No. IV
Inscription in the Devanagari character, discovered in January 1822 in Puttun Somnat’h, on the coast of the Saurashtra peninsula, fixing the era of the sovereigns of Balabhi, the ‘Balhara kings of Nehrwalla.’
Adoration to the Lord of all, to the light of the universe[(1)]. Adoration to the form indescribable; Him! at whose feet all kneel.
In the year of Mohummud 662, and in that of Vicrama 1320, and that of Srimad Balabhi 945, and the Siva-Singa Samvat 151, Sunday, the 13th (badi) of the month Asar [(2)].
The chiefs of Anhulpoor Patun obeyed by numerous princes (here a string of titles), Bhataric Srimad Arjuna Deva [(3)], of Chauluc race, his minister Sri Maldeva, with all the officers of government, together with Hormuz of Belacool, of the government of Ameer Rookn-oo-Din, and of Khwaja Ibrahim of Hormuz, son of the Admiral (Nakhoda) Noor-oo-Din Feeroz, together with the Chaura chieftains Palookdeva, Ranik Sri Someswadeva, Ramdeva, Bheemsing, and all the Chauras and other tribes of rank being assembled [(4)];
Nansi Raja, of the Chaura race, inhabiting Deo Puttun [(5)], assembling all the merchants, established ordinances for the repairs and the support of the temples, in order that flowers, oil, and water should be regularly supplied to Rutna-iswara [(6)], Choul-iswara [(7)], and the shrine of Pulinda Devi [(8)], and the rest, and for the purpose of erecting a wall round the temple of Somnat’h, with a gateway to the north. Keelndeo, son of Modula, and Loonsi, son of Johan, both of the Chaura race, together with the two merchants, Balji and Kurna, bestowed the weekly profits of the market for this purpose. While sun and moon endure, let it not be resumed. Feeroz is commanded to see this order obeyed, and that the customary offerings on festivals are continued, and that all surplus offerings and gifts be placed in the treasury for the purposes afore-named. The Chaura chiefs present, and the Admiral Noor-oo-Din, are commanded to see these orders executed on all classes. Heaven will be the lot of the obedient; hell to the breaker of this ordinance.[[4]]
[Note 1.]—The invocation, which was long, has been omitted by me. But this is sufficient to show that Bal-nat’h, the deity worshipped in Puttun Somnat’h, ‘the city of the lord of the Moon,’ was the sun-god Bal. Hence the title of the dynasties which ruled this region, Bal-ca-Rae, ‘the princes of Bal,’ and hence the capital Balicapoor, ‘the city of the sun,’ familiarly written Balabhi, whose ruins, as well as this inscription, rewarded a long journey. The Rana’s ancestors, the Suryas, or ‘sun-worshippers,’ gave their name to the peninsula Saurashtra, or Syria, and the dynasties of Chaura, and Chauluc, or Solanki, who succeeded them on their expulsion by the Parthians, retained the title of Balicaraes, corrupted by Renaudot’s Arabian travellers into Balhara [802].
[Note 2.]—The importance of the discovery of these new eras has already been descanted on in the annals. S. 1320-945, the date of this inscription = 375 of Vicrama for the first of the Balabhi era; and 1320-151 gives S. 1169 for the establishment of the Sevasinga era—established by the Gohils of the island of Deo, of whom I have another memorial, dated 927 Balabhi Samvat. The Gohils, Chauras, and Gehlotes are all of one stock.
[Note 3.]—Arjuna-Deva, Chaluc, was prince of Anhulpoor or Anhulwarra, founded by Vanraj Chaura in S. 802—henceforth the capital of the Balica-raes after the destruction of Balabhi.