Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 229

NOVEMBER, 1932] THE GHOSÜNDI INSCRIPTION OF THE SECOND CENTURY B.C
THE GHOSÛNDÎ INSCRIPTION OF THE SECOND CENTURY B.C. By R. R. HALDER, RAJPUTANA MUSEUM, AJMER.
THIS fragmentary inscription' engraved on a big stone and now preserved in the Udaipur Museum was found at Ghosûndi, a village near Nagari, about seven miles north of Chitor in the Mewâr territory of Rajpûtânâ. It is broken into several pieces, of which the biggest one found up to now has been already published by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal, M.A., in the Epigraphia Indica, vol. XVI, p. 25. The two other pieces,3 which form parts of the same stone, are here edited by me from an ink-impression kindly placed at my disposal by MM. Rai Bahadur Gaurishankar H. Ojha of Ajmer.
The characters of the inscription are what is known as Brahmi lipi, belonging to a period about the second century B.C. The average size of the letters is about 13."
The language is Sanskrit.
The inscription records the construction of a stone wall round the hall of worship of Samkarṇana and Vasudeva, as also the performance of aśvamedha sacrifice by Sarvatâta of the Gaja family and son of Pârâsarî. The fact that Samkarṣaṇa (Balarama, brother of Kṛṣṇa) and Vasudeva (Kṛṣṇa) were worshipped as early as the second century B.C. is known from this inscription; and this fact is important.
One of the two new fragments reads... a . Now, the second line of the above published inscription commences with the word far. If the meaning of the word be considered, it will be obvious that it is connected with the word, so that जिना will read as याजिना. Thus the whole reading will be ... ए सर्वदातेन अश्वमेधar. The other fragment reads ara, meaning the lord of lords,' which may probably refer to Samkarsana and Vasudeva.
Text.
L. 1. [ ] न गाजायेनन पाराशरीपुत्रेय स व सर्वतातेन अश्वमेध - 2. शिना भगवां कथवासुदेवाभ्यां सर्वेश्वरा [ ] कारी नारायण का
""
3.
""
203
Some Further Notes on the above Inscription.
Mr. E. H. Johnston, to whom I showed this inscription and Mr. Halder's reading of it, has recorded the following notes, which are so suggestive that they are, with his permission, reproduced in full. C. E. A. W. O., Joint-Editor.
I am much obliged to the Joint-Editor for giving me the privilege of seeing Mr. Halder's interesting paper, which throws new light on an important but difficult inscription. The following notes do not claim to give a final solution, but are only meant to initiate discussion. First as regards the readings, the first letter of the bigger of the new fragments seems to me clearly na. The next word, sarvatátena, is odd, but, as the bottom of ta is cut off according to the rubbing, a possible reading is sarvatrátena. It may also be noted that in the original piece the letter gå in gajayanena seems to have a subscript letter below, attached to the left arm of the letter. The thick left-hand down-stroke is clearly intentional, but the right-hand one may, according to the rubbing, be merely fortuitous. On the whole, I think Messrs. Jayaswal and Halder have done right to ignore it.
The failure to observe the sandhi in one of the new fragments is not surprising in view of the similar instances in the well-known Sanskrit inscriptions of Rudradâman and his
1 Noted in the Annual Report of the Rajputana Museum, Ajmer, for 1926-27, p. 2.
2 This village is referred to in an old inscription of the fourth century B.C., see Ind. Ant., vol. LVIII, p. 229.
3 They were found on the border of the village Ghosûndi.
• Read याजिना.
5 Read भगवद्द्यां.
* Read कारितः.