This extremely weathered inscription (see IMAGES) accompanies the Saptamātṛkā panel on Gyānnāth Hill in Badoh-Pathari (Vidisha District, Madhya Pradesh). The inscription was reported by M. B. Garde (Annual Report of the Archaeological Department, Gwalior State for Samvat 1980, Year 1923-24, p. 12) who mentioned that the name of viṣayeśvara mahārāja Jayatsena could be read in it along with a partial date, the 13th of a bright half-month. The area has been surveyed by Anne Casile and reported in “Changing Religious Landscapes in Gupta Times: Archaeological Evidence from the Area of Baḍoh-Paṭhāri in Central India,” South Asian Studies 30 (2014): 245-268; the inscription studied and published by Dániel Balogh, “The Badoh-Pathari Saptamātṛ Panel Inscription,” Indo-Iranian Journal 65, no. 3 (2019): 191-226. Please note: the Sanskrit text here is for ready reference only; readers are directed to the most recent edition in Indo-Iranian Journal, see CONCORDANCE.
⟨verse 1⟩Victorious is Rudra, whose pair of feet is praised by the immortals, who wears a horrendous, bloody elephant skin and has a great serpent for a waistband as he roams at night in the funeral grounds, accompanied by the band of benevolent Mothers.⟨verse 2⟩After him, victorious is that valiant infant fostered by the hosts of Mothers, who is compassionate and ever well disposed to his devotees, and who is constantly worshipped … by means of sacrifice, homage, chanting, [animal] offerings and oblations.⟨verse 3⟩[The goddesses] beginning with Brāhmī, who go about in fierce [anger? shape? austerity?] acting as they please, who are thrilled to be summoned to the field of Rudra to roam together: their essential nature and behaviour are not known [even] by the experts of knowledge … time and place are set… that which is the supreme…⟨verse 4⟩The floods of whose hosts bother the company of siddhas and gandharvas in their dallying on roof tops, By whose surge the wind with the vehemence of a rushing chariot…… … …—may those Mothers cherish me ever kind-heartedly like mothers.[line 6]During the reign of His Majesty Kumāragupta, the great king who conquers ethically … … …[line 7]On the bright thirteenth day [of āṣāḍha?] the venerable Mothers were established… … …[line 8]by the true son of the great king Jayatsena who is the lord of the entire province of Avamukta … … …[line 9][by him] whose nature is … [and who is] devoted to gods, Brahmins, lawfulness and his elders …