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138
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[Mar, 1877.
dity a-Tribhuana malla, i.e. in the is a larger tank, on a slightly higher level, Saka year 1018 (A.D. 1096-7), the Dhata which, if repaired, would, when full, include saivatsara. It records how a certain guild the preceding in itself,formed by an embank. or corporation, called "The Five-hundred", set ment running to the south from just below the apart the proceeds of an impost that belonged south-east corner of the fort. And thirdly, to them, for the purpose of maintaining & about a quarter of a mile away to the southtank.
east of the preceding, and on a lower level, there The system of tanks at Katta gêri was are the remains of a large embankment, now formerly a large one. First, there is the small breached and quite useless, which, when in tank, on the west of the fort and close under repair, evidently formed a tank of very conthe walls, which has recently been reconstruct- siderable area. This must be the larger big ed as a Famine Relief Work. Secondly, there tank" referred to in the inscription.
Transcription. {'] Svasti
Srimach-Châļukya-Vikrama-varsha['] da 21neya Dhậta-samvatsarada Chai[°] tra $(su)ddha 5 Adityavárad-andu srimad-A[ ] y-núrvvarum tava(ma)ge nadeva sumkamam ['] piriya
pêr-ggereg=&-chandr-arkka-taram [ ] baram bittaru Kramatdimd=int=idan=eyde ['] kava purushamg=ayam
jaya-sriyu[] m-akke gidar kayade kâyva påpige Ku[°] rukshâtramgalolu
Bånarâsiyo!-er-kko[O] ti munirdraram kavileyan Vêd-adya(dhya)ram ko["] ndadrom(em)dayasham(sam) sarggum=id=endu sari["] dapud= i
s ail-Aksharam dhatriyolu [**] sloka || Sva-dattâr(ttâń) para-dattam(ttäri) và 1 yð ha[] rôti(ta) vasundhara (ra) |sa(sha)shtir-vvarishat-saha["] érå (srâ)ņi vishtayam jậyatê krimi(mih) [1] Translation.
versed in the Vedas, at Kurukshetra Hail! On Sunday, the fifth day of the bright or Bânar â si."! | He is born for the durafortnight of the month) Chaitra of the tion of sixty thousand years as a worm in Dhà tu samvatsara, which was the twenty- ordure, who confiscates land that has been given, first of the years of the glorious Châlu kya whether by himself or by another! Vikrama, the honourable Five-hundred made over the impost, that was payable to them, to There is another inscription requiring notice the larger big tank, for as long as the moon at Katta gêri-on part of a stone-tablet and sun and stars might last.
near the shrine of the god Hanumanta in This writing on stone proclaims in the the fort. It is in the Old Canarese characters world, -"May there be long life and victory and language, and a transcription of it is given and wealth to the man who well preserves this in the Elliot MS. Collection, vol. I., p. 659. (grant) in continuation ; (but) to the wicked The emblems at the top of the stone are :-In man, who fails to preserve it, (may there attach) the centre, a linga and officiating priest; on its the disgrace of slaying two crores of saints, or right, a cow and a calf, with the sun directly of tawny-coloured cows, or of (Brákmans) well above them and towards the edge of the stone;
• Corporate bodies are frequently mentioned in inserip- Sc., shashti-varsho.... tions, but there is seldom anything to explain the allusion. The original has distinctly er-kkoti. But perhaps it The present is probably the "Five-hundred of Ayyhole" should be corrected into or-kkoti, 'one crore', as or is one of other inscriptions; and the earliest mention 1 hare of of the substitutes for ondu in composition, whereas I this corporation is in an Old Canarese inscription, in charac- cannot find an instance in which er is substituted for tors of about the commencement of the eighth century
eradu. A.D., on the front wall of an old Hindu temple, now called |The forms Arnasi', 'Varanisi', and 'BAnar Asi', as " the temple of Lad Khân", at Aihole itself.
here, -further multiplied by v and being interchanged, + The Prása, or alliteration of the second consonant of and by $ being sometimes written for 8, all occur in inavery line in each stanza of Canarovo poetry, is violated scriptions. The present form, 'B&nar Aai', is the nearest to bere.
the Kuropean corrupted form 'Benares'.
