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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1890.
followed the path of their lord, who walked along calmly and with downcast eyes. - (163) Having marched one gavyúti, he sat down under a tree, and took leave of each of his weeping people with kind words. - [Verses 164 to 168 describe the lonely journey of the king.] - (169) Next day, having duly worshipped the early dawn, and having shaken off sleep at a neighbouring lotus-pond, the ruler of the earth reached the tirtha of Bhutabhartri, which is inhabited by Nandisa, and whose water, (called) Sodara, was familiar (to him). - (170) While he stayed there in Nandikshetra in the presence of the lord of the three worlds, he was wistfully gazed at (even) by old ascctics, as, in order to attain his desire, he covered his body with ashes, arranged his hair in a knot of braids, carried a rosary, and had rudráksha (seeds) for his emblems. — (171) He was treated with great hospitality by (ascetics), who had vowed themselves to 'Srikantha (Siva), and who wandered about for alms; in every hermitage, female ascetics eagerly hastened to offer him alms; and the trees (themselves) filled the skull (in which he collected) alms, with heaps of pure fruits and flowers. Thus he, who was worthy of honour, did not undergo the humiliation of begging from others, though he had renounced the world.
(To be continued.)
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
BY J. F. FLEET, Bo.C.S., M.R.A.S., C.I.E. No. 190.- HONWAD STONE INSCRIPTION OF SOMESVARA I. — SAKA-SAMVAT 976. Honwad is a village in the Bijapur Talukî or Sub-Division of the Bijapur District, Bombay Presidency; and is situated about nineteen miles almost due west of Bijapur. It is entered as Honwar' in the Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 40, in Lat. 16° 49', Long. 75o 30. The old form of the name, Ponnavada, occurs in lines 8, 27, 28, and 35, below. The stone-tabiet containing the present inscription, is in the Collection of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. There appears to be no exact record there, as to the locality from which it was obtained. But the village-officials of Honwad tell me that, forty years or so ago, a fine inscribed stone was taken away from their village by some European gentleman; and the contents of the present record render it quite certain that this is the one. The inscription is, I believe, now brought to notice for the first time. I edit it from the ink-impression made by my own man.
The sculptures at the top of the stone are:- In the centre, in a shrine, a standing figure, probably of the Jinêndra Santinátha, the building of whose temple is the principal subject of the inscription; and on the proper right side, a cow and calf, with the moon and a crooked sword, dagger, or knife, over them. The sculptures on the proper left side of the stode have been destroyed. - The writing covers a spaco about 1' 9" broad at the top and 1' 117 at the bottom, and 3 l' bigh. It is in a state of perfect preservation almost through. out; and can be read without any uncertainty, except at one place, in line 44, where there has been a correction in the original, in respect of a point which will have to be made clear by extraneous information not at present available. - The characters are the so-called oid-Kanarese characters, of the regalar type of the eleventh century A. D. They include, in
16 As remarked in the note on verse 128 (ante, Vol. XVIII. p. 70), Nandla or Nandirudrs was the name of a shrine at Nandikshếtra (see the next verse) and Bodars the name of a spring at the samo sacred place. A comparison of verse 169 with i. 148 (Vol. XVIII. p. 71) shows that Bhůtabhartri, Bhâtea or Bhatevara (see note on i. 347) has to be taken either synonym of Nandika, or as the proper name of another shrine at Nandikshetra. Verse 161 suggests that this locality was situated to the north of the capital, and verse 169, that the distance was two days' journey. According to Dr. Bühler, K. B., p. lxxii., 'it is situated in the Lør Pargana, not far from the Haramakutagangs, and is a station on tre pilgrimage to the latter.
111 T P. 4997447° P.
