1859.] Decipherment of a Sanskrit Inscription. 7 



11. Near him* he caused idols to be set up of Hanumat, Kshetra- 

 pala, Ganes'wara, Krishna, &c., Nakulis'a, and Arnbika.f 



12. Tor his general benevolence, Ms bounty, his constant enter- 

 tainments to Brahmans, Ms adoration of the gods, and Ms offerings 

 to fire, he acquired the highest renown. 



13. The following words of good faith Kes'ava addresses to the 

 community : i as for human kind who look upon this my temple, 

 well known over the face of the earth, may these worthy people at 

 no time whatever think ill of it.' 



14. This elegant eulogy was composed by the learned Deva 

 S'arman, had in esteem by the great,J and the augmenter of my 

 good fame. 



* The writer's meaning is, ' near the image of S'ambhu, sheltered by this temple.' 



f Kshetrapala, or 'the guardian of the soil,' is, at least now-a-days, a personage 

 of uncertain or various identification. At Benares he is one with Bindu-madhava, 

 among the Vaishnavas ; and, with the S'aivas, the same as Bhajrava. The latter 

 view has the support of the Batuka-bhairava-stotra. In many places, as I know 

 from personal observation, the name of this agrestic protector is bestowed on 

 figures of Hanumat. 



The unnamed divinity, coupled with Krishna, is Garuda. His place is at the 

 right hand of the principal image of a group, as that of Hanumat is at the 

 left hand. 



Gaiies'wara is Ganes'a, elongated for the sake of the metre. 



Of Nakulis'a, as here intended, I can affirm nothing positive. But it is not 

 necessary to presume a mistake, in this place, for nakules'a or ' lord Nakula,' one 

 of the forms of S'iva : since this god, as S'ambhu, is already embraced in the 

 sacred company under description. In Nagoji Bhatta's scholia on the Chandt- 

 pdtha, ad finem, is a passage, purporting to be taken from the Vdrdhi-tantra, in 

 which the Destroyer is called Nakulis'a, as being the consort of Nakuli, a Tan- 

 trika name of Durga. Nakulis'a — written, perhaps, Nakules'a also — is, again, 

 an inferior manifestation of S'iva. Further, in what is stated to be an extract from 

 the Vdmana-purdna, Nakulis'a is given as the title of one of S'iva's bands of 

 attendants ; that which is stationed at the west of him. Once more, Nakuli — as 

 distinctly appears from the Nakuli-vdyiswari-paddhati — being Saraswati, Naku- 

 lis'a is one with Brahma. The worship of this divinity has, however, long been 

 disused. I have never seen but a single temple to him, that at Pohkar, near 

 Ajiuere. 



Ambika is Parvatf. See the first couplet, and a note on it. 



% This phrase may also import ' well-affected towards the great.' As the 



