Indian Epigraphy c9.t6.5

c9.t6.5

A single slab of stone was generally used for engraving an inscription; but in some cases it was incised on several slabs, especially when it was a big eulogy or a book. Rāṇā Kumbhā’s inscription¹ in the Kumbhasvāmin or Māmādeva temple at Kumbhalgadh is written on five stone slabs while the kāvya entitled Rājapraśasti, written in 24 cantos by an Āndhra poet named Raṇachoḍa on the occasion of the excavation of the Rājasamudra tank by Rāṇā Rājasimha of Mewar, was engraved on no less than 24 slabs.² The Rājapraśasti slabs were fixed into the embankment of the said tank. Among other such works incised on stone slabs, mention may be made of Paramāra Bhoja’s Prakrit poem entitled Kūrmaśataka³ and Madana’s Pārijātamañjarī (or Vijayaśrīṇāṭikā).⁴ The Harakelināṭaka by the Cāhamāna king Vigraharāja IV (1153-64 A. D.) and the Lalitavigraharājaṇāṭaka by his court poet Someśvara were similarly engraved on stone slabs.⁵ A Digambara Jain work called Unnataśikhara Purāṇa, composed in 1170 A.D., was engraved on the flat surface of a rock at Bijolia in the Bhilwara District of the Udaipur Division of Rajasthan.⁶