Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela and Bhabru Edict of Asoka

Author(s): Shashi Kant
Publisher: D K Print World

Page 33

The Inscription otherwise little known to history, in seventeen lines covering an area 15 feet 1 inch in length and 5 feet 6 inches in height. "The inscription begins on the southern face and is continued up to a place where the stone has actually become the roof of the cave. The last eight or nine lines occur on a sloping surface where it is difficult either to read or copy them. Below the inscription the walls of the natural cavern have been chiselled straight and at places are as beautifully polished as those of the Barabar caves. Near the floor there are sundry rock-cut partitions which do not appear to have been regular walls as they do not go up to the roof. In the dressed and polished portion of the side or the wall of the cave there are a number of later inscriptions (of about the tenth or eleventh century AD)' many of which contain proper names which are not of any historical interest. They prove, however, that the cave was visited by pilgrims up to the tenth century AD and therefore it must have been considered some sort of a sacred shrine. The bed of the cave is full of sand in front and unless it is excavated its original form cannot be determined. The Hāthigumphā stands at right angles to Svargapuri and Mañcapuri on its left and the Sarpa cave on its right. There are several small and large excavations on the top of the boulder which forms the roof of the cave.”2
Although the entire record appears to have been very carefully inscribed, it has suffered greatly from Nature's fury. The record as it is now, is very much weather-beaten and shows signs of progressive natural decay. Three main problems confronting the epigraphists in deciphering it are: firstly, the different forms of a few letters, secondly, the misleading chiselmarks, and thirdly, the changes wrought by natural decay and weather conditions. As early as 1917 it was observed that “the rock was roughly dressed on the right-hand side. The chiselmarks of the dressing are misleading; they tend to produce
1.
See, Annual Report of Achaeological Survey of India, 1922-23, p. 130. Jayaswal and Banerji (E.I., XX, p. 72).
2.