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THE ANDHAU INSCRIPTION OF RUDRASIMHA I
Rasesh Jamindar
Andhau (23.46 N.,69 53 E ), a small village in the heart of the desert, is situated south-east of Khāvdă in Khāvdā Tälukā of Kachchh District in Gujarat state Though possessing no significance at present either political or commercial or economic or cultural, this small deserted village is historically very important as it had offered no less than six1 inscriptions belonging to the reign of Western Kshatrapas Out of these six Western Kshatrapa inscriptions, five have already been published? while one, under review, so far remains unpublished.
This fragmentary stone-inscription is now preserved in the Kachchh Museum, Bhuj, the head quarter of the Kachchh dis. trict. Partially mutilated this stone-inscription is broken into two pieces of which the upper piece contains the most of the entire text, while the lower one has only two lines incised on it.
Engraved in Brāhmi characters of the Western Kshatrapa variety, this epigraph consists of ten lines' at present. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit influenced by Prākrit and the whole text is in prose. The incisions of letters are shallow Though in the bad state of preservation, it is significant that the main historical content of this epigraph is preserved to satisfaction, which helps us to make out the date of issue and know the name of the king during, whose reiga the erection of a memorial pillar was laid down.
This epigraph has suffered most at the upper right portion and to some extent at the upper left portion too Thus the main text has lost both the ends of almost every line damaging some letters either on both the sides or at one end. But th:
