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300 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXII Out of the 13 stanzas of the eulogy, verse 1 contains the adoration to a deity. Verses 2-4 describe the ruling king and his family, verses 5-6 an officer or a subordinate of the king and his family, and verses 7-9 the hero of the eulogy and his family. The remaining stanzas deal with the object of the prasasti, which, as already indicated above, is to record the construction of a step-well.
The inscription begins with the Siddham symbol followed by a symbol for the pranava. Next comes the passage namah Sivāya which is followed by verse 1 in which the protection of the god Varuņa is invoked. The invocation to Varuņa, god of the waters, suits the occasion as the subject of the composition is essentially the excavation of a step-well and we have other instances of the kind in inscriptions recording the construction of wells. Verse 2 introduces the hero named Chāhamāna, the mythical progenitor of the Chāhamāna family of Rajputs, as born of Virochana, i.e. the sun-god. This interpretation of the word virochana, which means both the sun' and 'fire', is suggested by the fact that the Prithvirajavijaya composed by Jayanaka in the last decade of the twelfth century as well as Nayachandra-sūri's Hammiramahākāvya, composed a century later, represents the eponymous Chāhamāna as sprung from the Sürya-mandala, while the tradition of the progenitors of the Paramāra, Pratihāra, Chaulukya and Chāhamāna families being born from the sacrificial fire-pit of the sage Vasishtha on Mount Abu was unknown even as late as the fourteenth century. It seems that the damaged second half of verse 2 referred to the Chähamana family as originated from the eponymous hero Chāhamana mentioned in its first half. This is suggested by the first half of verse 3 which introduces the birth of king Vigraharajadēva (i.e. Vigra barāja IV or Visala) with the word iha no doubt meaning 'in this family', and another word which seems to be kramāt i.e. in the regular course of succession), the name of the family being apparently indicated previously.
The extant part of verse 3 suggests that Vigra harāja IV left his throne for his brother's son Prithvibhata (i.e. Prithvirāja II) after having ruled the earth (i.e. the Chāhamana kingdom with its capital at Säkambhart) for a long time. It is interesting to note that the inscription passes over Apara or Amaragāngēya, son and successor of Vigraharāja IV.: This was probably because Aparao or Amaragāngēya was overthrown after a short rule by Prithvirāja II whose successors were reluctant to recognise the former's rule and were eager to represent Přithvirāja II as the direct successor of Vigra harāja IV. An inscription from Dhod is reported to contain a reference to the success of Prithvirāja II against the king of Sākambhari, who seems to have been none other than Aparao or Amaragāngēya. Verse 4 states that a later king of the family, named Prithvirāja (i.e. Prithviraja III), succeeded another king whose name was .... ra. This damaged name was no doubt Somēśvara who was the father and predecessor of Prithvirāja III and the uncle and successor of Přithvirāja II.
The next two stanzas (verses 5-6) speak of a Brāhmaṇa family belonging to the Kausika gotra and hailing from a flourishing agrahāra called Atiśākha. Verse 6 mentions Yaçõrāja who seems to have been the son of Khamadēva or .... khamadēva of this family. The real significance of the introduction of this family is not clear ; but it seems that Yaśörāja was a subordinate or an officer of the Chāhmāna king and that the locality where the step-well was excavated (i.e. probably the village of Bārlā near Ajmer where the inscription was found) lay within the territory or fief under him.
1 Cf. Mandasor inacription (V.S. 1321) in the Gwalior Museum (A.R. Ep., 1953-54, No. 147 of App. B); Mandor inscription of V.8. 742 (ibid., 1956-57, No. 504 of App. B; Administrative Report of the Archaeological Department of Jodhpur, 1934, p. 5), etc..
. Above, Vol. XXIX, p. 179; Ray, Dyn. Hist. N. Ind., Vol. II, pp. 1052-53.
* Apara or Amaragāngeya is mentioned in the Prithvirajavijaya, Prabandhakosha and Ain-i-Akbart. Cf. Ray, op. cit., p. 1078.
• Ibid., p. 1089.
