Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 21

FEBRUARY, 1912.)
SOME UNPUBLISHED INSCRIPTIONS
SOME UNPUBLISHED INSCRIPTIONS. BY D. R. BHANDARKAR, M.A., POONA.
(Continued from Vol. XL, p. 176.) 3.--Hansi Stone Inscription of Prithviraja (Vikrama)-Samvat 1224. A translation, without a transcript, of this inscription by Captain E. Fell has been published in A Asiatic Researches, Vol. XV, pp. 443-6, and a summary of it with full and elaborate remarks thereon by Lieutenant-Colonel Tod in the Transactions, Royal As. Soo., Vol. I, p. 154. Bat none of these attempts has proved successful, and a correct and accurate account together with a transcript of it is still a desideratum. No excuse is, therefore, needed to publish this record.
The inscription was originally found at Hansi in the Panjab, but regarding its exact original find-sopt there, Tod says as follows: "The inscription, which I obtained through the kindness of my friend Colonel Skinner, had been saved from the general wreck of these halls, by the materials being taken to erect a small Musleman place of worship; and this slab was built into the wall in a reversed position. It was afterwards presented to Marquis Hastings; but as it reached this nobleman at a very busy period of his career in 1818, I know not what became of it." The inscription stone, strange to say, is now lying in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh. Two excellent photographs of it had been sent four years ago by a person connected with this Museum to a Parsi gentleman in Poona, called Mr. French man, who made them over to me. And it is from these photographs that I edit the inscription.
The inscription contains 22 lines of writing. The characters are Nagari. Attention may be drawn to the sign for ri occurring in riksha-yutha-patichih, line 12. The language is Sanskrit; and the inscription is partly in prose and partly in verse. The verses are numbered, but very great carelessness is shown in this respect. It is full of solecisms. We thus have rangání instead of rangán in line 2, vijaya vara-kareh instead of vijaya-vara-karinah in line 8, and so on. In respect of orthography, the only points that call for notice are: (1) the use of
for band (2) the doubling of a consonant in conjunction with a preceding r. With regard to lexicography we have only to note the desi word gudha employed in line 11.
The record opens with an obeisance to some goddess whose name is unspecified. This shows that the inscription slab was originally in the temple of a goddess. Then follows & verse which invokes the blessings of the god Murari. Verse 2 informs us that there was a King of the Chûhamâna lineage called Prithviraja and his maternal uncle was one Kilhana, who, according to the next verse, belonged to the Gühilauta dynasty. The verse following tells us that thinking of Hammira who had become the cause of anxiety to the world, the king pat Kilhaņa in charge of the fort of Asika, doubtless Hansi. From verse 5 we learn that Kilbasa *rected a pratolí, i.e., a pol, or gateway which with its flags set Hammira as it were at defiance. And near the gateway were constructed two koshthakas or granaries (verse C). Then we have a prose line (lines 9-10) speaking of a letter sent to him by Vibhishana. Verse 7 with which the letter begins, ways: "the lord of demons (Vibhishana) who has obtained a boon from Rama, the crest-jewel of the lineage of Raghu, respectfully speaks thus to Kilhana staying in the fort (gadha) of Åsi." The next verse says: "In the work of building the bridge we both assisted the leaders of the monkeys and bears. And you yourself (Kilhaņa) have written saying that to you the lord of Pamchapura, a string of pearls and this city bad been given by the Omni. present (Rama)." In the verse following Prithvirája is compared to Rama and Kilhaņa to Hanůmån. In verse 10 Vibhishana bestows nothing but contentional praise on Kilhaņa Verse
1 Transactions, Roy. ds. Soc., Vol. I, p. 135.