Indian Art and Letters

Author(s): India Society
Publisher: India Society

Page 51

Archaeological Explorations in India, 1932-33 there are good reasons to believe that it must have been erected to commemorate his military exploits against the neighbouring powers, including perhaps a victory over the Chedi ruler Gangeyadeva of Tilangana or Trikalinga. No epigraphical evidence of this latter conquest is yet known, but the well-known Hindustani proverb “Kahan Raja Bhoj Kahan Ganga Tali" would appear to point to its correctness. Other antiquities of Dhar have hitherto received scant attention A
lection of Brahmanical and Jaina images dating from the eighth to to the twelfth century A.D. remains unpublished. In connection with the preMuhammadan antiquities of Mandu, the capital of the Muhammadan rulers of Malwa and the scene of the loves of Baz Bahadur and Rupamati, it is note. worthy that recent excavations carried out by the Public Works Department of the Dhar State have revealed, besides sulptural remains, a large rock-cut monastery, which must have belonged to the Vaishnava priesis
Among the numerous inscriptions of different periods that were dealt with during the year, the most important is the fragmentary inscription from Mahasthangarh, District Bogra, Bengal This inscriprion has been published in the Epigraphia Indica by Professor Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar. It purports to record the occurrence of a severe famine and the measures of relief adopted to combat it, including the distribution of paddy from the royal granary and the advance of loans through district officers. This epigraph dates from the third century B.C., and is the most ancient epigraph yet found anywhere in Bengal. It conclusively identifies the ancient remains at Mahasthangarh as the site of Pundranagara or Pundravardhana, the ancient capital of North Bengal. A Kushan inscription from Mathura turns out to be the first Brahmi inscription which mentions a Macedonian month (Gurppiya). It is dated in the Kushan year 28, and reduces the gap that existed reigns of Vasishka and Havishka to some two months. With the aid of similar epigraphs I was able, some years ago, to bridge the interval of thirteen years that remained unaccounted for between Kanishha and Vasishka. Dr. Hirananda Shastri was engaged during the year on a careful examination of the numerous inscriptions on stone, terra-cotta tablets, etc.,
d in the excavations at Nalanda. According to a Nagari inscription of the Samvat year 1109 engraved on the iron pillar at Delhi, the name of this city at that time was Dhilli. This form of the name is also found on an image recently discovered at Hastinapur in the District of Meerut. Some 500 stone inscriptions, besides six copper-plate inscriptions, were copied and examined in Southern India. These belong to the Pallava, Chola, Chalukya, and Pandya dynasties. Certain scribblings in a cave at Vikramkhal in the Sambalpur District, Orissa, which were recently brought to my notice by Mr.
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