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310
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1891.
HARSAUDA STONE INSCRIPTION OF DEVAPALADEVA OF DHARA;
THE (VIKRAMA) YEAR 1275.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.I.E. GÖTTINGEN. The stone which bears this inscription was dug from the ruins of a temple in the village of Harsauda, about 10 miles from the town of Chårwâ, in the district of Hoshangabad in the Central Provinces. It measures "13 in height by 13' in breadth, besides a raised and rounded "margin. It is thick and heavy, and shaped upon the back into some form of which the intent “is not now recognizable. Its material is greenstone," hard and tough in quality. In 1857 the stone was in the possession of Dr. F. E. Hall, who subsequently presented it to the American Oriental Society; and it is now in the Cabinet of that Society, at New Haven. The inscription was first edited, with a translation, by Dr. Hall in the Journal Beng. As. Soc., Vol. XXVIII. pp. 1-8, and the text was afterwards republished, with & photozincograph, in Archæol. Survey of Western India, No. 10, pp. 111-12. Besides, a valuable note on his text and translation was published by Dr. Hall in the Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. VI. pp. 536-7. As the text of the inscription, even after this note, is capable of improvement, I now re-edit it from two excellent impressions which, at Professor Lanman's request, were kindly prepared for me by Mr. Herbert c. Tohwen, of Yale University, New Haven.
The inscription contains eighteen lines of writing which cover a space of about 11 broad by 10% high. Beneath it are eight figures, about 14' high, - a central figare representing probably Siva, and on his right three and on the left four figures of males and females, engaged in worshipping the god. With the exception of three or four aksharas which are slightly damaged, the writing is well preserved. The size of the letters is about Ts'. The characters are Nagarî; and the.language is Sanskrit. Lines 4-6 are in prose; the rest of the inscription, excepting the words on namah Sivaya at the commencement of the first line and some words of auspicious import at the end of the last, is in verse. Some of the verses are irregular, and altogether the inscription, which is styled a prasamsá, shows that its author Dêvašarman (line 18) was neither a great poet nor an exact scholar. As regards orthography, the letter b is throughout denoted by the sign for u, and the dental sibilant is several times used instead of the palatal; ś is employed instead of sin áślt, line 11, and sh instead of kh in the word léshaka, line 18.
The inscription, after the words "ôm, adoration to Siva," has three verses in honour of, or invoking the blessings of, Héramba (Gaņēša), the goddess of eloquence Bharati, and the three gods Brahman, Vishņu, and Sive. It then records, in the prose lines 4-6, the date, - Saturday, the 5th of the bright half of Margastreha of the year 1275, while there was reigning at Dhard the Paramabhattáraka Mahárájádhiraja and Paramésvara, the devout worshipper of Mahesvara (Siva), Dévepaladdva, endowed with everything auspicious (samastaprasastópéta), resplendent with the decoration of the pańchamahásabda obtained by him, and possessed of majesty through a boon bestowed upon him by the favour of the holy Limbâryâ; and it repeats in faller detail the astronomical part of the date, in verses 4 and 5. The rest is mainly devoted to the proper object for which the inscription was put up, vis. to record that on the north-eastern side of Harshapura the merchant Kéśava built a temple of Sambhu, together with a tank, and that near it he put up figures of Hanumat, a deity called Kshetrapala, the guardian of fields,' Ganêsa, Krishna and other divine beings, Nakulisa, and Ambika. Kêśava, who did all this, was the younger brother of the merchant Dhala, a son of Bilhaņa, who was a son of Dôsi (or Dðsin), & resident of Undapura.
The really important part of the inscription is its date, and the statement that the inscription was put op when Devapaladevi was ruling at Dhard. The date has been already fully
1 See Journal Beng. Ar. Boc., Vol. XXVIII. p. 1; Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. VI. p. 536; and O. Grant's Gantteor of the Central Provinces, seo. Ed., p. 151.
Literally, in that direction which is presided over by Ils (or Siva).
