalm is changed to anusvāra at the end of the second and fourth feet of stanzas. The extant part of the inscription bears no date.
The inscription contains a prasasti in five stanzas in all. The composer offers his adoration to a god in verse 1. Verse 2 introduces the royal personage, the recording of one of whose pious activities was the object of the inscription, while verse 3 speaks of the particular meritorious deed performed by him. Verse 4 prays for the permanency of the object made and verse 5 mentions the author of the prarasti. A passage in prose at the end of the record mentions the engraver. It is not possible to determine whether the date in figures was incised at the end of the line and is now broken away.
The first akshara in the extant part of line 1 seems to be a damaged jye which is followed by a double danda and a symbol for Siddham. It is not possible to restore the word ending in jyë unless it is believed that the scribblings above the beginning of the line were meant to write the same. These scribbled letters appear to read Yadu-ra(rā)jye which follow what looks like a damaged Siddham symbol. But it has to be admitted that such a passage at the beginning of an inscription is rather unusual. The Siddham symbol in line 1 is followed by a passage which appears to read namah and what follows in lines 1-2 is a stanza in the Anushfubh metre in adoration of a god whose epithets kāl-āñjana-rajah-punja-dyuti, [ma]hāvarāha-rūpa and jangama have only been preserved. There is no doubt that the reference is to the god Vishņu since the expression mahāvarāha-rupa certainly speaks of the Boar incarnation of that deity.
Verse 2 in lines 3 ff.,, while introducing the hero of the prasasti, speaks, in the first fout, of a king named Kfishnaraja who is stated to have belonged to the royal family of the Mauryas. The second foot of the stanza mentions another king, apparently named Aryarāja, who is described as the son of Chandragupta. The words indicating the relationship between Krishnarāja and Aryarāja are lost; but the intention of the prasastikāra appears to have been to represent ChandraKupta's son Aryarija as born in the family of Krishnaraja of the Maurya lineage. The second half of the stanza speaks of a person known by two names, viz. Dindirāja and Karka, one of which was given to him [by the people) in recognition of what he did with reference to the invincible Kanyakubja. This Dindirāja alias Karka was no doubt a ruler who was probably the son or successor of Aryarāja, although the words indicating their relationship cannot be traced in the extant part of the verse. The verb indicating the nature of the achievement of Karka Dindirāja with reference to the city of Kānyakubja is also imperfectly preserved ; but the idea may have heen to represent him as one who burnt the city. This seems to be suggested by the preserved last akshara of the verb (viz. hya which may be the remnant of nirdahya) as well as the fact that the word karka has 'fire' as one of its meanings. Dindirāja may thus have well been called Karka or the Fire' because of his success in burning the city of Kanyakubja.
Verse 3 describing the meritorious deed performed apparently by Dindirāja Karka, which was the subject of the prasastı, is damaged and its purport is not quite clear. The first half of the stanza has, however, the expression puny-avyavachchhitti and the parrage mahatā mülyéna yat-käritam(tam) and the latter half the letters (Saulrēh buro ishfiturn mālākā.... lavdha(odha) pyamavyähatan(tam). It therefore seems that the king performnd the deud in question in the
