Indian Antiquary Vol 09

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 86

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1880.
SANSKRIT AND OLD-CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
BY J. F. FLEET, Bo. C.S., M.R.A.S.
(Continued from Vol. VIII., p. 805.) No. LXI.
and 75, there is a large group of ruined and At a short distance to the south-west of the disused temples, mentioned incidentally by Mr. village of Aihole, in Survey No. 72, there is a Burgess in his First Archeological Report, p. 43. temple, small but highly interesting on account The largest and most interesting of them is of the quaint and elaborate sculptures with the temple of the god Galiganatha. On the which it is decorated, which is noticed by front or east side of the courtyard there is a Mr. Burgess in his First Archeological Report, handsomely sculptured gateway, still nearly p. 40. It is now disused, and is partly in ruins, entire, after the fashion of the gates of the the whole of the roof having been removed. topes at SAñchi and Amaravati, but not nearly Mr. Burgess considers it to be of about the same so elaborate in design, and on a diminutive scale, age as the Durga-temple. It appears to have being only ten or twelve feet high. It is the been originally a Vaishnava temple, as there only gateway of the kind that I know of in this are figures of Garuda over the doors both of part of the country. the manda pa and of the shrine, and a figure of Just outside this gateway, and a few steps to Lakshmi, with her elephants, over the entrance. the south of it, there is a small cell, on one of But there is also a figure of Siva, dancing, on the beams of which is an Old-Canarese inscripthe roof, with Pârvati holding a child, which tion of the Rashtra ku ta king Kannara must be either Ganapati or Kârttikêya. or Krishņa, dated Śaka 831 (A.D. 909-10),
On the north side of the porch there is an the Prajapati sarīvatsara." I shall publish this Old-Canarese inscription of eleven letters, in hereafter in a separate paper on the Rashtracharacters of the ninth or tenth century A. D., k ta kings. of which a fac-simile is given in the First The only inscription, that I could find, beArcheological Report." It commences with the longing to the temple of Galiganatha itself, is on word Svasti, followed by Ganasobbana, of the north face of one of the four pillars of a small Ganasobba'; the last four letters cannot be read square unroofed structure, in the centre of which satisfactorily.
there is a linga, standing in the middle of the And on a pilaster on the south side of the courtyard. The characters are early, -perhaps porch, there is the following inscription, in the of the sixth or seventh century A.D. The writing Sanskrit language and in characters of the covers 4' by 6}!" A fac-simile is given here. seventh or eighth century A. D., which probably with. The transcription is :-[1] Varisiga-Bitturecords the name of the builder of the temple :- [2]kritain; i.e., Made by Vamsig a-Bittu.' Transcription.
Bittu' is probably another form of Bitti,' ("] Svasti [ll] Jambudvip-antarê kaśchit which is a corruption of the Sanskrit Vishņu'; ["] vastu-prâsâda-tadgataḥ
Varnsiga is his surname, and is a corruption of ['] Narasobba-samo vidvan
the Sanskrit vansika. [*] na bhûtô na bhavishyati ||
No. LXIII. . Translation.
In front of the abovementioned temple of Hail! There has not been, and there shall not Galiganátha, there is a large unnamed temple be, in Jambudvipa, any wise man, proficient with an Old-Canarese inscription, in one line, on in the art of building) houses and temples, the ontside of one of the stones of the wall on the equal to Narasobba.
south side of the door, which is in the east wall. No. LXII.
The characters are of the eighth or ninth Further to the south-west of the village, on century A.D. The writing covers 1' 4 by 4' 83'. the right bank of the river, in Survey Nos. 74 A fac-simile is given herewith. The transcrip
Pl. LV., No. 34. · First Archæol. Report, Pl. LV., No. 83; and No. 75 of Pali, Sanskrit, and Old.Canarese, Inscriptions.
No. 79 of Pali, Sanskrit, and Old Canarese, Inscriptions.
• There is some uncertainty as to the exact date; for,
Saka 831 was the Sukla samvatsara, and the Prajapati samvatsara was Saks 833.
No. 81 of Pali, Sanskrit, and Old-Canarese, Inscrip. tions.
• No. 80 of Pali, Sanskrit, and Old Oanarese, Inscriptions.