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100
Kirit Mankodi
pleasantly surprised that it corroborates our own conclusion that the image represents the Jaina yaksh! Ambika, as we shall presently see.
The inscription (Fig. 5) is engraved on the central offset of the pedestal and consists of four lines; it contains one verse in the śārdulavikridita metre followed by a line in prose giving the name of the sculptor etc. and the date Samvat 1091 corresponding to 1034-35 A. D. An oblique fissure in the stone has destroyed one or more characters in the first three lines and has divided the record into two unequal parts, the writing on the left of the fissure being relatively better preserved compared to that on the right. Perhaps this part of the pedestal had been more exposed to weathering.
Several enthusiastic students of Malwa's art and culture have tried to decipher the inscription since its first publication in Rupam. It has not so far been properly edited in Epigraphia Indica or any other special journal on inscriptions along with the rubbing19. An attempt was made by the present writer with the help of a photograph supplied by the British museum, and the key phrase Jinänämtrayimambam "the triad of the Jina's (and) Amba" (in the accusative) in the fourth foot of the verse, as well as the correct forms of the names of the sculptor and his father in the prose passage, could be detected. Still, the entire second foot and the rest of the fourth foot (both occuring on the right of the cleft in the stone, the part that has greatly suffered weathering) proved to be elusive. A request was made to Prof. H. C. Bhayani of Ahmedabad for help; the following reading is Prof. Bhayani's, and is presented here with his gracious consent;
(a) Original text
1. 1. Om // Śrīmadbhojanarendrachandranagarividyadharīmmandhiḥ yo să tama-resaśāsitapure prasthāpatā
1. 2. yampsarah vägdevi prathamam vidhaya jananim paścha(?)jjinānāṁ trayimambām (n)i-phala(?)dhikäṁ vararu(?)chimmürttim(?)subhām ni1. 3. rmmame iti subham // Sutradharamahirasutamanathalena ghatitam // vi-tika sivadevena likhitamiti //
1. 4. Samvat 10091.
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(b) Corrected and metrically arranged text
Om // Śrīmadbhojanarendrachandranagarimvidyadharim man[da]dhiryo'sau tāma(ma)relaśāsitapure prasthäpita yä'psarab / Vägdevim prathamam vidhāya jananim paśchajjinānāṁ tray1mambām (nitya)phaladhikām vararuchim mürtim subham nirmame//
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