112 Three Sanskrit Inscriptions. [Xo. 2, 



The inscription begins with a doxology to Vishnu ; to the lotus 

 of his navel ; to Brahrna, who originated therefrom ; to Brahma's 

 son, Atri ; and to the Moon, which emanated from one of Atri's 

 eyes. 



From the Moon, by a daughter of the Sun, sprung Bodhana ; and 

 from him was born Pururavas, who had to wife TTrvas'i and Earth. 

 Among the descendants of Pururavas was Bharata. To him the 

 Haihayas traced their origin ; and from these came Kartavirya, the 

 founder of the family of Kalachuri.* To this family belonged the 

 last dynasty that dominated over Chedi. 



For want of context, and from other causes, entire certainty as to the drift of 

 this throughout is impossible. But that thus much is asserted, one may be 

 pretty confident. Kaundinya, entitled Yachaspati, was premier of a Raja Krish- 

 na, and dwelt on the Yetravatf. After discomfiting the lord of Chedi, by slay- 

 ing a S'abara named Sinha,— probably the Chedian generalissimo, — he establish- 

 ed the district of Bala, and Rodapadi, which, also, seems to denominate a dis- 

 trict. Manifestly in honour of these successes, he repaired to the places where 

 the inscription was set up, and had these lines written in praise of the sun, 

 under the epithet of Bhailla ; which divine luminary is invoked to serve as King 

 Krishna's protector. Grajankus'eya composed the eulogy, and Kakuka copied it. 



Apparently, Krishna's newly annexed districts were wrested from Chedi. But 

 whether that kingdom reached, previously, as far towards the west, as the banks 

 of the Yetravati, is undetermined. As for the antiquity of the memorial, it 

 would be unsafe to base any conclusion on its palaeography. 1 am convinced, 

 from inspection of inscriptions nearly contemporary, that archaism of appearance 

 was sometimes studiously affected in these records. 



There is no ground to suppose, that the inscription was brought to Bhelsa 

 from a distance. Once displaced from its original position, it must have had — 

 such is the Indian indifference to relics of the past — no value except for the feet 

 and inches of the tablet on which it is engraved ; and the vicinity of Bhelsa 

 does not want for stone-quarries. The sun, as Bhailla, was, we see, once an ob- 

 ject of worship. At first sight, the word has, certainly, a barbarous aspect ;* 

 and yet it may possibly have been formed, anomalously, from blid, " light" and 

 the Vaidika root il, defined by the grammarians "to throw:" "the thrower of 

 light." Euphony may have doubled the final consonant. To Bhailla add is' a, 

 and the combination is Bhdilles'a. Soften this, and we easily account for Bhel- 

 sa. Bhailla, as will be seen a few pages on, at one period gave name to a tract 

 of country comprising twelve districts. 



It may now be considered as certain, that Bhelsa was not so called because of 

 its occupation by Bheels. See this Journal, for 1847, p. 745. 



Independently of the references in this paper, Bhailla, the divinity, is men- 

 tioned in an inscription somewhere in Grwalior, of which I have formerly spoken. 

 Vide p. 7, Supra, second foot-note. 



* Or, optionally, it should seem, Kulachuri. In the sixth stanza of the 

 following inscription is Kulachuri ; but Kalachuri is implied in the thirteenth 

 stanza. The latter form is read, unmistakably, on the Gopalpur tablet. See, 

 further note d, at p. 517 of the Journal of the American Oriental Society, 

 Vol. YI. 



The tablet jii3t adverted to is said to have been transported from Karanbel, 

 a few miles distant from the spot where it now lies. I examined it on the fifth 



[* Might it be the Prakrit termination ilia for mat-up ? Yararuchi (iv. 25) 

 gives mdldilla for mdldvat. — Eds.] 



