Material: Stone / sandstone

Desāṃ Stone Slab

INRAJ0001  Desāṃ Stone Slab Inscription of VS 1453 and 1520.

Badoh Pathari (बड़ोह पठारी), Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh.

General view of rock shelter.

The Saptamātṛkā panel is at the right-hand side of a large rock shelter with a small, possibly artificial, cave shrine and the remains of some small, later temples. It depicts seven goddesses in bhadrāsana on separate bench-like seats and, at the far left, a male figure in lalitāsana on another bench, identified as Śiva because he is ithyphallic. This row of eight is in a recessed panel carved into the rock, about 50 centimeters high and 280 centimeters wide and 60 to 120 centimeters above the current ground level, which slopes to the right. An inscription (see EDITIONS) occupies a smoothed and slightly recessed area about 100 centimeters wide and 30 tall, immediately to the right of the group. The upper edges of the sculpted panel and the inscribed one are level. There are no further associated sculptures, but the rock surface is similarly smoothed in a second panel above the inscription, where traces of a painting are discernible.

A rock shelter in the face of a cliff, probably enlarged artificially, but the surfaces are not even and there are no carved architectural elements nor any decorative carving. The shelter is shaped like a rough quarter sphere. The inscription is about 150 cm above the floor on the right-hand side of the back wall. The inscribed area is not marked off from the wall surface in any way.

Deogarh (देवगड), Uttar Pradesh. Located next to a flight of steps in the gorge named Nāharghāṭī, leading down on the south side of Deogaṛh Fort to the river Betvā. Below the inscription is a relief of seven Mātṛkās flanked by Vīrabhadra and Gaṇeśa.

A supporting pillar of dark stone with splashes of colour, polished to a sheen. The height figure given here is an estimate. The pillar is square in cross-section to a height of about 150 cm from floor level, then octagonal for about 70 cm, ending in a fluted square capital. On the inscribed face, the top of the square section is occupied by the upper part of a lotus medallion, which is slightly more than half of a full circle. It is cut off horizontally at the bottom, and the inscriptions are below this point, No. IN00221 first and No. IN00222 immediately below. The cross-section of the upper part is octagonal and decorated with floral and geometric motifs.

A corner moulding block next to the doorway. The block, probably sandstone, is rounded at the top, and the inscribed area is a slightly recessed rectangular panel with a roughly cut surface. Its depth has not been measured.