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JIANA APIGRAPES : PART III
363
INSCRIPTION No. 81
(Found in a cave at Kopbal) This and the following fourteen inscriptions were discovered in a cave in the hills near Kopbal. It is the same cave which contains the epigraph of Simbanandi (No. 22). All these inscriptions were noticed on the rock forming the roof of the cave. The first peculiarity to be noted in respect of these writings is that unlike the other inscriptions discovered at Kopbal, they are such records as are not incised in the rock but written on it. The second peculiarity is the material used for this writing. We do not know what it is precisely; but it appears to be a kind of chemical ink or paint, white as well as
. The solution must have been so fast that it has proved to be indelible even after a lapse of several centuries. The third peculiarity consists in their being the names of pilgrims or visitors.
Though constituting mere names the importance of these records might be judged from the following observations. 1) All these names indicate that the persons who bore them were the followers of the Jaina faith. 2) Some of these records are early ones and may be classed with the oldest Jaina records hitherto discovered at Kopbal. 3) References to the places to which the visitors belonged, contained in some of these records, show that they came from far off parts and go to establish the great reputation of this holy place. 4) Like Sarvanandi of No. 19 and Simhanandi of No. 22, some of the pilgrims seem to have spent their last days in this holy place.
None of these records bears any precise date. The characters of some of these writings exhibit earlier traits. Others are of a slightly later period. So from the palaeographic point of view they may be ascribed approximately from the 10th to the 13th century A.D. The alphabet and the language of these writings is Kannadı. The names given hereunder are only a few of the larger number of them noticed in the cave,
TEXT 1 Pārisakirtti-dēvaru bamdaru
TRANSLATION The divine Pārisakirti visited this place.
INSCRIPTION No. 82
(Found in a cave at Kopbal) This was noticed on the same rock as of the previous inscription. The place Karahaďa to which the pilgrim seems to have belonged, might be identified with modern Karād in the Satara Dt., Bombay State.
