The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.236

v2.c17.s1.236

**Inscriptions.** For a place so sacred and so intimately connected with the religion of the great mass of the Hindu population of India for well nigh seven centuries—one visited by hundreds of thousands every year and endowed by the riches of the land from time to time—the number of inscriptions to be found in it is exceedingly small. None of the minor temples has any inscription and the great temple itself shows very little of any consequence. The stanza giving the date of the erection of the temple (*ante*, p. [110]) is said to be inscribed on the back of the throne of the sacred images, but the place was so dark that with the aid of an oil-lamp at midday I could not see it; and the priest who gave me the stanza would not or could not show it. I would have taken it to be apochryphal but I found it quoted in a book of my great-grandfather who visited the place in the last century and wrote it down in his diary. This however, only proves that the stanza is an old one but not that it was taken from an inscription. The only authentic inscriptions which I have seen occur on the jambs of the doorway leading to the Audience Chamber. These are in the Uriya language and character, written in the most corrupt orthography and syntax, and so faulty in construction that ordinarily-educated Uriyas can scarcely make out their meaning. Three of these are due to Pratāpa Kapileśvara Deva, the same prince who in Dr. Hunter's work appears under the name of Pratāpa Narsiṁha (A. D. 1307 to 1327). One of them was recorded in the month of Vaiśākha after the completion of the 4th year of his reign to attest the appointment of certain persons as ministers, invoking the curse of Jagannātha on those who would dismiss them. A second is dated Sunday, the new-moon of Vaiśākha, on the completion of the 19th year of his reign, in which he bestows some land on a minister. The third is dated Thursday, the 13th of Kākarā (Cancer—July), after the completion of the 21st year of his reign and confirms certain grants to Jagannātha and others. None of these is of any interest but the last enables us to correct the *Temple Records* as regards the period of the king's reign. His reign had extended to the 22nd year and did not terminate on the 20th year as there stated. The next inscription is an edict of Pratāparudra Deva who on Wednesday, the 10th of the month of Cancer (Kākarā—July, 1509) after the completion of fourth year of his reign, ordained on inspiration derived from a dream that the pastorals of Jayadeva should be recited twice a day before the great god⁵³, once in the morning, and again after the full-dress exhibition in the evening. There are two others, but their facsimiles brought by me are illegible.