Kotgarh

Author: Laxman Burdak IFS (R)

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Kotgarh Mudfort

Map of Janjgir-Champa district

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Kotgarh (कोटगढ़) is a village in Akaltara tahsil in Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh.

Variants

• Kotgadh (कोटगढ़)
• Koṭgaḏh (कोटगढ़)
• Kôtgadh
• Vikarnapura (विकर्णपुर)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Kot = Kotgarh, a village in Akaltara tahsil in Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh. Akaltara Stone Inscription Of Ratnadeva II - The stone which bears this inscription was found at Kôtgadh.

Location

It is located 45 kmKM towards west from District head quarters Janjgir, 3 km from Akaltara. This Place is in the border of the Janjgir-champa District and Bilaspur District. Bilaspur District Masturi is west towards this place . Kotgarh is a Village in Akaltara Tehsil in Janjgir-champa District of Chattisgarh State, India. Kotgarh Pin code is 495552 and postal head office is Akaltara . Katghari ( 2 KM ) , Khatola ( 3 KM ) , Katnai ( 3 KM ) , Bamhani ( 3 KM ) , Padariya ( 5 KM ) are the nearby Villages to Kotgarh. Kotgarh is surrounded by Baloda Tehsil towards East , Masturi Tehsil towards west , Pamgarh Tehsil towards South , Nawagarh Tehsil towards South .Akaltara , Naila Janjgir , Champa , Bilaspur are the near by Cities to Kotgarh.

Akaltara Stone Inscription Of Ratnadeva II

Akaltara Stone Inscription Of Ratnadeva II - The stone which bears this inscription was found at Kôtgadh, a small village, a mile and a half north of Akaltarâ, in the Jânjgir tahsil of the Bilaspur District in Madhya Pradesh. It was brought down to Akaltarâ by the Malguzar and built into the plinth o£ the temple of Siddhësvara Mahadëva in the back-yard of his bouse at Akaltarâ. Though the present inscription originally belonged to Kôtgadh, I have called it Akaltarâ stone inscription in order to distinguish it from another stone inscription, now deposited in the Raipur Museum, which also comes from Kôtgadh. The inscription refers itself to the reign of Ratnadêva II⁴ of the Kalachuri Dynasty of Ratanpur. The object of it is to record the construction of a temple of Revanta and the excavation of a tank, evidently at Kôtgadh, by Vallabharâja, a feudatory chief of Ratnadêva II.

Raipur Museum Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II

Being Improved No 85, Plate LXIX Raipur Museum Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II

Source - Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p.436-442

This mscoption was discovered by Sir Alexander Cunnmgham's Assistant, Mr. Beglar, who refsrs to it in the Archaological Survej of India Keports, Vol Vil (1873-74), p 211. It has subsequently been noticed by several scholars, ^ ^ , by Dr Kielhom who transcribed a few names of historical importance occurrmg m it m the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX, p 84 , by Dr D R Bhandarkar m the Progress Report of the Archœological Survej, Western India fûri.()oy4, p 52 and jSnally by Rai Bahadur Hiralal m his Inscriptions m the Central Provinces and Berar ^ Though noticed several times, the inscription has not been edited anywhere I edit it hère from the ongmal stone which I personaUy examined m the Raipur Muséum

The pohshed slab of red sand-stone, on which this mscription is mcised, was found at Kôtgadh^ from where the Malguzar removed it to his own house at Akaltarâ * It was lying there for some time and has recently been removed to the Raipur Muséum The inscription is fragmentary The preserved portion consists of 16 hnes, ail of which except the last are mcomplete The writing covers a space 2' high. The length of the

^ For vShy-âh which I hâve translated as 'outskirts of the town' see Kielhorn's remarks in Ep Ind , Vol VI, p 250, n 5 I tbink this sensé suits ail the passages ofthe Kâjataranginî cited by him For the pleasure-house m the tank, see above, p 431, n 2

2 There is a play on the words kshatia, sàmànya and pramâna in conséquence of which the adiectives m the first hemistich are mtended to be construed with both the tank and the Buddhist doctrine

^ Kirth hère refers to the tank and perhaps also to the temple of Rëvanta

• First édition p m, second ed p 123

s To distmguish this from the preceding inscription of Vallabharàja which was also found at Kôtgadh, I hâve named it after the Muséum m which it is deposited

• It was lymg near the Malguzar's house at Akaltarâ in 1903 See V '&. A.S W î (1903-4), p 52

RAIPUR MUSEUM STONE INSCRIPTION OF PRITHVIDEVA II 437

Imes gradually incfeases from 10" m the ist line to i ' 4^" m tlie iznd and then gradually decreases to i ' 3^" in, the 25 th The ]ast Ime, in which the lecord ends, measmes i ' long The stone is bîoken on the pfoper left side only, its top, bottom and nght side being intact When entire, the inscribed surface must hâve measured about 3 ' broad. The ex- tant writing is m a state o£ good préservation, only one ot two akskaras hère and there being partly damaged The letters are carefuUy and beautifully formed Their si^e varies £rom .6" to 8"

