Language: संस्कृतम्

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. 

A pillar, original size not reported. Now shattered into several pieces, only one of which has been preserved. The two partial inscriptions on it, No. IN00218 and No. IN00219, were edited by Altekar as a single text, but this seems improbable as the lower inscription’s lines begin far to the left of the upper inscription’s left margin, and there is a sizeable vertical space (about the height of one line) between the two parts. The object is recorded here as multi-part, and the inscriptions are edited as separate in the (probably vain) hope that additional fragments are recovered in the future.

An octagonal pillar with a circumference about 168 cm (width and depth not reported and estimated here on the basis of the circumference). No. IN00216 is engraved vertically, probably on two of its faces, while No. IN00217 is engraved horizontally on the faces not occupied by the first inscription; there is a blank space of about 10 cm on one side and 15 cm on the other side of the latter inscription. The arrangement of the inscriptions is not entirely clear from the reports of Halder 1929 and Altekar 1947, but it seems most likely that the vertical inscription reads from top to bottom (characters rotated right) and occupies about the upper half of the pillar, while the top of the horizontal inscription is level with the top (relative left-hand edge) of the vertical one. There is no apparent difference in the extant part of the two inscriptions. Altekar 1947 believes the horizontal one was engraved later and may have referred to a second benefaction of the ruler in the lost portion, or may be a copy engraved to facilitate reading.

Base of a liṅga found lying before the entrance of the Cāṃgunārāyaṇa temple. Saṃvat 271.

Inscription incised on the base of a liṅga found lying before the entrance of the Cāṃgunārāyaṇa temple. Saṃvat 271.