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94
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
information regarding the origin and use of this curious year; its initial day in different parts of the country, and the reason for any differences in that respect; and whether the purnimanta arrangement of the lunar fortnights is anywhere used in connection with it.
J. F. FLEET.
THE AMBARNATH INSCRIPTION OF MAMVANI. In the stone inscription of the Mahamandalêsvara Mámvanirajadêva, at the temple of Ambarnath near Kalyan in the Thana District, the details of the date, according to Dr. Bhau Daji's published text (Jour. Bo. Br. R. 48. Soc. Vol. IX. p. 219, line 1) are - Saka-Samvat 782 (in decimal figures), not specified either as current or as expired; Jyêshtha śukla 9; on Šukra, i. e. Šukravára or Friday. And according to his translation, altering only the name of the other Mahamandaléévara mentioned in line 6, which he misread, the inscription records that, on this day, certain officials of Mâmvâni constructed a house of the Mahamandaléévara Chhittar jadeva; the concluding words being mahúmanḍalebvara brima [ch] Chhittarajadévasya bhavanam sampaditam.
While, according to Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's published text (id. Vol. XII. p. 329), the details are-Saka-Samvat 982 (in decimal figures); Śrâvana śukla 9; on Sukra, i.e. Sukravåra or Friday. And, according to his translation, with the reading in line 6 which I have given above, on the day in question there was constructed a temple of the god of the Mahiman laléévara Chhittaraja.
Thus, while agreeing in respect of the lunar fortnight, the tithi, and the week-day, Friday, all of which items were quite certain, the two versions of this record differ in respect of the
month, and, by two centuries, in respect of
the year.
By calculation, from Prof. K. L. Chhatre's Tables, I find that
In Saka-Sauvat 782 current, the tithi Jyêshtha sukla 9 ended on Sunday, 14th May, A.D. 859, at about 35 ghatis, 1 pala, after mean sunrise, for Kalyan; and Sravana sukla 9 ended on Wednes. day, 12th July, at about 25 gh. 12 p.
In Baka-Samvat 783 current (782 expired), Jyeshtha sukla 9 ended, as required, on Fri
[MARCH, 1889.
day, 3rd May, A.D. 860, at about 16 gh. 34 p.; with the month Ashadha intercalary, as entered in the Tables, Sravana sukla 9 ended on Tuesday, 30th July, at about 15 gh. 42 p.; and, with Śrâvana itself intercalary, or any subsequent month, instead of Ashadha, Śrâvana śukla 9, of the intercalated or of the ordinary month as the case may be, ended on Sunday, 30th June, at about 52 gh. 8 p.
In Saka-Samvat 982 current, Jyeshtha śukla 9 ended on Sunday, 23rd May, A.D. 1059, at about 45 gh. 29 p.; and Sravana śukla 9 ended on Wednesday, 21st July, at about 52 gh. 43 p.
And in Saka-Samvat 983 current (982 expired), Jyêshtha sukla 9 ended on Thursday, 11th May, A.D. 1060, at about 48 gh. 27 p.; and Śrâvana śukla 9 ended on Monday, 10th July, at about 3 gh. 33 p.
Now, as regards the merits of the published readings of this date, each of which is accompanied by a lithograph,-Dr. Bhau Daji read the name of the month as Jetha, i.e. Jyeshtha; and, in reading it as Śravana, Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji marked the second and third syllables as doubtful. But both the lithographs shew distinctly that, where the former read tha and the latter vana, there is only one akshara, and that it is shtha. And it follows that the preceding akshara can only be jys or jyai; formed rather carelessly or anomalously in the original, or else not represented properly in the lithographs. As to the given year, the second and third figures are undoubtedly 8 and 2. The first figure is represented in both of the lithographs without any essential difference; except that in Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's it is rather more square and upright than in Dr. Bhau Daji's. And, in altering the interpretation of it from 7 to 9, Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, while admitting that it closely resembles the modern Nagari 7, relied on the arguments (1) that a similar "figure" occurs in the Valabhi grants and in them represents 9; and (2) that a very similar figure is to be found in the record of the year in an inscription of Bhôjadeva of Gwalior,* dated in the (Vikrama) year 933, in which its value is distinctly given in words as 9. To these he might have added (3) that, in lines 4 and 5 of the same inscription of Bhejadeva, in the details of the lands that were granted, we have forms of from every point of view, we require a proper mechanical
facsimile, and a critical edition, of this inscription.
The times here are for Kalyan all through.
This is the modern name of the temple, as given, for instance, in Bombay Places and Common Official Words, p. 29. In Dr. Bhau Daji's text, line 5, and in his translation, the name of the god is given as Amrandtha. In his lithograph, it is rather doubtful whether the first two syllables are dmra or ámva. In Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's text, the name is given as Amvanatha; and in his translation as Ambanitha; while, in his lithograph, the first two syllables are amva. It is evident that
The whole inscription is in Nagari characters; and it is of interest in furnishing one of the earliest instances of the use of those characters in Southern India.
The reference is to the Gwalior inscription, dated Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXI. p. 407 f., and Plate ii. No. 4 (Vikrama)-Samvat 933, Magha sukla and su di 2; Jour. (see ante, Vol. XV. p. 108, notes 24, 25.