The chatacters aie Nâgarï Attention may be diawn to the initial ai which is formed by adding a pnshthamàtrà to the signfor ë (see Airàvata, 1 17), the proper sign for h as distinguished from v^ which occurs m babhiiva, U 6 and 7, dh which shows a horn at the top on the left, as m -dhvansâya, 1. 11 and the flat-toppped / as in Sivâya, 1 i. The language is Sanskrit, and except for the opening obeisance to Siva and the name of the sculptor at the end, the record is metrically composed throughout There are, in aU, thirty verses, ail of which except the last are numbered Th&prasash, as the inscription is called in hne 25, was composed by Dëvapâni, and engraved by the sculptor Pâlhùka. Dëvapâni was aiso the author of the Akaltara and Ratanpur mscriptions of Vallabharâja The présent inscription has consequently several verses in common with those two records, especiaUy with the latter Thus, verses 4-21 of the présent inscription occur in the same order m that record The otthography shows the same peculiaiities as the Akaltara stone inscription

As stated above, the présent record is fragmentary and though it has a considérable portion m common with three other mscriptions^ of Vallabharâja, the latter also, with the exception of the Akaltara stone mscription, hâve suffered too much to be of much use m the restoration of its lost text. It is not, therefore, possible to give hère a connected and complète account of its contents After the usual mangala-slôka in praise of Sambhu, the inscription seems to hâve mentioned the Kalachufi family and described two or three princes of it m verses 2-4 The name of the last one only, vî^ , Ratnadêva (II) has been preserved at the beginmng of Ime 4 Like the Akaltara stone inscription, the record then seems to hâve tumed to the ancestots of Vallabharâja, who, as feudatory chiefs, served the predecessors of Ratnadêva II Verses 5-7 apparently eulogised Dëvarâja, Râghava and Harigaçia, but the name of only the last one occurs in the preserved portion Harigana's wife was described m the next verse (8), but her name is lost The glorification of their son Vallabhatâja commenced in hne 7, though his name does not occur m the extant portion till Ime 16 Verses 10-15 extol his proficiency m the heahng ait, his appréciation of merits, his capture of éléphants m the Vmdhya mountam, the fierce fight m, which he distmguished himself, his raid m a distant country which was commended by his suzeram, and finally his famé and charity Verse 16 seems to show that he was looked upon as an adopted son by Lâchchhalladëvï whom we know from the Akaltara stone mscription to be the mother of Ratnadêva II. Verse 18 described a city founded by Vallabharâja, which is said to hâve resembled the city of Kubëra (/ e , Alakâ) The next three verses, two of which occur m a complète form m the Akaltara record, described a tank which Vallabharâja excavated m the same city Verse 22 probably referred to some charitable or rehgious works of Vallabharâja, one of which, a garden, is mentioned in the begmnmg of ime 19 In the next verse Vallabharâja is said to hâve loyally assigned to the kmg Ratnadêva (È) half of the rehgious ment which accrued to him on account of the aforementioned benef action s Verse 24 records that he made a request to Ratnadêva (II) for some donation for the worship of Siva, which

1 Vî^ , No 84, above and Nos 87 and 95, below

458 INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

seems to hâve been îeadily gracited, for the final word in the next vetse which occutsin the beginning of iine 22 refers to a royal order. Verse 26 descnbes a beloved son, probably of Ratnadëva (II)^, but tas name bas not been preserved. The next verse mentions lu s younger brother Jayasirnha ^ The name of the poet Devapâni, who composed the prasasti, is preserved in Jine 25, whiJe tbat of the wnter which must bave occurred m the same line is lost The last hne contains the name of the sculptor Pâlhûka who incised the piesent record

The foregoing account wiJI show that the object oi the inscription was to record the construction, by Vallabharâja, of a temple of Siva evidently at Kôtgadh and certajn donations made by royal ordei for the worship of the deity The présent inscription is not dated, but as \\. mentions both the excavation of the tank Vallabhasâgara and the érection of the afore-mentioned temple of Si va, it is evidently la ter than the AkaJtarâ stone inscription wbich mentions only the former It is agsm earlier than the Ratanpur inscription which names many more benefactions of VaUabharâja and his wife and was incised, as espressly stated at the end of it, durmg the reign of Ratnadëva II's son and successor Prithvïdëva II.

The extant portion mentions no place-name ^ Hattakësvarapurï m 1 16, which Rai Bahadur HiralaJ took to be the name of an important pi? ce, means Alaka, the city of the lord of wealth (Kubèra) ^

References

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