Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c7.15

v1.c7.15

The following are some of the noteworthy references to the iconographic aspect of the Viṣṇu cult in inscriptions :—The Udayagiri Cave inscription of .......ḍhala, son of Viṣṇudāsa, grandson of Chhagala and vassal of the Gupta king, Chandragupta II, dated the Gupta Era 82 (A.D. 401-2), records the dedication of a rock-cut shrine to Viṣṇu. The undated inscription of the Bhiṭāri stone pillar, belonging to the reign of Skandagupta, mentions that an image of the god Śārṅgin was set up and a village was allotted for its worship. Certain repairs to the lake Sudarśana by the governor Parṇadatta's agent Chakrapālita is said to have been made in the Gupta year 138 (A.D. 457-8). The same person also built a temple to Chakrabhṛt (Viṣṇu). The Gaṅgdhar inscription of Viśvakarma, dated A.D. 423-4, records that a person built a temple for Viṣṇu and the Sapta-Mātṛikās and dug a well for drinking water. Iran stone pillar inscription of the time of Budhagupta, dated Gupta Era 165 (A.D. 484-5), informs us that a Mahārāja Mātṛiviṣṇu and his younger brother Dhanyaviṣṇu erected a dhvaja-stambha for the god Janārddana. The Khoh copper-plates of Mahārāja Samkṣōbha dated G.E. 209 (A.D. 528-9), begins with the famous ‘twelve-lettered mantra’, *Ōm namō Bhagavatē Vāsudēvāya* of the Bhāgavatas.