1883.] 
Rajendralala Mitra —On the Temples of Deogftar. 
187 
Translation. “ In the S'aka year of mountain [8], moon [1], arrows 
[5], and earth [1, or S'aka 1518 = A. D. 1596],. at the request of Raghu- 
natha, through good-will towards numerous worshippers, this temple, 
designed for the destroyer of Tripura and (itself) the giver of all blessings, 
was quickly erected by king Purana of pure mind and untarnished qualities. 
This stanza is the composition of the king.” 
As a piece of royal composition this poem is not fit subject for criti¬ 
cism ; but the word balati in the second line is not Sanskrit, in the sense 
in which it has been used here. There is an error of spelling too, but it 
is due to the engraver. The name of the king in full is Purana Malla, a 
chief of Gidhaur, said to be (but obviously incorrectly) the 9th in a direct line 
from Vira Vikrama Siiiha, who founded the Gidhaur house in A. D. 1167. The 
fifth from Purana obtained the title of Raja from the Emperor Shah Jahan in 
1651. Gopala Sinha, the 19th from the founder, was the reigning chief when 
the English took Bihar. Mr. Beglar has failed to read the name, and says, 
the record “ mentions the name of some king with the title of Nripati. 
Raghunatha’s name also occurs in the last line” (p. 140). The name of 
Itaghunatha occurs in the 2nd line, not in the last. 
No. 2. 
The story runs that the above inscription was forcibly put up by 
Purana Malla after causing certain repairs to be done to the temple to 
mark his supremacy and ownership of the surrounding land, including 
the property called Taluk Deoghar, which he had taken from its former 
owners. It might be that the chief did more than mere repairs. The 
lobby is unquestionably of a later date than the temple itself ; and the 
chief probably caused it to be erected to improve the temple. Anyhow, 
the priest Raghunatha Ojha, whose name Purana Malla recites, was not at 
all pleased with the inscription ; but, unable to resist the chief, bided his 
time, and when the chief was gone, caused the porch to be erected and 
therein set up his own inscription. Tradition has it that the priest fasted 
for some days at the gate of Vaidyanatha who in mercy revealed to him 
in a dream that he should build a new porch, and set up an inscription ; but he 
claims the credit of having erected the temple. The record is, like the 
last, in Sanskrit language, but inscribed in the Bengali character. It 
extends to 13 lines, each nearly 4 feet long. The letters are about an inch 
in height. The following is its transcript in the Deva Nagari character :— 
Vj 
*T TPT?: W II ^ It 
