________________
No. 29]
BHUBANESWAR INSCRIPTION OF GANGA NARASIMHA 281 been done-calculated) in line 17, Siva-prāphte (i.e. on having obtained Siva-after death) in lines 18-19, jamila hoi (i.e. having been born) in lines 30-31, acha[ra*Ivanta hoilā tāpasanka (i.e. of the asoetics who have been [devoted] followers of the rules of conduct) in lines 31-32, jetë kaļa cha thydra-sujya crata (i.e. so long as the sun and the moon exist) in lines 32-33, etēka kāļanka vasa vrativäka (i.e. to exist for this much time) in lines 33-34, eto., are interesting.
The expression ēkaüti (line 16) seems to mear the same thing as Sanskrit ēkatra or ēkatrita (i.e. brought together) while asiā-satake kilākai (line 24) appears to mean in respect of a written [document] involving one hundred and eighty [gold coins]'. The word madāmade in the locative in line 31 seems to stand for math-āmathë in the serise of 'in various mathas ', i.e. in any matha in the three countries mentioned in the context, viz., Choda-dēša, Pandya-dēsa and Kanchi-děka. But Sanskrit matha is modified to madha in line 5.
The Tamil section of the record exhibits some palæographical and linguistic features which are apparently due to the inscription being written in Orissa. Grantha characters have often been used in Sanskrit words. The use of medial i exhibiting a tendency towards the formation of a loop at its right, which distinguishes it from medial i, is clear in Kirtti (line 6), prī (line 12) and nir (line 29). The sign for medial i in 'vanilā in line 32 is indicated by projecting the top mātrā of the letter n almost making a loop of it. This may be compared with the slightly different form of the same akshara in tanisu in lines 15-16. The letter f(=d) in the word mādai is written in two different ways. In lines 23 and 27 it is written in the usual Tamil form, while in lines 16 and 17 it is written with a downward curve as in Grantha, the latter form being comparable with in bhattar in lines 8 and 21 and in potti in line 27. It is possible that the pronunciation of the word madha was not clear to the person who drafted the Tamil section of the epigraph. The répha is indicated by & vertical stroke even where the Tamil forms of the Sanskrit words are used, e.g., Kārttikai in line 3 and Kirttivāsattil in line 6, though the corresponding sign in Tamil was not unknown to the engraver (cf. värttu in line 29).
The use of the expressions rāśi-maitram (lines 21-22) and ilandu (line 24) is interesting. Räsimaitram means the friendship arising from two persons being born under the same räti or zodiacal sign. This interpretation is made clear in the Oriya part (lines 20-23) of the record. The other expression ilandu seems to have been used in the sense of 'having written off. The significance of the expression madāmadam (line 31) is not clear, though the context seems to suggest the meaning 'in various monasteries'.
Both the Oriya and Tamil parts of the inscription bear the same date and refer to the same transaetion, though with slight difference in the details. The inscription is dated in the 22nd year of Sri-Vira-Naranarasimhadēva or Sri-Vira-Nārasinhadēva and the details of the date are quoted as Kārtikka-ba. 7, Sunday. The reigning Ganga monarch is called Naranārasimha in the Oriya part (lines 1, 27) and Nārasimha in the Tamil section (lines 1-2, 30); but in line 5 of the former and lines 10-11 of the latter a king named Narasimha is mentiond with the distinguishing epithets vada in Oriya and periya in Tamil, both meaning 'big'. Apparently the elder Narasimha was one of the predecessors of Narasimha or Narasimha during whose reign the inscription under study was incised. A Telugu inscription from the Simhachalam temple, dated Saka 1305, Chatira-ba. 6, Wednesday, corresponding to the 25th March 1383 A.D., records the gifts of the queens of Gajapati Peda-Narasimharāja and Vira-Bhănudēvarāja. The word peda or pedda means 'big' in Telugu exactly as Oriya vada and Tamil periya. The Simhachalam epigraph belongs to the reign of Ganga Narasimha IV (1378-1402 A.D.) and king Bhānu mentioned in it can be none other than his father Bhānu III (c. 1353-78 A.D.). Peda Narasimha seems
1 811, Vol. VI, No. 752 (pp. 285-86).
In medieval Tamil inscriptions of the Cholas, past king is often mentioned as periya-devar, ct. abovo, Vol. XXI, p. 189, text lines 7 and 10 ; Vol. XXIV, p. 169; Vol. XXV, p. 84.
