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JIANA EPIGRAPES : PART II
339 who laid down his life for a noble cause. The inscription is thus of the nature of memorial documents which are engraved on what are known as hero-stones commonly met with in all parts of Karnātaka.
The illustrious king Nripatunga Vallabha mentioned here must obviously be the great Rāshtrakūța emperor, Amoghavarsha Nripatunga. He reigned from a. D. 814 to 877. As the record refers to his reign, it might be placed broadly within this period. The martyr appears to have been a person of some position and dignity. The circumstances of his death and all other details regarding the encounter which cost him his life are not known.
The Rīshtrakūta emperor Nripatunga was a great patron of Jainism and Kopaņa or Kopbal, the provenance of the record, was an eminent centre of the faith as revealed by a large number of inscriptions in the present collection and other sources also. It may be recalled that an allusion is made to this place in the work Kavirājumārga attributed to this emperor. It would thus be interesting to view the present record in this setting, though one might think that it has no proper bearing in the present scheme of our study.
TEXT i Svasti [1*) Śri-Nripatungavalla[ bha] - - --~-- 2 dhvast-ūrāti-narēndran =āle nelanaṁ śrijai v - -v - [*] 3 prastāvan = dal = id=endu talt= iridu matt = and =āji (yo) - 4 prastutyaṁ padedar surēndra-sukhanaṁ vikrānta - -v-[lll*] 5 vu - - ru-guạ-aughan =appa pa[ dev = ill =īta ) --- 6 vv--vu- kadanado....
TRANSLATION Lines 1-4. Hail! When the illustrious Nripatunga Vallabha, destroyer of his enemies, was ruling the earth,....... ........ having decided
this, verily, is the opportune moment !' and having valorously put up an intensive fight on the field of battle on that day................ the highly praised warrior attained the happiness of the lord of the gods..............
Lines 5-6. ..................... who was a reservoir of great qualities
.... ...in the encounter.......
INSCRIPTION No. 19
( Found on a Hill-rock at Kopbal) This inscription was found on the rock of a hill adjoining the fort aroa at Kopbal. It is incised on the southern hill side of the gorge known as Chandrāmana Gudda (the hill of Chandrāma). The rock is known as Chandrāma Bandi and the gorge is also called Vaņți Kolla or “Camel Vale'.
