Lalāṭendukesari cave inscription of the time of Uddyotakeśarin year 5

Editor: Amandine Wattelier-Bricout.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSomavamsin00027.

Language: Sanskrit.

Repository: Somavaṁśin (tfb-somavamsin-epigraphy).

Version: (0598937), last modified (e488987).

Edition

⟨1⟩

@

śrī-Udyotakeśarī vijayarājya-samvaT 5 ⟨2⟩ śrī-kumāra-parvvata-sthāne j¿i?⟨ī⟩⟨r⟩nna-vāpī-jirnna Isaṇa ⟨3⟩ Udyotita tasmin yāne catur-vinsati tīrtha⟨ṁ⟩ kara⟨4⟩sthāpita pratiṣṭha-kāle hari Aupā jasanandika ⟨5⟩ (nanditadrathā) śrī-pārasthanāthasya karmmakhayaḥ

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ °keśarī R°keśari S.

⟨2⟩ °j¿i?⟨ī⟩⟨r⟩nna° R°jirnna° S.

⟨4⟩ pratiṣṭha-kāle Spratiṣṭha-(kā)le R. — ⟨4⟩ hari Shar(ri) R.

⟨5⟩ (nanditadrathā) R(knadatidrathā?) S.

Translation by Banerji 1915–1916

In the year 5 of the victorious reign of illustrious Uddyotakesarî, on the illustrious Kumāra mountain, decayed tanks and decayed temples were caused to shine ⟨and⟩ at that place the images of the twenty-four Tîrthaṅkaras were set up. At the time fo the dedication ... Jasanandi ... in the place [Temple] of the illustrious Pārasvanātha...

Commentary

According to Panigrahi 1981, p. 108, there are two other digits engraved after the five: a four and a nine. Since there is no era accompanying this three-digit number, he assumes that the reference era is the Gaṅga one beginning in AD 496 because “the Gaṅga era had become widely current in the southern part of Orissa long before 1045 AD and its use in an inscription of Orissa of the period will not appear surprising or unusual, particularly if its donor belonged to the southern part”. The engraved inscription would date, according to him, to 1045 AD.

According to Banerji 1915–1916, the inscription was discovered in the cave called Lalāṭendukesari’s cave or Lion gate by Mr. S. Ganguli, photographer of the Archaeological Survey in October 1913. The record would be incised on the back wall of the cave at a height of about thirty or forty feet from the floor of the cave above a group of Jain images of the Digambara sect.

Bibliography

Primary

[B] Banerji, Rakhal Das. 1915–1916. “Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves.” EI 13, pp. 159–167. Item XVI, page 166.

[R] Rajaguru, Satyanarayan. 1966. Inscriptions of Orissa, vol. 4. No place: Sri Sarada Press. [URL]. Item 36, pages 235–236.

[S] Shastri, Ajay Mitra. 1995. Inscriptions of the Śarabhapurīyas, Pāṇḍuvaṁśins and Somavaṁśins, Part II: Inscriptions. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research; Motilal Bandarsidass. Item XXIII, pages 294–295.

Secondary

Tripathy, Snigdha. 2010. Descriptive topographical catalogue of Orissan inscriptions. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors. Page 299.